'Iron Man' star eyes crowd-funding for Miles Davis pic
LOS ANGELES - US actor Don Cheadle is perhaps best known as Robert Downey Jr's sidekick in the "Iron Man" films. Now, he is using his celebrity muscle to make a movie about jazz icon Miles Davis.
But he needs more cash for the project -- and has turned to crowd-funding website Indiegogo to make up the shortfall weeks before he makes his directorialdebut shooting the relatively low-budget movie.
British blockbuster actor Ewan McGregor is also adding his star power to the long-gestating project, in which Cheadle will star as the "Kind of Blue" trumpet player.
"There are a lot of different mechanisms that go into us being able to get our budget, not least of which is me putting money in myself, which is supposed to be a cardinal sin in movie making," he told AFP.
"But I'm doing it because I believe in it and I want to do it," added the 49-year-old African American actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for 2004's "Hotel Rwanda."
Cheadle -- who is due to return as "Iron Man" character Colonel James Rhodes in comic book blockbuster sequel "Avengers: Age of Ultron" next year – says he grew up with Davis's music.
AFP