Don Cheadle's Miles Davis Film is About to Get a Major Red Carpet Debut

Just when I was starting to lose hope on Don Cheadle's Miles Davis film (in case you didn't know, Cheadle first successfully crowdfunded this film last summer, then we never really heard a word about it after that), it gets revived in a major way. I mean, it doesn't get much better than a red carpet premiere at the New York Film Festival. MILES AHEAD, directed co-produced, co-written by and starring Cheadle, has been selected to close out the event and I couldn't be more thrilled with the news.

Since he started tweeting about it a few years ago, Cheadle has been passionate about the project, keeping his followers abreast of its progress and enticing us with small but appetizing tidbits from its production. I have to admit, I was shocked at how much difficulty he was having getting it made since it seemed like the perfect project for him, and he's always been a great, reliable actor.

But anyway, enough about that because now it's happening and everything is AWESOME. I cannot wait to see it. In a press release issued on Wednesday, New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones confirmed the praise that I expect to hear from more throughout the festival: “I admire Don’s film because of all the intelligent decisions he’s made about how to deal with Miles, but I was moved—deeply moved—by Miles Ahead for other reasons. Don knows, as an actor, a writer, a director, and a lover of Miles’ music, that intelligent decisions and well-planned strategies only get you so far, that finally it’s your own commitment and attention to every moment and every detail that brings a movie to life. ‘There is no longer much else but ourselves, in the place given us,’ wrote the poet Robert Creeley. ‘To make that present, and actual … is not an embarrassment, but love.’ That’s the core of art. Miles Davis knew it, and Don Cheadle knows it.”

SOLD.

And if you needed more convincing: Emayatzy Corinealdi (who you may remember from Middle of Nowhere) also stars as Davis's great love Frances Taylor while Ewan McGregor plays Dave Brill, the “reporter” who cons his way into Miles’ apartment.

The 53rd New York Film Festival kicks off September 25 and will run through October 11.