Don Cheadle To Star as Miles Davis in Biopic 'Kill the Trumpet Player'

Don Cheadle will star as jazz pioneer Miles Davis in the film Kill the Trumpet Player, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The announcement was made by BiFrost Pictures and will tell the story of some troubled times of the jazz icon. Ewan McGregor and Zoe Saldana will also star in the tale that will focus heavily on Davis conspiring to get his stolen music back. In addition to Cheadle starring in the film, he will also make his directorial debut in the script co-written with Steven Baigelman.

Cheadle took to Twitter to share his excitment and put the film into context.

Miles Davis flick is on. But I hate the word biopic like Miles hated the word jazz. It's misleading. Not attempting to tell his life story.

— Don Cheadle (@IamDonCheadle) November 13, 2013

"Don is one of our generation's greatest actors, and this is the role he was born to play," says BiFrost principal Daniel Wagner in a statement. "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."

Cheadle's starring turn as Davis has been planned for many years. In 2011, he reaffirmed his commitment to the portrayal and project with Vulture.

"It's a difficult time to make films, especially ones that don't have people flying or sequels or cars. So we're grinding, you know. We're struggling through, but it's going to happen," he said.