'Miles Ahead' News: Don Cheadle Reveals Real Life Preparations For Titular Role
"Miles Ahead" is the new biopic centering on jazz legend and trumpeter Miles Davis which was directed, co-written and co-produced by Don Cheadle. The latter also happens to star the film which opened in the 2015 New York Film Festival in New York.
In a new light of events, it has been revealed over at ABC News that aside from having the uncanny resemblance of the music artist, the 51-year-old actor has actually made some grueling real life preparations to take on the role of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. According to the news outlet, he did actually learn how to play the trumpet, Davis' choice of musical instrument.
"It was important to me to learn how to play because at some point in my development, Miles was as bad as I am now," he told ABC. "Maybe he was 8 or 9 years old."
"I just wanted to be as close to him as possible and not just to do some kind of a Vegas mimicry," Cheadle went on to say. "Try to understand him as much as I could."
In an interview with The Rolling Stone, Cheadle divulged that the Miles Davis biopic project has begun when he was auditioning for "Ali." Screenwriter Chris Wilkenson suggested to create the film since he personally know the family.
He agreed, but as it turns out, it was just an off-hand remark. But things eventually come to its fruition when Miles' nephew Vincent Wilburn announced to the press, during the induction of the aforementioned artist, that the only actor who could play his uncle in a film is Cheadle.
In his statement with ABC, the "House of Lies" star disclosed that he hasn't met Vincent before but everything just falls into place.
"He hadn't called me to ask first and I had never actually met him before," he said. "That was something that he determined and then we set about trying to figure out what it would look like."
"Miles Ahead" opens in theaters April 1. The title of the film paid homage to Davis' 1957 album of the same name.