Roger Ebert
Just one Oscar
Jamie Foxx
“That Guy” Award
Tentatively, Barry Shabaka Henley
Scorsese or Spielberg
Martin Scorsese
The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award · 1:27:13
A film about attorney Chauncey Eskridge representing both Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali is proposed.
Another take says Smith is at his best here when acting without dialogue.
The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson · 1:44:41
Bill Simmons: The line is stated and accepted as the life lesson.
Selected cast credits · Film reference
In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.
The opening through the Liston weigh-in
Will Smith’s commercial peak, the ascending-and-veteran ensemble, Ron Silver, and young Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
Committed athletic-role preparation, Howard Cosell’s voice, and the slowed bell-rung boxing effect
Jamie Foxx and Giancarlo Esposito together, James Toney’s acting, the Foreman heavy-bag image, sports-media cameos, “The Champ Is Here” sample, Smith’s fighting credibility, the Malcolm X structure, and the opening music staging
The speed-bag image, purposeful ramp walk, Foreman-fight entrance, dark Zaire arrival, and overhead-to-behind running shot are nominated.
Zaire
Jamie Foxx as Bundini Brown
The three-year narrative jump; the relationship material; Belinda’s confrontation before the Foreman fight
R. Kelly’s soundtrack presence and Ali remembering a woman from when she was an 11-year-old student
Jon Voight as Howard Cosell
The panel proposes a new category here.
Flex pick · Craig Horlbeck
Three separate takes propose a Chauncey Eskridge film, praise Smith’s silent acting, and recenter the biopic on Ali and Frazier’s three fights.
Will Smith initially resisted the role until Ali personally asked; Denzel Washington is considered and rejected as too small for the heavyweight physicality.
Tentatively, Barry Shabaka Henley
Mykelti Williamson as Don King
Spike Lee as director; Oliver Stone; James Toney as a performance swap
Smith as an Ali pallbearer, Smith and Mann contributing salaries after the budget overrun, Ali visiting the set, and Albert Hall’s roles in Ali and Malcolm X
Giancarlo Esposito’s Cassius Clay Sr., watching his son’s rise
Flex pick · Van Lathan
No affirmative selection
Bundini
Tom Hanks as Howard Cosell
Reversed Ellis Quarry/MLK chronology; disputed Cosell Supreme Court notification; missing date cards; Ali’s too-fast Zaire speech
A ten-hour prestige series
Pete Postlethwaite as Bundini Brown and Ted Levine as the FBI agent
Why didn’t more boxers try Liston’s glove trick? Did Liston throw the second fight?
The signed hand tape, first-Liston-fight robe, and vintage gloves
“Free ain’t easy; free is real”
When We Were Kings and Malcolm X
Michael Mann (over time); immediate vote split among Mann, Jamie Foxx, and Will Smith
