Ali is a American
biographical film directed by
Michael Mann. The film tells the story of
boxing icon Muhammad Ali (
Will Smith) from 1964 to 1974 featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from
Sonny Liston, his conversion to
Islam, criticism of the
Vietnam War, banishment from boxing, his return to fight
Joe Frazier in 1971, and, lastly, his reclaiming the title from
George Foreman in the
Rumble in the Jungle fight of 1974.
The movie also discusses the great social and political upheaval in the
United States following the assassinations of
Malcolm X and
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Production
The movie was written by
Gregory Allen Howard, Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson,
Eric Roth and
Michael Mann. The original script by Howard and Rivele was significantly modified by Roth and Mann. Howard was originally commissioned to write an Ali script by producer
Jon Peters in 1994, but it was never produced.
