the pulse of the city was hard fast and growing uh and anybody with any sense or any Vision could see that Atlanta was going to be what it became the new peacock limited series Fight Night the million dooll Heist is based on a true story about an armed robbery that occurred on the night of Muhammad Ali's 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta the series explores how Atlanta became the black Mecca of the United States Atlanta has pushed all her chips in this will turn our little city into a major one we are a vibrant inclusive City that's open for business Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Hart headlined a star studded cast that also includes Don cheel Khloe Bailey and sinqua walls among others several members of the cast spoke to The Hollywood Reporter all about working on the new show Jackson who graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in the early 1970s opened up about his memories surrounding the historic fight that took place in the city while he lived there yeah I couldn't afford to buy buy a ticket to the fight and I didn't know everybody was throwing the party so I wasn't in there but I knew people who were meanwhile cheel shared how he got involved in the project this was something that Kevin uh and will Packer produced it and Craig Brewer also producer our director for the first two and last two episodes uh called me very passionate about uh me being a part of it I was the last person cast I had worked with everybody else in this cast you know not Dexter who plays Ali but to Raji and Terren and Sam and Kevin um and I was excited about seeing you know you know what we would all do together Under One Roof so to speak Tito portrays real person JD Hudson who was one of the first black detectives in Atlanta's desegregated police force the actor revealed why he thinks Hudson continued to work with the police department despite the injustices he and the black community were experiencing at the time well I think for him he saw that the only way out was through you know quitting was not an option stepping back was not an option trying to force you know things into the world way he wanted them to be was the only way to work and I think he saw himself rightfully as being uh someone who would hold the door open and let others come in behind him and would take the you know bear the brunt of what that institutionalized racism was that he was dealing with to hopefully get to the other side where there would be more representation uh greater Justice for people who look like him and came from the communities that he came from Bailey and walls also appear in the series they opened up about what it was like working with Jackson cheel and Hart it was amazing I remember trying to pump myself up before specific scenes that I knew they would be in and I was like okay you can do this you can hold your own you got this and you know actually doing it after the fact I was like why are you stressing so much clo like everyone just made it feel so comfortable and warm and welcoming on set being able to watch all these different actors that I look up to that we look up to and and the fact that they've touched so many different Pinnacles in their career that they could have so much humility that they could be so supportive they could be so gracious so giving um was amazing you know to watch each person is defined a lane for thems and how they did that and how they do that with Grace and intention is just something that I just took for myself as a Contin continuously grow as an artist in the series Jackson plays New York gangster Frank moton when asked if he in visioned back in the 1970s that Atlanta would become what it is today the actors said this the pulse of the city was hard fast and growing uh and anybody with any sense or any Vision could see that Atlanta was going to be what it became it became what Frank's Vision was and he had the right idea when he wanted that land over there by the airport cuz you know that's valuable that's that was that was like Platinum it wasn't gold it was Platinum you know so the idea that he had you know he understood it and he understood that because his grandmother told him that they had a legacy that was theirs that red clay you know that's our blood in that in that dirt you know so yeah we're ow that and she was right Fight Night the million dooll Heist is now streaming on peacock this is The Hollywood Reporter news