Multi-talent in Miles Ahead

“To make an entertaining, “rock and roll” movie about a multi-talented musician in a non-traditional, subversive way. To attempt to DO Miles Davis rather than simply chronicle the highlights and low-lights of his life. That process felt like Miles to me.” Don Cheadle

In the midst of a dazzling and prolific career at the forefront of modern jazz innovation, Miles Davis (Cheadle) virtually disappears from public view for a period of five years in the late 1970s. Alone and holed up in his home, he is beset by chronic pain from a deteriorating hip, his musical voice stifled and numbed by drugs and pain medications, his mind haunted by unsettling ghosts from the past.

A wily music reporter, Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor) forces his way into Davis’ house and, over the next couple of days, the two men unwittingly embark on a wild and sometimes harrowing adventure to recover a stolen tape of the musician’s latest compositions. Davis’ mercurial behavior is fueled by memories of his failed marriage to the talented and beautiful dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). During their romance and subsequent marriage, Frances served as Davis’ muse. It was during this period that he released several of his signature recordings including the groundbreaking “Sketches of Spain” and “Someday My Prince Will Come”.

From page to big screen

After several setbacks, including one of the largest recessions in global history, Don Cheadle’s Miles Ahead finally locked down partial financing before turning to IndieGoGo to raise the funds to make up for the shortfall. “It actually felt right that we used a social platform to complete the film,” observes Cheadle, “Since Miles was someone who made ‘social music’.”

The stop and start financing, however, was not the only hurdle for the low-budget project. Many of Cheadle’s co-stars in the film, including Ewan McGregor, Michael Stuhlbarg and Emayatzy Corinealdi, had limited windows of availability before they had to depart for other commitments. “We only had Ewan and Michael for three weeks and Emayatzy for three weeks, so we had to complete all their sequences in the film during that period,” says Cheadle. “We had to get it right the first time. No second bites of the apple.”

Though set mostly in New York, Miles Ahead was filmed mostly in Cincinatti, Ohio and Cheadle commends the city filmmaking commission for “pulling out all the stops. Only three features have ever been shot there and we were very lucky, because they had recently wrapped Todd Haynes’ film, Carol, and they were in a good place. Still, there were days when we had two cameras and only one operator available, because the other was working on another project. We also didn’t have use of the Steadicam for the first week. But fortunately everyone was totally committed.”

In addition to being a first-time director, Cheadle is also in every scene in the film, so his preparation had to be meticulous and he needed a top flight crew, which, in addition to Hirsch and her producing partner Lenore Zerman, included director of photography Roberto Schaefer (Quantum Of Solace, Finding Neverland), production designer Hannah Beachler (Fruitvale Station), costume designer Gersha Phillips (House Of Cards, Life), editor John Axelrad (The Immigrant, Crazy Heart), sound designer/sound editor Skip Lievsay (several Coen brothers movies including No Country For Old Men), and composer Robert Glasper.

“Don knew it was going to be complicated, so he arrived well prepared and hired the right team and had a lot of trust in them,” says Hirsch. “It was a passion project across the board and Don was one hundred percent open to ideas. It was a completely creative environment from top to bottom.”

Cheadle and Baigelman’s script was visually oriented and keyed to certain music cues, which made for a unique read, according to Hirsch. “The script was like a piece of music. I would get calls from crew members telling me that when they read it in conjunction with the piece of music that would be used, it changed the whole experience. It enabled them to visualise the pacing of the script, because everything flowed like a piece of music.”

The sound of the film is rich and layered and seamless, says Hirsch. “Anytime you have Miles Davis scoring a movie, you’re in the hands of a master.” In addition to Davis’ compositions, the underscoring includes original music by Glasper and sound design by Lievsay that flow effortlessly around and through each other.

Says Cheadle: "I’ve been steeped in Miles Davis’ music since the age of ten. He is so many things, not the least of which is an indefatigable symbol of creative energy and power; someone who was never afraid to step out of his comfort zone; someone who was totally uncomfortable with stasis. Over the years I was approached by various people, some of whom were close to Miles and others who just wanted to see a movie about him; and they said that if anyone should play him it was me. I’d already been in a number of standard bio-pics and I had no interest in making another since I found them full of contrivances and fabrications. You know, “based on a true story. Shortly after Miles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I was approached by his family. They pitched me several different takes, but I didn’t spark to any of them. To me, they didn’t go far enough in trying to capture his enormous creativity and dynamism. So we shook hands and promised to keep in touch. As I pondered it further, I began to imagine a film that would capture Miles as who he was, a man full of drive and forward momentum, but also mercurial and dangerous, the real O.G. original gangsta. And I realised that it would never happen unless I wrote it. So I asked the family if they were okay with that and they said “Cool. Do it.”

Read Daniel Dercksen’s full interview with Don Cheadle here.