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ABC/Rick RowellDespite celebrating the most successful year of her career, Regina King says she’s not interested in “compromising my integrity” — but she’s always “continuing to dream.”
The Emmy-winning actress graces the February cover of Instyle Magazine, where she discusses showcasing Black men’s insecurities and vulnerabilities in her directorial debut, One Night in Miami.
Based on a play by Kemp Powers, the film adaptation is a fictional account of a real meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali as Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown on the night of February 25, 1964.
King said she was mostly drawn to the film’s expansion of each character’s impactful role in music, sports, and activism.
“It really humanized them,” she continues. “I feel like we don’t get the opportunity to see Black men like this, and most of us have Black men who are this layered in our lives, who have this much love and strength and vulnerability, all of those things, in one.”
King admitted there were some actors who chose not to audition for the film, but she was content with her choices of Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Leslie Odom Jr. and Aldis Hodge to play such legendary figures.
“I want every Black man I know and love to see themselves in this film because I saw them when I read the script,” says King. “Some could look at [those themes] as subtleties, but they are the big-ticket items I want people to leave with. That nobody is perfect, and we are just trying to do our best. While these men are legendary, they were trying to do their best. It’s as simple as that.”
One Night in Miami comes to select U.S. theaters January 8 and will stream on Amazon Prime Video January 15.
By Rachel George
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