Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Live, electric, and brutal



Just read confirmation that Don Cheadle will play the Prince of Darkness in the forthcoming Miles biopic.. here's what he has to do...

17 comments:

steenbeck said...

daunting.

DarceysDad said...

Well that's blown the cobwebs away!

Best of luck, Don !!!!!

Chris said...

But.... from an acting perspective, the trumpet is probably one of the easiest instruments to fake playing, especially if you stand fairly motionless with your face to the ground, as Miles did. As a major part of the sound is made by the tongue/mouth, only an expert can tell if the fingers are 'right'. The piano, guitar, violin & even the drums are much harder to fake as placement of the fingers dictates the sound you hear.
Good thrash, btw, nilpferd. As DsD says, it reaches right into the corners!

Unknown said...

Big ask, but I'm looking forward to it, even though I'm bound to be disappointed with the span of events seen on screen.

Unknown said...

Woody Allen to play Dave Liebman?..

nilpferd said...

Glad to have helped with the cobwebs, people!
Excellent suggestion, Ejay.. I was thinking of asking for suggestions for the other band members..
Samuel Jackson with a Pulp Fiction afro for Mtume, Isaac de Bankole standing motionless to play Michael Henderson's bass guitarist, and Forrest Whitaker with a ZZ Top beard for Pete Cosey?

Unknown said...

Back to the 40s, what about using Whitaker to reprise his role as Charlie Parker, or even better, Charles Mingus!
Now what about the women in his life, Juliette Greco, Frances, Betty Davis, Cicely Tyson., ooh how about the actual Cicely Tyson as his mother. Is she still alive?

nilpferd said...

Not sure but I think she made an appearance in a recent BBC docu.
I'd have no problem using Whitaker for multiple roles, sure he'd be up for it.
In other roles we'd definitely need Gil Evans and Teo Macero, of course. Any ideas?

Unknown said...

James Gandolfini or maybe Jeff Bridges for Teo.
For Gil, Ian McKellen, if he were younger.
Adrien Brody for Bill Evans maybe?
Terrence Howard for Jack deJohnette, or Tony Williams. But again he might be too old
Maybe Bunk from The WIre for Mingus.
This has got me going.

Unknown said...

Oh I know, Terrence Howard to play Duke Ellington.

nilpferd said...

Brody is good, the cheekbones are definitely Evansesque. Macero is tricky; Bridges is too tall, Gandolfini too wide. I'm thinking Danny Aiello, anno Do the right thing. Possibly Steve Buscemi?
I know- Daniel Auteuil!
Dub his voice for a wise cracking New Yorker.
Howard could also play multiple roles- Williams would be a good fit, Quincy Jones too.
Willie Nelson might be a good wild card for an older Gil Evans.
Now I'm thinking Forrest Whitaker has to play Adderley as well as Parker and Mingus.
RZA as Coltrane, obviously.
Danny Glover as Ron Carter, Hancock would get away as himself.
Besides Wesley Snipes as Philly Joe, I'd take actual drummers- Brian Blade as Tony Williams, Foster and DeJohnette as themselves.

Shoey said...

Morgan Freeman as Art Blakey & Denz Washington for a John Coltrane cameo & spinoff movie. Not a fan of the Cheadle, would replace him with someone cool like Idris Elba.

nilpferd said...

Good picks shoey, particularly like the JC spinoff idea- think we're looking at a hard-bop franchise here, all the 50's Miles alumni could have their own feature.
I guess like Ejay I don't have much expectation I'll like the biopic either, probably too many conflicting interested parties for it to be really good, you also wonder if they'll portray Miles' less admirable side. Cheadle at least seems to have the right look to convincingly play him, if he can get the self-awareness right.

Carole said...

We started listening to this but both thought that we'd have to come back and listen again when we were in the right mood.

Pretty hardcore stuff.

nilpferd said...

It is one of the hardest edged clips I've seen of this band.
They did go further out- the March 1974 Dark Magus concert is more "industrial" and wierder- but this is certainly the most intense performance I've heard from this particular band.
Hits the spot with me at the moment, but I definitely agree you have to be in the right mood.

Shoey said...

& Samuel L looks like he was separated at birth from Herbie Hancock.

sourpus said...

I would have commented earlier, but I was in a jazz trance..