One Night in Miami Screenwriter Says Regina King Deserves Medal For Her Work

The screenwriter for One Night in Miami says that Regina King deserves a medal for her work on the film. Kemp Powers helped bring the Amazon feature to life but was ready and willing to give the director her flowers in a conversation with Variety. One Night in Miami has become a bit of a hit for the creative team and platform. The film follows Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke during the boxing champion’s victory over Sonny Liston. Being a fictionalized account, a steady hand would be necessary to bring the project home. King excelled in her directorial debut as audiences were struck by the style of the piece along with the depictions of friendship between these very different men.

“I’d be proud of her because she deserves it,” Powers said of a possible Oscar bid. “She did her job so well that it actually disguises how great a job she did as a director.”

“It was complex as hell to shoot this film that, ostensibly, 50% takes place in one location. Regina figured out a lot of that stuff on the fly,” he added. “I’ve written a script [adapted from his stage play of the same name] that gave a blueprint for the dialogue, but in terms of how to pull this all together and not just bore people to tears, and keep activity and movement going, Regina was just a bottomless pit of great ideas to activate this story.”

Powers also mentioned, “…If you come away from ‘One Night in Miami’ and don’t understand what [King] is capable of, that’s like putting the blinders on, because she activated that story in a way that a lot of other directors wouldn’t have even tried to. As far as I’m concerned, she’s always going to deserve a medal.”

Not too long ago, King thanked the entire cast and crew for all their hard work on HBO’s Watchmen. The series raked in the awards and Amazon is hoping the same is in store for One Night in Miami.

“I just wanted to take another moment to say thank you. Thank you to the incredible Watchmen fans. You rode hard for us and it could not be more appreciated. Playing Sister Night, Angela Abar, was just a singular expense. Words cannot really express what playing her meant to me, but she would not have been as amazing without an incredible support system, and incredible cast. Yahya Abdul-Mateen, I love you, man. I love my castmates, I wish I could name every single one of you: Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Jovan Adepo, Don Johnson, Mr. Louis Gossett Jr., Jeremy Irons, and the list goes on and on and on and on.”

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