[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.]

The Big Picture

‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist’ is a crime drama series on Peacock based on a true-crime podcast about real-life events.
The series follows an armed robbery in Atlanta on the night of Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight in 1970.
Don Cheadle and Kevin Hart team up in the series, exploring the criminal underworld and historical aspects.

The Peacock original series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, based on the true-crime podcast, tells the real-life tale of an armed robbery in Atlanta on the night of Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight in 1970. Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart) hosted an afterparty to celebrate alongside a guest list of the very wealthy but finds himself stuck between gangsters and robbers as the criminal underworld makes brazen moves. And when J.D. Hudson (Don Cheadle), one of the first Black cops on the Atlanta police force, gets drawn in, he teams up with Chicken Man to uncover how it all went wrong.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Cheadle talked about why he wanted to tell this story, the importance of making sure the tone worked, the aesthetic director Craig Brewer brought to the project, and why this was the perfect time to team up with Hart. He also discussed why he hasn’t directed another feature film in nearly a decade and plays coy about just what’s going on with Marvel’s Armor Wars.

Don Cheadle Wanted to Be Accurate With the Historical Aspect of ‘Fight Night’

Collider: When you got a phone call from Kevin Hart, Will Packer and Craig Brewer, and they were pitching this to you, were you immediately sold on what they wanted to do, or are you someone who typically has a lot of questions before you jump onto something?

DON CHEADLE: I was like, “Guys, how much? Let’s get to the number.” No. I did have a lot of questions because when I was reading it, I was like, “We have to make sure we’re in the pocket.” This is a piece that tonally has to work. It’s a very serious thing that we’re dealing with. There’s a historical aspect of it that we absolutely had to get right. These people’s families are still alive and they were real people who existed. There were a lot of hurdles to be clear. Speaking to Kevin and Will and Craig, I understood the seriousness with which they were approaching this and the passion that they all had for it. We never know what it’s gonna be. You just have to take a flier because you have the best people in the right parts and the right positions to accomplish it. I was hopeful that would happen.

Craig Brewer is someone who I’ve been a fan of since Hustle and Flow. He directed the first two and last two episodes of this, so he was able to establish a very clear look. What do you like about the kind of director he is and what he brought to this?

CHEADLE: His aesthetic is very important for this, in establishing not just the way that it looked, but the style in which it was shot, the character dynamics, the focus on who these people were and how we captured them, and his attention to detail. He’s not just the director, but also a producer on it, and was collaborative as far as the writing of the scripts was concerned. He set the tone for the set. When you have these actors, and you have these people assembled, it’s great to ask them what they think, and we were a part of the process. We’re not just living props that don’t bump into the furniture. He was like, “Let me expand on the breadth and depth of the knowledge of your experience and try to elevate the thing.”

Kevin Hart Really Stepped Up His Game for ‘Fight Night’
Image via Peacock

All the characters in this story are connected to Kevin Hart’s character in some way. What did you most enjoy about that dynamic between your characters? How did you find the experience of figuring that out with Kevin Hart?

CHEADLE: Kevin and I have been trying to find something to do together for a long time. It was one of the things that we talked about, when he and Will and Craig called for the part. He was like, “Dude, we’ve been trying to do this for a minute. Let’s figure this out. Let’s find a way to create these characters and tell this story.” It was a lot of fun working with them, and I think he really stepped up his game for this one. He had some big shoes to fill, and I think he filled them.

Do you have a favorite moment between your characters?

CHEADLE: All throughout, it’s good. I like when J.D. steps back and Chicken Man is doing the detective work for a second. And then, J.D. steps forward and he does some BS stuff that Chicken Man would do. What’s great is that they’re learning from each other, as the thing goes on, and understanding what role each of them can play in this. I think the arc of their relationship in the last six episodes is really cool. It was really satisfying to play.

Even Though It’s Been A Decade, Don Cheadle Would Like To Direct Another Feature Film
Image via Icon

Do you know what’s next for you? Would you like to direct again? It will be a decade next year, since you directed Miles Ahead. Is that something that you’re hoping to do?

CHEADLE: Yeah. I’m writing something now, and if I get the gumption to finish it, it’s something I’ll try to push into the world, and I’ll try to direct again. It’s a Herculean task, and you have to really have a thick skin that I’m trying to cultivate more of. It’s antithetical to being an actor, where you’re trying to be porous and sensitive and open. Directors are on their shit and stay on the line and have to fight a lot of battles every day. It’s a different muscle to flex, but when the right thing comes up, it’s the right reason to say yes.

Does it feel even harder to get something like that done now than it did then?

CHEADLE: It is even harder. There’s no question that everything’s harder now, from the shrinkage of studios to the combining of studios. We have two major legacy studios that in the past few weeks have written down a combined total of $15 billion on projects. Everybody chased Netflix as a streamer and blew up their businesses. Places that were making 10 things are not making three. It’s very hard to get anything made and very difficult to get things made that are not easily thought of as being something that’s right over the plate and it’s gonna sell. Everybody’s scared that they’re gonna get fired. It’s a very risk-averse time in our business. But it’s gonna ebb and flow, and we just have to keep pushing and trying to champion those things that we wanna dedicate our time and energy and passion to. Nothing gets made easily. Everything has to be forced into creation. It’s just another time to roll up our sleeves and get after it.

And everything shifts around all the time too. Fight Night was going to be a movie, and then it became a TV show. And the last we heard, Armor Wars was going to go from a TV show to a movie. Is that still happening?

CHEADLE: Now, it’s gonna be a telenovela. It’ll be shadow puppets.

Have you heard any updates on that?

CHEADLE: I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is available to stream on Peacock. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Peacock