Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society and Jay Z’s Roc Nation are set to collaborate on a limited TV series with Amazon Studios about the life of Muhammad Ali.
Jordan’s career took a dramatic upward shift through his lead role in the Creed franchise as Adonis Johnson. Theoretically, the experience through the two films makes him a great fit for the lead role, but due to his close association with the main protagonist in the boxing movies, he has elected to find another star.
Ali’s estate will also be involved in the production as it will reportedly closely retell key moments of Ali’s life.
Key quote
Speaking to Deadline, Jordan said on the series: “It’s a healthy weight to carry, to be able to tell the story of Muhammad Ali. It’s called The Greatest right now and we’re partnered with Roc Nation on the music side of things. It’s a project where we’ve partnered with the estate and we’ll be able to tell this story with no red tape.
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“It’s a limited series that will really dive into the life of Muhammad Ali. I’m not going to be too specific beyond that, but we’ll be able to get to know him in ways we haven’t had a chance to before.”
The project follows a line of dramatic interpretations of the civil rights activist including Will Smith-starrer Ali in 2001 directed by Michael Mann.
On the strategic partnership with the Black Panther star, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said, “There are certain ambitious artists that come in the door and want to work across Amazon, who see the opportunity to positively impact our business and scale their voice across different parts of the company. Michael was the most articulate on how he could do that very specifically.”
There are some other projects in the pipeline between Jordan and Amazon arriving soon too, including Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, which sees Jordan star as former Navy SEAL John Clarke from the Jack Ryan universe. The film is scheduled to release on April 30.
In the interview with Deadline, Jordan’s desire to push towards mogul status as a producer and entrepreneur is noted on several occasions and a partnership with Amazon, across many different vertices including merchandising, is certainly something that can help accommodate that dream.
Source – FORBES
