Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Hart are teaming up for a new project. The two actors are set to star in Peacock’s true crime limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. According to Variety, the show was ordered by the platform in December with Hart attached as the lead.
Will Packer is named as an executive producer alongside the Fatherhood star on the series. It is based on the Packer-produced podcast, Fight Night.
According to the official description, the series is based in Atlanta and takes place during the 1970s. It will tell “the infamous story of how an armed robbery during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life but an entire city’s destiny.”
Samuel L. Jackson attends “The Last Full Measure” Atlanta red carpet screening at SCADshow on January 20, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Variety reported Jackson will star as the notorious gangster Frank Moten, who was nicknamed “the Black Godfather” by New York City tabloids.
The official podcast, which consists of over 10 episodes and was first broadcast in 2020, elaborates on the full storyline as follows:
“On October 26, 1970, Muhammad Ali triumphantly returned to the world of boxing in Atlanta, Georgia. But every national front-page headline the next morning featured the story of one of the biggest heists in history. At the center of it all – a hustler named ‘Chicken Man.’ Fans arrived in Rolls Royces delivered from New York City. Adorned in vibrant fur coats and dripping with diamonds, they grabbed engraved invitations then strutted into the arena. The sold-out crowd stood and cheered when the first-round bell rang, minus two empty seats. After the fight, many celebrating the victory, including top black mafia leaders, headed to Chicken Man’s house with invitation in hand. Instead of women and wine greeting them at the front door, each walked into the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun. On FIGHT NIGHT, J.D. Hudson, one of the first black detectives in Atlanta’s desegregated police force helped lead Muhammed Ali into the ring. The next day, he was assigned to the robbery by the chief of police. When asked by a journalist years later, ‘When did the investigation end?’ J.D. summed it up perfectly, ‘When everybody was dead.’”
Shaye Ogbonna serves as creator and showrunner alongside Jason Horwitch. Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, Packer, and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson, and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts, Jeff Keating and Lars Jacobson executive produce alongside Hart and Packer.
