At birth he was named Cassius Marcellus Clay, like his father, but that name belonged to a white politician, a slave owner who had become an abolitionist, and to his own father, and to distance himself from both after converting to Islam he changed it to Muhammad Ali, a choice awkward and courageous for a tall Black boy from Louisville, Kentucky, still living in a time dominated by racism, and who would have refused, as a conscientious objector, to fight in Vietnam. But he was, indeed, the greatest, and The Greatest is precisely the title of the series that tells his story, produced with the support of his last wife, Lonnie, whose first season in 8 episodes will arrive on Prime Video on November 4 and will recount the portion of his life that begins with the gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics and ends in 1964 when, at just twenty-two, he captured the heavyweight boxing title by defeating the reigning champion Sonny Liston, “the ugly and big bear,” as Ali used to call him. To bring this series to television required the dedication and care of the showrunner, screenwriter and director of the first two episodes, Ben Watkins, but above all the extraordinary performance (not only for the impressive natural physical resemblance) of the 28-year-old Jaalen Best, in his first leading role, which will make the heart race and the eyes widen for all fans of the boxer and of boxing. In a cast of notable caliber, a talented and beloved actor like Giovanni Ribisi was chosen to portray the legendary coach of Ali, Angelo Dundee. They arrived in Rome, where the opening episode begins, to present it to the press; Watkins, Best and Ribisi were interviewed by us, and we also stayed to attend the interesting and participatory press conference.
During the long public meeting there was talk of many topics, starting with how Jaalen immersed himself in the role, a year of preparation during which (in the series these are four years) he had to lose and regain pounds according to the various phases of the boxer’s life and learn to box, while at the same time he had to portray the man and make him as credible as possible, without mimicking him (and we assure you he succeeded). He summarized the challenge this way: It was a big responsibility from the very beginning. The easiest part was looking like him physically, but that was only half the job. The rest involved studying countless clips available online, his interviews and the true stories of people who knew him. His family was an important part of the process and I was able to speak with them. When you consider all this, there are plenty of resources for an actor like me who seeks—and carries the great responsibility—of stepping into the shoes of a major icon. Speaking about the figure of Angelo Dundee, Ali’s trainer for 21 years, Giovanni Ribisi said it came naturally precisely thanks to the relationship formed with his partner on screen: The truth is I was so involved with this actor, Jaalen, in what he did and in his preparation and commitment to this role that it was easy for me to find the key to feeling the connection between them. And I also think about what kind of person he was. It was a joy for me to go to work every day.
Ben Watkins explains how his vision is fresh and different from the abundant material, both fiction and non-fiction, about Muhammad Ali: I have always known, when I decided to tell this story, that it had to be different in some way, because we’re talking about one of the most famous people ever. There are countless documentaries, stories, more than one film, Broadway shows and cartoons about him. What could I do to offer a new perspective? The first rule was not to put into the series what you see in documentaries, even if I do exaggerate a bit because obviously all the major events of his life are included, but that was the intention. It had to be a series that opened the curtain to reveal something far more intimate. For this reason it helped to tell the first part of his life, because most people, when you say Muhammad Ali, imagine a fully formed legend. Here we see him in the making. So setting a coming-of-age story gave us the chance to disconnect from what we knew and present him as a young man at the start of his journey. We managed to do this and to show all the connections and behind-the-scenes moments that helped shape him in an era when he had big dreams but no idea whether he would achieve them.
A this point, Jaalen Best confirms the essential contribution of Lonnie, the boxer’s widow: For me Lonnie was incredibly special and I remember our first meeting; she weighed me with her approving glance and then I walked in front of her and she told me “you have his same gait.” It was an important reassurance I needed to know I could portray him and that the people who were close to him would see that similarity in me. She was on set during the shooting and after we finished a scene she would come to reassure me, saying things like “it’s exactly how he was.” It was wonderful and it gave me the confidence I needed to tell the story authentically. Returning to the chemistry between Ali and his trainer, Ribisi (who appears in the first two episodes but fully enters into the story from the third) remarks: Our chemistry largely came from our off-screen relationship, and this, in a way, shaped what happened on screen. In one scene—for example, my character was very nervous about the way Cassius behaved, because he seemed not to take the fight seriously; I think it was around episode four or five. My character then climbs into the ring to pull him aside and begins to talk to him, saying “You need to start taking charge, you need to use the left, etc.” And Jaalen paused, we looked at each other and started laughing, and then laughing again, and it was fantastic; it was one of those small moments that somehow says a great deal about what their relationship was supposed to be.
Among the things Ben Watkins discovered thanks to Lonnie’s contribution, to friends and family of Ali, there are some things that were previously unknown: I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and yet I was surprised; some of these things are small and serve to humanize the character, such as the fact that he only liked mustard on hamburgers and that as a teenager he was shy with girls. But other things are bigger and very personal, like his relationship with his mother, whom he loved deeply, and the relationship with his father, who was a great inspiration but also a source of conflict because the closer he came to fulfilling his dreams, the more it reminded him that his father had not achieved his own. Discovering these things really helped me give concreteness to the story by centering it on a person, a human being with whom we can all identify. We can all understand the weight of family ties, the good and the bad, and the fears we may feel before taking the next step in life. All of this made him human and yet made me admire him even more—this was a young man trying to become a man who defends his beliefs and who says “I won’t renounce my faith even if that means I might lose the chance to win the title.” And he is someone who does this, not a superhero, and that makes me admire him even more.
To conclude this synthesis of an interview that would deserve a verbatim transcription, we return to the beginning, why it was important, from several viewpoints, to start the story of the great champion inside the Colosseum in 1960, when Ali had just won the gold medal at the Games:
It’s a notion I had from the start, the fact that he won the gold medal in Rome in the land and the place, the Colosseum, where you imagine gladiators, which is what boxers are, and the idea that this man, the greatest boxer of all time, began his journey in the Mecca of gladiators—that was very important to me. I also thought that if you look at Rome, all of Italy, but especially Rome, you realize how eternal these monuments are, they speak to you; you can picture the people who lived when they were built, but when you arrive here you feel the same sense of admiration and fascination. So I thought the young Cassius Clay came here and felt a sense of lineage with the gladiators, but also this broader sense of greatness and immortality. (…) Everyone in Kentucky knew who Cassius Clay was, but it was with the 1960 Rome Olympics that the rest of the world knew him. It was perfect to kick off the show. We often spoke about how the stars aligned for this series across the production, and one of the first alignments is that the career of this man began in Rome. Thanks to our friends here, to the city of Rome and to the Commission we were able to shoot inside the Colosseum, The Greatest is the first TV series to be filmed there, and this is not only proof of good fortune but also a testament to the people of Rome and the Colosseum who understood the meaning of this story. We asked: why us? Why are we the first? And they told us: first of all it is part of our history, not just yours, and secondly it is for what Muhammad Ali means to the world. In my research I realized it was important to begin in Rome because that experience was foundational for him; it changed his life, not only because he won the gold medal and that signified the start of a great career, but because for the first time he could see how things could be. For a boy growing up in a segregated society to see so many ethnicities and people from different backgrounds mixing and living together opened his eyes to this possibility, and once you’ve seen it you cannot go back. And the question is: what happens when you return home? Will you begin to fight for a culture and a society that reflect this kind of harmony? And this does not mean everyone will get along; it does not mean everything becomes perfect overnight, but it is the direction we should strive for. We aspire to a culture that is interconnected, and Rome served as a prime example of that, and the Olympics in particular because there were cultures from all around the world in one place for the same reason, even if only for a month. It is a great example of what we should all aim to achieve, namely what we all have in common, rather than focusing on differences.
In short, the themes The Greatest touches are numerous and it does so convincingly and spectacularly, besides presenting to new generations a true legend, both athletic and human. From November 4, do not miss this series on Prime Video.
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