Main content

Don Cheadle on difficulty of financing Miles Davis film without white actor

Don Cheadle spoke about his new film Miles Ahead about the jazz legend Miles Davis, in which he plays Davis as well as directs.

Don Cheadle is one of Hollywood's most recognisable actors, thanks to a 29 year career that has included roles in Oceans 11, Crash, Traffic and Hotel Rwanda, for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.

His new film is Miles Ahead about the jazz legend Miles Davis, in which he plays Davis as well as directs.

His co-star Ewan McGregor plays a journalist who manages to interview Miles Davis during a reclusive period in the 1970s.

"You said at one point about the difficulty of making the film and getting the financing, that at one point it became obvious that having a white actor in the movie was a financial imperative. What did you mean?" Mishal Husain asked.

"Just that, that made everything go. I can put parentheses around white and I could have said international, someone that would have meant something to an international distributor, I could have probably cast a Chinese actor if I was going to get Chinese money, but just me and Miles Davis, the music, was not enough," replied Don Cheadle.

Release date:

Duration:

1 minute

This clip is from