Michael B. Jordan and Jay-Z are putting their companies together with Amazon Studios to produce a limited series on the life of Muhammad Ali, according to Deadline.
Jordan, likely familiar to boxing fans particularly as the star of the Creed franchise, won’t be playing Ali, but his Outlier Society company and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation will serve as executive producers on the series.
As one of the most famous human beings ever, let alone boxers or even sports stars in general, Ali’s turbulent, fascinating life has been fertile ground for film over the decades. There have been countless documentaries about his life and career, and there was also the 2001 biopic Ali from director Michael Mann, starring Will Smith.
Here’s part of what Jordan told Deadline about the series:
“It’s called The Greatest right now and we’re partnered with Roc Nation on the music side of things. It’s a project where we’ve partnered with the estate and we’ll be able to tell this story with no red tape. It’s a limited series that will really dive into the life of Muhammad Ali. I’m not going to be too specific beyond that, but we’ll be able to get to know him in ways we haven’t had a chance to before.”
Are you excited for this? The limited series format has seen a huge rise in prestige content in recent years, and there’s certainly a lot to work with when you’re talking Muhammad Ali, in and out of the ring.