Taraji P. Henson is reuniting with Terrence Howard and Kevin Hart for a new Will Packer-produced limited series based on the real-life robbery that took place during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight.
Peacock‘s limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist sees Henson take on the role of Vivian Thomas, a savvy businesswoman and mistress to Chicken Man (played by Hart), Deadline reported. Howard will portray New Jersey mobster Richard “Cadillac” Wheeler, a close associate of the enigmatic ’70s Harlem narcotics syndicate called the Council of 12.
Hart’s Chicken Man is a street hustler focused on achieving higher status in the crime world. The series brings Henson and Hart back together, who previously worked on various projects including Think Like a Man and Not Easily Broken. It also reunites Henson with Howard and Craig Brewer, with whom she collaborated on Hustle & Flow
and Empire.The cast also includes the legendary Samuel L. Jackson and Dexter Darden, who will play Muhammad Ali. Set in Atlanta, the series shows how the armed robbery changed not just Wheeler’s life but the entire city’s destiny. All plotted around Ali’s first comeback fight on October 26, 1970, following a three-year hiatus.
The real-life money heist occurred at a post-fight
gathering and became one of the most audacious robberies in Atlanta’s history. This criminal endeavor connected an underground network from Georgia’s capital to New York and received global media attention resulting in the city’s moniker as “The Black Mecca.” The series narrows its focus on the central figure who orchestrated the hustle and the detective who was tasked with unraveling it, notably one of the earliest Black investigators in Atlanta’s police force.The series is based on the podcast Fight Night, which was produced by Will Packer along with iHeartPodcasts and Doghouse Pictures. No release date has been set.
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