While putting my early Oscar predictions together I included Don Cheadle‘s directorial debut Miles Ahead, in which he not only directs but stars in the life story of Miles Davis, on my Best Actor (Cheadle) and Best Supporting Actress (Emayatzy Corinealdi) charts, but not on the Best Picture charts because the film is still without a domestic distributor and therefore without a release date and I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself. Well, the film is now set to premiere at the 53rd New York Film Festival as the closing night feature, which may be just the thing it needs to get a little buzz going.
The announcement also comes with the following information regarding the story the film set out to tell:
Miles Davis was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. And how do you make a movie about him? You get to know the man inside and out and then you reveal him in full, which is exactly what Don Cheadle does as a director, a writer, and an actor with this remarkable portrait of Davis, refracted through his crazy days in the late-70s. Holed up in his Manhattan apartment, wracked with pain from a variety of ailments and fiending for the next check from his record company, dodging sycophants and industry executives, he is haunted by memories of old glories and humiliations and of his years with his great love Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). Every second of Cheadle’s cinematic mosaic is passionately engaged with its subject: this is, truly, one of the finest films ever made about the life of an artist. With Ewan McGregor as Dave Brill, the “reporter” who cons his way into Miles’ apartment. The film was produced by Don Cheadle, Pamela Hirsch, Lenore Zerman. Along with Daniel Wagner, Robert Barnum, Vince Willburn and Daryl Porter.
Michael Stuhlbarg and Keith Stanfield also star in the feature, which will screen the final night of the festival, which runs from September 25 – November 11. The full lineup will be announced soon as we are now just on the outskirts of the fall film festival circuit.
Coming up are announcements for not only the New York Festival, but Venice, Telluride and Toronto, the latter of which will see its first lineup of films announced next Tuesday, September 28.
