Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, the Peacock limited series that tells the story of the infamous armed robbery following Muhammad Ali’s historic comeback fight in 1970, has added six more high-profile names to its cast.
With the production start date fast approaching next week, the newcomers include Chloe Bailey, Melvin Gregg, Jalyn Hall, Artrece Johnson, Clifton Powell and Lori Harvey.
They join a previously announced cast that includes Don Cheadle, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Terrence Howard and Dexter Darden, who will play Ali.
It is set in Atlanta and is based on the eponymous iHeartPodcastThe series follows Ali’s return to the ring after being banned from boxing for more than three years after refusing to be drafted into the military, and the afterparty where hundreds of fight fans were robbed at gunpoint.
The dramatic heist, considered one of the largest armed robberies in the US, helped introduce the world to the city’s criminal underground, and the police department and the con man at the center of it all, according to Deadline.
Ali had been inactive in the boxing ring since March 1967, yet he was still able to shake off the rust and defeat Quarry after three rounds at the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia.
While many people waited to read the details of all the fighting in the newspapers the next morning, many of the national headlines instead focused on the after-party robbery.
It turns out that many fans celebrating Ali’s triumphant return, including top leaders of the black mafia, received an invitation, but when they arrived they were greeted by criminals with sawn-off shotguns.
One of the first detectives on the desegregated Atlanta police force, J.D. Hudson (Cheadle), who helped lead Ali into the ring, was eventually assigned to solve the robbery by the chief of police.
Created and written by Shaye Ogbonna, the filmmaker will also serve as executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Jason Horwitch.
In addition to the duo and Hart, executive producers also include Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, Packer and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts,
Jeff Keating and Lars Jacobson will also join the executive producing teams
Craig Brewer joins the team of executive producers and directs episodes 101, 102, 107 and 108.
Set in Atlanta, the series follows Muhammad Ali’s return to the ring against Jerry Quarry in October 1970 after being banned from boxing for refusing to be drafted into the military, and the after-party that followed, where hundreds of guests were robbed at gunpoint.
Created and written by Shaye Ogbonna, the filmmaker will also serve as executive producer for the limited series and co-showrunner alongside Jason Horwitch.
In the more than three years leading up to the battle, Ali had refused to be inducted into the armed forces amid the growing conflict of the Vietnam War.
From there, the dashing former boxing champion was then systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport.
As a result, he did not fight from March 1967 to October 1970 – wiping out his crucial prime years of age 25 to almost 29 – as his case wound its way through the appeals process before his conviction was finally overturned in 1971.
Muhammad Ali would regain his heavyweight championship when he defeated George Foreman at the Rumble In The Jungle in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in October 1974.