The Marvels and Secret Invasion star Samuel L. Jackson has been cast in Peacock’s upcoming Muhammad Ali limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. Jackson will play the role of Frank Moten, a real-life drug kingpin from New Jersey, who operated in NYC as the “Black Godfather” of the drug game (as named by the tabloids).
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Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is being adopted from the iHeartPodcast series of the same name from 2021. The synopses for the podcast explain how this story of Muhammad Ali’s return fight against Jerry Quarry in 1970 (after being banned from boxing) turned into one of the wildest crime/heist stories now being told. The after-party for the fight became the target of a heist at gunpoint, with many rich, powerful, and/or famous figures ending up in front of the gun:
On October 26, 1970, Muhammad Ali triumphantly returned to the world of boxing in Atlanta, Georgia. But every national front-page headline the next morning featured the story of one of the biggest heists in history. At the center of it all – a hustler named “Chicken Man”. Fans arrived in Rolls Royces delivered from New York City. Adorned in vibrant fur coats and dripping with diamonds, they grabbed engraved invitations then strutted into the arena. The sold-out crowd stood and cheered when the first-round bell rang, minus two empty seats. After the fight, many celebrating the victory, including top black mafia leaders, headed to Chicken Man’s house with invitation in hand. Instead of women and wine greeting them at the front door, each walked into the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun.
On FIGHT NIGHT, J.D. Hudson, one of the first black detectives in Atlanta’s desegregated police force helped lead Muhammed Ali into the ring. The next day, he was assigned to the robbery by the chief of police. When asked by a journalist years later, “When did the investigation end?” J.D. summed it up perfectly, “When everybody was dead.”
Kevin Hart will star in Fight Night, as well as producing the limited series for Universal Television/Peacock. Shaye Ogbonna and Will Packer developed the series, while executive producer Jason Horwitch (Echo 3) will partner with Ogbonna as showrunners on the series; Craig Brewer (Black Snake Moan, Dolemite Is My Name, Hustle & Flow) will direct the first two episodes. Producers 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.
