The forthcoming Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead doesn't just star Don Cheadle, but it also marks the actor's directorial debut. It's taken Cheadle a long time to get it financed, and one of the setbacks was a lack of a white co-star.
As Indiewire reports, Cheadle opened up about his financing struggles during a press junket at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cheadle used an Indiegogo campaign along with his own personal finances to fund the film, but that wasn't enough. Instead, in order to get studios to back the project, he was forced to add a white co-star in Ewan McGregor.
He called the inclusion of a white co-star as "one of the realities of the business that we are in," adding, "There is a lot of apocryphal, not proven evidence that black films don't sell overseas... Having a white actor in this film turned out to actually be a financial imperative."
Watch a clip from Miles Ahead featuring McGregor below.
As Indiewire reports, Cheadle opened up about his financing struggles during a press junket at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cheadle used an Indiegogo campaign along with his own personal finances to fund the film, but that wasn't enough. Instead, in order to get studios to back the project, he was forced to add a white co-star in Ewan McGregor.
He called the inclusion of a white co-star as "one of the realities of the business that we are in," adding, "There is a lot of apocryphal, not proven evidence that black films don't sell overseas... Having a white actor in this film turned out to actually be a financial imperative."
Watch a clip from Miles Ahead featuring McGregor below.
