VIDEO: Leslie Odom Jr. Talks Taking on Sam Cooke in ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

Seeing your favorite Broadway stars live on a Broadway stage may not be a reality in 2021, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them live from your screen. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge is keeping up with all of their latest projects on Backstage Live, bringing you in-depth interviews twice weekly.

Watch as he chats with Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr., who stars as Sam Cooke in Kemp Powers' new big screen adaptation of One Night in Miami. The film is now available to stream on Prime Video.

"[The role] was breaking new ground for me personally. I haven't seen a ton of depictions... maybe not any if I'm being honest... of Sam in other fictional media. I've seen documentaries and I've read the books. There certainly hasn't been a life story told," Leslie explained. "I knew that I'd be one of the first, which was one of the reasons that I ran from the project the way that I did! I didn't think that I should be the first."

"Whenever you meet a project that is demanding all of you, it's a really healing experience. It pushes you forward," he continued. "Getting to write a song about the experience demanded more of me and I grew and I learned. I'm very grateful."

On one incredible night in 1964, four icons of sports, music, and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali, (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge).

Based on the award-winning play of the same name, and directed by Regina King, One Night In Miami... is a fictional account inspired by the historic night these four formidable figures spent together. It looks at the struggles these men faced and the vital role they each played in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s. More than 40 years later, their conversations on racial injustice, religion, and personal responsibility still resonate.