Did You Know?

Michael Mann and Eric Roth, the writing team behind The Insider, heavily revised Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson's script (a Writer's Guild arbitration ruled on 1 October 2001 that all four would have credit for the screenplay).

Will Smith gained 35 pounds to match Ali's 220.

Shortly after Ali knocks out George Foreman, there is a close-up of Ali with what appears to be a lone white butterfly flying behind him. This is no doubt an allusion to 'Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee'.

As the project lay in "development hell" for more than a decade, several directors attempted to make the film until Michael Mann was finally chosen. The list included: Oliver Stone, Spike Lee, and Norman Jewison. Oliver Stone was commissioned as the project's director at one point. Stone's very first choice for the role of Muhammad Ali was Denzel Washington. However, when Washington signed on to another boxer biopic, The Hurricane, Stone opted to instead make Any Given Sunday. "The Hurricane" was made by Norman Jewison in the end.

In the edited TV version, director Michael Mann is credited instead as "Alan Smith", an obvious variant of Alan Smithee.

Chicago's Northwest Armory, at 1551 North Kedzie Avenue, doubled as both New York's Audubon Ballroom backstage and Houston's induction center. The wall to the left as Malcolm X walks down the hallway moments before his death is the opposite side of the wall on the viewer's right when seeing Ali on the drill floor refusing induction. The wall at the end of the hallway and the door through which X walks were constructed for the film, as was the trim around the supply room doors along the side. Unusual for films, the travel through the induction sequence accurately depicts the same building's exterior and interior; the cars pull up in front of the armory on the Kedzie side, the actors walk through the Kedzie foyer, and onto the drill floor, consistent with the building's actual layout. The drill floor was also featured in the video for R. Kelly's 'I Believe I Can Fly'.

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