The Black movie news circuit was abuzz last year about Don Cheadle’s Miles Davis biopic, in which he would play the iconic musician. But then the chatter ceased and folks wondered if the biopic would happen. Cheadle reveals he is struggling to raise money for the movie. He had this to say:

"It’s still grinding. We’re talking about coming onto these films and trying to get the financing for stuff that’s not your standard, down the middle of the road studio movie fare. It’s tough. People think it’s niche, although our treatment of the script, it’s not a biopic. It’s not deep. It’s not serious fare. It’s not a cradle to grave sort of overview of his entire life."

"The movie takes place over a day and a half of his life — a very intense day and a half of his life but a lot of people haven’t even engaged because of what they perceive it’s going to be. They go 'Oh, we don’t want to do a movie like that.' I say 'Have you read it?' they respond,'No, I haven’t read it.' So I say, 'Well, read it and then say you don’t want to do a movie like that.'"

"So it’s having to push through a lot of these things and confront people. Once they read it, they’re like 'Oh, this is great.' So everyone’s really dying to be the second person to say yes and to invest in this film.'" (Excerpt from Shadow and Act)

Movie-making is never an easy task.  Other biopics like Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone and Richard Pryor are also having trouble finding proper fiancing. 

(Photo: Brian Dowling/PictureGroup)