Page 524 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

It helped, too, that the pressure was on. The cultural weight of a story like “One Night in
Miami” isn’t lost on Ben-Adir; when else have we seen four powerful Black male figures
speaking candidly about how race shaped their experience in the public eye?
Considering the groundswell of support for Black Lives Matter in 2020, it’s a story that’s
even more timely today.

“After we wrapped, we went into lockdown. And then George Floyd happened, and the
world sort of flipped upside down,” Ben-Adir says. “There was this feeling that [we]
wanted to get this film cut and put together and out as soon as possible because the
message in the film is really important for now, for these times.

“There’s something about that responsibility and that pressure and the significance of
this project—not only playing Malcolm, but playing Malcolm with Regina, was just so
deeply, deeply exciting. I’ve been waiting for something like this for years; you dream of
that moment. It was a huge honor. My only responsibility to myself and to the project [is]
you have to use every single minute that you have to make sure you put every part of
your mind, body, and soul into this. You have to give it everything that you can.”

Now having completed his most impactful project to date, Ben-Adir only hopes to
continue his journey and his career with the same guiding mentality in place.

“I think as time moves on, so much of the love for this thing is trying to find projects to
be involved in that have that power to move people to laugh or cry or think—just cool
fucking stories that can touch people,” he says. “I think that’s beautiful.”

This story originally appeared in the Dec. 17 issue of Backstage Magazine.
Subscribe here.

Photographed by Zoe McConnell at the Ministry in London