Regina King felt 'One Night in Miami' was the perfect opportunity.
Regina King
The 49-year-old star makes her feature-length directorial debut with the drama flick, which focuses on a fictional meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke in Miami in 1964 and admits she couldn't wait to tackle the project featuring so many prominent African Americans of the era.
Recalling the moment she was sent the script, Regina said: "Oh my god, this is exactly what I'm looking for.
"Am I a part of, or have I witnessed, those conversations? Absolutely. But they've always been private – it felt like an opportunity to tell a true sentiment that has existed within the black community in America forever, but through the eyes of these giants. It spoke to me in a powerful way."
'One Night in Miami' has been praised by critics and has even been tipped for success at the Academy Awards. Regina believes that Oscars success for her movie – as well as Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' would be vindication for female filmmakers.
She told British Vogue magazine: "With the numbers being so off for so long, to be a part of a conversation that's saying you could possibly, finally, see an Academy ceremony with more than one Best Picture or Best Director for a woman is fantastic.
"Being talked about in the same conversation as Zhao is ... wow. It's gratifying."
Regina also hopes that the new guidelines from the Academy to increase diversity in the movie industry and make for "richer storytelling".
She said: "I hope it will encourage people to broaden their perspective and make for richer storytelling.
"The Oscars, at the end of the day, were designed for promotion, and obviously I'm not taking away that it's also to honour filmmakers and artists, but it was the intent with these awards shows to boost ticket sales."
See the full feature in the February issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands Friday 8th January https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/regina-king-interview
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