Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features EditorWhen Eli Goree was cast as Cassius Clay, the boxer who would become Muhammad Ali, in “One Night in Miami,” he was the most prepared actor you could find.
That’s because he had begun almost two years prior, when he auditioned for the role of Ali in a different film, to be directed by Ang Lee.“I started preparing by gaining weight, learning the accent, going through the audition process,” Goree says.
The role ended up going to “some other actor out of England” — ironically, it was Goree’s future “Miami” co-star Kingsley Ben-Adair, though the film has yet to be made.
But Goree felt destined to play Ali.“I believed that someone would make another Cassius Clay film someday and I wanted to be prepared.
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