Filmmaker Kemp Powers on Bringing 'One Night in Miami' and 'Soul' to the Screen

'Kemp Powers is the co-director and co-screenwriter for Pixar’s newest film, Soul which premiered at the end of last month. This week sees the release of One Night in Miami, which he adapted for the screen from his own play, and marks the directorial debut of actor Regina King. The film taps into Powers’s interests as a self-described history buff. And it was inspired by a brief section he came across in a book about sports and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, detailing what happened after Muhammad Ali won a fight to become Heavyweight Champion of the World on February 25, 1964. Ali spent much of that night in a hotel room with civil rights leader Malcolm X, football player Jim Brown, and singer Sam Cooke. And while little is known about what the four actually discussed, Powers used the real-life event as a jumping-off point for his work. Powers joins The Takeaway to discuss his work on One Night in Miami and Soul.'