The Miles Davis Movie Blog Celebrates One-Year Anniversary; Actual Miles Davis Movie Nowhere To Be Found

On June 17th 2008 I wrote a quick post about the official Miles Davis website and how I thought it could be much better. The original idea for this wordpress Blog was to be like what you are seeing now over at Miles Davis Online – basically a hub for All Things Miles Davis.

But then I decided to embark on chronicling every minute detail about the Miles Davis Biopic, a project with a long and frustrating history of trying to get produced for the silver screen.

One year later I could not be happier that I took on the endeavor.

Different from say tracking the news and opinions about a film you know is in production and will eventually go through the usual casting-shooting-marketing-hype gauntlet prior to release, following the Miles Davis Movie has been more difficult because, well, there’s really not been a lot of news.

A few quotes from Cheadle here, a comment from one of the producers there, but essentially the project, as far as I know, is on a slow burn. Yep, Don Cheadle is still on board to star and direct, and a script is out there somewhere, but finding a steady stream of news to post is problematic.

So, like Miles Davis himself, we improvised. And out of that is where I have had the most fun so far.

There have been posts upon posts about what the movie poster should look like; who should be cast to play important roles; when the movie should open; what the social media strategy might be; what songs must be featured; what scenes have to be included in the movie; is it better off as an HBO miniseries; what are the expectations…

You get the picture.

In a sense we’ve explored a movie where this isn’t one – yet.

But that’s been part of the great fun. People are generally interested in this project. It’s a movie most folks believe should be made, a story that has all the makings of a phenomenal cinema experience. Does it have the broad, commercial appeal of “Dark Knight?” No, but if you like music biopics like “Ray,” “Amadeus” and “Walk the Line,” (among many other good ones) then a movie about jazz legend Miles Davis fits the bill.

The comments, opinions and thoughts about everything and anything related to the Miles Davis Biopic have been terrific to read, and I truly appreciate everyone who has chimed in over the past year.

If you follow the Blog you probably started to see more non-movie content about Miles Davis, which is why I finally launched Miles Davis Online. But even though I’m happy about the new website, I remain faithfully committed to tracking the Miles Davis Movie until the day I am seated in a movie theatre watching the damn thing on screen.

Between jumbo, Hollywood blockbusters and a poker addiction hobby taking up all of Don Cheadle’s time, I don’t know how long it’s going to take for the Miles Davis Movie to get revved up in front of cameras, but we’ll get there.

To borrow and badly manipulate one of my favorite lines of dialogue from Apocalypse Now, as delivered by Robert Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore:

“Someday this Miles Davis movie is gonna get made …”

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by the Miles Davis Movie Blog this past year to say hello, or just share thoughts about the biopic. I am very appreciative of the support and kind words.

We covered a lot of ground in Year 1, and believe me I have plenty more to say about what the movie poster should look like! But here’s hoping in year two we get lots of good news about the Miles Davis Movie.

Thanks!

Sincerely,
Jeffrey D. Hyatt