SUBMITTED BY Scooby
December 9, 2001 — Great article that looks at the making of 'Ali'. Here are some clips:
Since we're on a movie set everyone knows this is really Will Smith and Jon Voight (under about 10 pounds of prosthetic makeup), not a sparring match between the real Ali and the late great ABC sportscaster. But the fun of it isn't just how eerily close the two actors come to capturing the real thing, but that their insults are all improvised: Smith and Voight are entertaining the crew the way club comics would perform after-hours sets for the band, keeping the juices flowing until "Ali" impresario Michael Mann is ready to start shooting the night's final scenes.
The setting is a parking lot outside Miami's Orange Bowl stadium, which Mann is using as backdrop for a scene in "Ali" in which the former champ cajoles Cosell into putting him on TV to hype a comeback that will lead to the epic Rumble in the Jungle showdown in Zaire with George Foreman.
It's hard to take your eyes off Smith. He walks and talks like someone who was a champion of the world. When he rehearses his scenes with Voight, he bobs up and down, gliding across the set like someone free from the force of gravity. Ali's longtime trainer, Angelo Dundee, said he was sold the first time Smith stepped into the ring. "Forget it," Dundee says. "He bounces, he moves. If he ain't Ali, he's a close second."
Check out more at the link below.
(Thanks to Movie Headlines for the heads up)
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