Making a series about Muhammad Ali meant showing more than the boxer’s public image, creator Ben Watkins said at an IndieWire event held in partnership with Prime Video. He wanted “The Greatest” to portray Ali as a young man with a dream, including his fears, flaws and vulnerabilities. Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, supported that approach, Watkins said, because it could make the story more relatable to audiences old and new.
The eight-episode limited series follows Ali’s rise from Olympic gold medalist Cassius Clay to heavyweight champion. Watkins appeared at the event with members of the creative team, including editor Steve Lang, costume designer Marci Rodgers, production designer Elisa Suavé, composer Stanley A. Smith, music editor Jordan Wiggins and music supervisor Robin Urdang.
Contemporary music was one of the show’s defining choices, but finding the right track for its opening fight scene took extensive work. Lang said the team considered about 120 songs while balancing the music with the fight, commentary and crowd reactions. The search eventually led to “Gladiator,” an original song by Wyclef Jean, inspired by a poem Ali hears about a gladiator in the Colosseum. The track appears twice in the first episode and also became the main title music, Wiggins said.
The Colosseum also posed a challenge for Rodgers, who had to stage a quick costume change on camera. With guidance from her mentor, Paul Tazewell, the team designed a way for Ali’s suit to disappear as the camera moved around him. Watkins said the production had initially been told that several elements would not be possible, including filming at the historic site. He said the series became the first television show to shoot in the Colosseum.
The production also recreated an Italian neighborhood from the 1960s. Suavé said her team built period details by hand, including signs, parking meters and gold medals, rather than relying on digital projections. “There was not one world that we didn’t touch or create,” she said.
Smith said the score was recorded with live musicians, including string players. The team used predominantly musicians of color for the strings and, overall, the players were 60 percent women, he said. Urdang added that the production did not use AI for the music.
Watkins credited the team with making an ambitious production work on what he described as a modest television budget. “The Greatest” is streaming on Prime Video.
Sources: IndieWire.