Summary: Don Cheadle (writer/director/producer/actor ), with drummer/producer Vince Wilburn, Jr. (nephew of Miles Davis) at The Landmark in West Los Angeles. Film synopsis: Miles Ahead is a wildly entertaining and moving exploration of one of 20th century music’s creative geniuses, Miles Davis, featuring a career-defining performance by Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Crash) in the title role. In the midst of a dazzling and prolific career at the forefront of modern jazz innovation, Davis virtually disappears from public view for a period of five years in the late 1970s. Alone and holed up in his home, he is beset by chronic pain from a deteriorating hip, his musical voice stifled and numbed by drugs and pain medications. When a wily music reporter, (Ewan McGregor) forces his way into Davis’ house, the two men unwittingly embark on a wild and sometimes harrowing adventure to recover a stolen tape of the musician’s latest compositions. Davis’ mercurial behavior is fueled by memories of his failed marriage to the talented and beautiful dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). Working from a script he co-wrote with Steven Baigelman, Cheadle’s bravura directorial debut is not a conventional biopic but rather a unique, no-holds barred portrait of a singular artist in crisis.
