Mumbai: Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video on Thursday unveiled the official trailer and key art for ‘The Greatest’, the first authorised scripted series chronicling the life of Muhammad Ali.
The series, which will feature newcomer Jaalen Best as Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, will debut all episodes in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide on November 4 on Prime Video.
Set against a changing America, ‘The Greatest’ follows a once-in-a-generation talent fighting for the right to become his own man. Through the fights that made him a champion and the convictions that made him an icon, a young man from Louisville transforms himself into Muhammad Ali, the greatest of all time, according to a release here.
Apart from Best, the series has a star-studded lineup of castmates, including Omari Hardwick as ‘Cassius Clay Sr ’, Dana Gourrier as ‘Odessa Clay,’ Kai Parham as ‘Rudy Clay, ’ Amin Joseph as ‘Sonny Liston, ’ Giovanni Ribisi as ‘Angelo Dundee,’ and Michael Ealy as ‘Malcolm X.’
Ali's wife, Lonnie Ali, serves as an executive producer on ‘The Greatest’, which has been dubbed as the first authorised scripted series about the life of Ali, created and executive produced by Ben Watkins, who also serves as showrunner.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr in 1942, Ali is considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. A global cultural icon, Ali came to be known by the nickname 'the greatest'.
Ali, who converted to Islam, denounced his birth name as a ‘slave name’ and formally changed it to ‘Muhammad Ali’. Ali refused to be drafted into the military because of his opposition to the Vietnam War, a decision that led to his conviction on draft evasion charges and the stripping of his boxing titles. He fought the case successfully.
In 1984, Ali revealed that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He died in 2016 at the age of 74.