For Shaye Ogbonna, assembling an A-list roster of talent for “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” was a blessing for which he cannot take any credit.
“They wouldn’t do it if the material wasn’t great,” the series creator humbly told TheWrap of working with stars like Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Chloe Bailey, Don Cheadle and Taraji P. Henson.
The Peacock limited series outlines the true story of how an Atlanta after-party for Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight turned into a million dollar robbery, involving some of the biggest Black gangsters and money-movers in the nation.
Ogbonna believed this story would be an opportunity to highlight the origins of how the heist established his hometown of Atlanta as the “Black Mecca.” The writer-producer also saw the potential for some of the biggest Black actors in the business to skyrocket this project to another level.
“I was always influenced by movies like ‘Boomerang’ and ‘Harlem Nights’ and ‘Uptown Saturday Night,’ where you just see a bunch of Black stars get together and let them cook. I always wanted to do that. That was why I had said Black ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’” Ogbonna explained. “But instead of Black ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’ I wanted us to create our own legacy piece with great African American talent that you just don’t get a chance to see work together.”
While Hart is a bonafide movie star who has appeared in some television series, this was his first big swing at this kind of project. He stars as Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, the part-time Atlanta hustler who finds himself with the opportunity of a lifetime.
“This is possibly one of the biggest moments for me in my career and not because of me, but because of Hartbeat and what we’re trying to do,” the comedian told TheWrap. “The association of A-list talent working with us as a brand, I mean, for me, it doesn’t get bigger and it doesn’t get better.”
“Fight Night” is based on Jeff Keating’s true-crime podcast of the same name. The six-part podcast series introduced many people to this crime for the first time, including executive producer Will Packer.
“Are you kidding me? How have I never heard this? How is this already not some type of incredible content piece?,” the “Girls Trip” EP said. “Despite not being a huge fan of producing period pieces, although I’ve done it before, I saw an opportunity to tell a story in a way that would be very cool and have a contemporary feel while still being authentic to the time period.”
Henson, who stars as Chicken Man’s mistress and a hustler herself, also wasn’t familiar with the heist until she was approached for this series. She told TheWrap she had no idea Atlanta’s “economic boom” stemmed from that one night.
To stay true to the material and the time period as much as possible, they filmed “Fight Night” in Atlanta where it all went down. Jackson, who stars as “The Black Godfather” Frank Moten, was actually living in the Georgia capital at the time of the robbery.
“Atlanta’s grown, but to be able to shoot this particular film and disguise Atlanta as a 1970s place … it’s kind of easy once you get out of downtown Atlanta, when you go into the real heart of Atlanta, it looks just like it used to look,” the “Avengers” actor shared. “We actually shot in the house where the robbery took place, which is right around the corner from where my wife grew up, so all of those things are still there. You can still tell the story and have the flavor of 1970 right there.”
Chloe Bailey, who was born in Atlanta, said standing on the same carpets and tile of where the events took place helped her tap into her character that much more.
“Atlanta’s actually a character in the series, and we take people to places they may have never seen before on camera,” executive producer Bryan Smiley added. “We spent so much time trying to get those details right because, honestly, authenticity is what makes this story so special and everything from the language to the hair to the wardrobe, I think we nailed that part.”
“Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” is now streaming on Peacock.
