Page 526 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

eight years. He’s wearing a copper-colored sweater, a lavender beanie and a shiny
band on his ring finger--"an engagement ring," he says (his reps declined to

comment further on that). “And I think part of it was terror. I think subconsciously

there was adrenaline.”

At 34, Ben-Adir has starred in a number of acclaimed projects in the last few years—
mostly in supporting roles, but he’s slowly building a reputation for the way he

disappears into characters. His breakout moment may be here now: One Night in
Miami imagines the real conversation that took place on the evening of February

25th, 1964 between Muhammed Ali (at the time still known as Cassius Clay), Jim
Brown, Sam Cooke and Malcolm X at Miami’s Hampton House Motel, one of the

era's segregated African American hotels, after Ali’s title win against Sonny Liston.

The film, which is also the actress Regina King’s directorial debut, is a compelling
ensemble piece, delivering equal parts humor, camaraderie and introspection on the

pivotal, legacy-defining decisions each man was wrestling with at that time. Ben-Adir
provides the story’s emotional center, depicting the ardency of a conflicted man who

would be murdered just one year later.

Portraying one of Black culture’s most revered figures is a tall order, but Ben-Adir
has already been there: The most nervous he’s ever been was when he played

Malcolm X’s political and temperamental opposite, Barack Obama, in Showtime’s

recent The Comey Rule. He took three days off from filming Miami to shoot the
miniseries in Toronto. “I was like, Jesus fucking Christ, what have I got myself into?

I'm like, 25 years too young. But as soon as I got the words out it was fine,” he said.
Ben-Adir’s casting continues the trend of Black British actors getting big roles as

African-Americans that stretches through Thandie Newton in Beloved to David
Oyelowo as Martin Luther King in Selma. There’s been backlash from Black

American actors in the past, but King, speaking with GQ over email, is succinct about
her reasons for choosing Ben-Adir: “I think the best actor for the role should play the

role.”

Ben-Adir was born in the London neighborhood of Kentish Town, and when I

mistakenly say Kensington, he’s quick to correct me. “Don’t say Kensington because
Kensington makes me look like a real posh boy,” he says playfully. His mother, who

is Black, and his father, who is white British, weren’t together but were both very