Portraying any real-life figure is a daunting task for an actor. To do it with the explicit blessing of the subject’s family adds an entirely different level of pressure to get it absolutely right. For Jaalen Best, who portrays boxing champion Muhammad Ali in the new Prime original series The Greatest, that immense weight was felt every single day on set.
"I think truthfully I was just able to be grounded into my performance so much that whenever I felt anxiety or whenever I felt stressed during the scene, it was probably because maybe that's what he felt in that moment as well," Best tells Newsweek. Stepping into the ring as the most recognizable sports figure in human history requires a special kind of stamina. Best had to find a way to manage the sheer anxiety of playing a global legend while doing justice to a man beloved by millions.
The actor knew his performance would be watched closely by the people who actually lived with and loved the man behind the myth. "I've just put myself in their shoes and say, I can't imagine someone portraying my father on screen,” Best says, reflecting on how Ali’s family feels about somebody playing him. For writer and director Ben Watkins, having the family on board was initially terrifying.
He wanted to ensure the story showed Ali not just as the untouchable greatest of all time but also at his most vulnerable and weak moments. "With Muhammad Ali, I didn't realize it, but I had deified Muhammad Ali,” Watkins said. So, one of the most refreshing parts of this journey was my own understanding that this was a person, and he was 18 when he won the gold medal in Rome and announced himself on the world stage." Watkins notes that pulling back the curtain on his hero only deepened his respect for the boxer.
"What we got to do is introduce you to this real person, who still goes and does that,” Watkins says, referring to the immense achievements Ali achieved in his life. They have fears, and they push through. They have vulnerabilities, and they find a way to keep on doing their life.
And that is what we all can relate to." Finding that careful balance between the greatness of Ali and the weaker parts of his biography creates a rich scenario for Best to, for lack of a better word, do his absolute best. "The thing that makes him great is the adversity, the mistakes, the moments that we know aren't glorified. I think that's what makes someone great, being able to see how they handle themselves in a loss," Best explains.
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