The first “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight“ trailer has finally been released by HBO Films.
The film takes place in 1967 when, then Heavyweight Champion of the World, Muhammad Ali refused to enlist in the U.S. Army, in protest to the Vietnam War. His public objections to the war angered the establishment which subsequently lead to his conviction and imprisonment. Ali appealed his case, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. As public support for the war waned, support for Ali grew, and the Supreme Court eventually reversed his conviction.
The film stars Christopher Plummer, Frank Langella, Danny Glover, Ed Begley Jr., Barry Levinson, Bob Balaban, and Kathleen Chalfant.
Danny Glover will play Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; Begley, Levinson, Balaban and Chalfant will play Justice Harry Blackmun, Justice Potter Stewart, an advocate for Vietnam veterans, and Justice Marshall Harlan’s wife respectively.
Christopher Plummer plays Harlan, while Frank Langella portrays Chief Justice Warren Burger.
In order to focus more on the Supreme Court judges and their decision making, director Stephen Frears opted not to cast an actor to play Ali and decided to use archival footage of the boxer instead.
The film screened at Cannes this year, and will premiere on HBO on October 5, 8/7c.
This is the second Ali film centered around the prize fighter’s Vietnam legal battle to be released this year; the other is “The Trials of Muhammad Ali,” the feature documentary from Kartemquin Films, which Kino Lorber opened last week.
Take a look at the “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight“ trailer below to see what HBO Films has in store.