Showtime is developing a scripted limited series centered on boxing icon Muhammad Ali’s conscientious objection to the Vietnam War draft.
In 1967, a dozen of the nation’s top black intellectuals and athletes — including Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor (soon to become Kareem Abdul Jabbar — gathered to vet Ali’s stance on the issue. Eventually, the group supported his cause.
“The Ali Summit” explores the intersection of civil rights and sports that continues to resonate today, and tracks the FBI’s crusade against Ali, Brown and other black leaders in the lead-up to Ali’s arrest for draft evasion at the peak of his boxing career.
Brown and his wife Monique are attached to the project as executive producers.
Jeff and Michael Zimbalist will executive produce, write and direct the series. Jeff Kirschenbaum and Joe Roth will also serve as executive producers.
Ali died in June 2016 of septic shock.