The long-awaited non-biopic biopic of legendary jazz man Miles Davis at last has a trailer, and a release date (in the US at least; tbd on Australia).
Hitting theatres April 1, Miles Ahead is the guns-blazing story of Davis (Don Cheadle) circa 1979, a time when the jazz genius finds himself in a state of “artistic paralysis” and on a mad hunt to recover a missing recording held hostage by Columbia Records. He drags along Dave Brill (Ewan McGregor), a Rolling Stone reporter trying to write his “come-back story”, and the result is an erratic, passionate story dripping with attitude and 1970’s antiestablishmentarianism.
“If you’re gonna tell the story, come with some attitude, man!”
The decision to avoid the typical ‘life-and-times’ biopic by Cheadle – who also made his directional debut with the film – was to avoid the biopic trope of focusing on the highs and lows of a person’s life, and stay true to the character of Davis.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cheadle said:
“I thought, especially with someone like Miles Davis, whose life seemed to very antithetical to that, and whose art was so mercurial and spontaneous and not dedicated to any sort of form that he had done before. He went on to the next thing and he kind of never looked back. I thought it would really be totally anathema to him to do something that felt standard, so to speak.”
The film premiered at the 2015 New York Film Festival, and hits US theatres April 1. We’ll keep ‘ya posted on a potential Aussie release date. 
