Don Cheadle To Make Feature Directorial Debut With “Kill The Trumpet Player”

Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Ocean’s Eleven, Iron Man 2/3), will make his feature directorial debut with a tale about a few dangerous days in the life of jazz legend, Miles Davis. Cheadle will be wearing several hats for the film, entitled “Kill The Trumpet Player.” Aside from directing the film for BiFrost Pictures, he has co-written the script with Steven Baigelman, and he will also star as Davis. Ewan McGregor and Zoe Saldana will co-star in the film, which presently doesn’t have a release date.

According to the press release, the film will be about Davis:

“The virtuoso, fighter and genius, as he bursts out of his silent period and conspires with a Rolling Stone writer (McGregor) to steal his music back.”

Daniel Wagner, of BiFrost, had this to say about Cheadle’s project:

“Don is one of our generation’s greatest actors, and this is the role he was born to play. His take on the conventional biopic of one of music’s most celebrated icons is cinematic “jazz” and too unique to resist. It fits naturally with BiFrost’s commitment to support talent and their passion projects, so we are thrilled to work with Don on his feature directorial debut.”

Jazz legend Herbie Hancockwill also participate in the project- seemingly as an advisor, since he was a close collaborator of the late Davis.

Source: BiFrost Pictures