*Muhammad Ali wasn’t exactly built to follow quietly. For Michael Ealy, playing Malcolm X in Prime Video’s “The Greatest” meant exploring a relationship in which an older man could recognize a young fighter’s destiny without being able to direct it.
Speaking with EUR alongside Kai Parham, who plays Ali’s brother Rudy Clay, Ealy described the connection between Malcolm and the future heavyweight champion in surprisingly familiar terms.
“I think it was very much a big brother, little brother type of dynamic, which was interesting,” Ealy said.
That perspective brings two towering Black figures back to human scale. Before the speeches and photographs became shorthand for their legacies, there were two men navigating faith, influence and the limits of what one could do for the other.
Ealy pointed to the contrast between young Cassius Clay’s family stability and Malcolm’s difficult upbringing. In his reading of the role, Malcolm’s experiences—including incarceration and his complicated position within the Nation of Islam—helped shape a relationship that carried affection alongside tension.
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Malcolm could see the possibilities in this young man. Controlling those possibilities was another matter.
“He was going to be great. You can see that from the first time they meet,” Ealy said.
With Jaalen Best starring as Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, The Greatest also makes room for the relationships that existed before the world knew the champion’s name. For Parham, that meant giving Rudy an identity beyond being the famous man’s younger brother.
“He was very loyal to his brother’s ideas. He was very loyal to his mother, his father, his family in total,” Parham told EUR.
That loyalty comes with curiosity and emotional openness. Parham highlighted Rudy’s eagerness to hear about Cassius’ experiences after Rome, then the way Cassius listens when Rudy introduces him to something new. Their relationship allows both brothers to have something to teach—and something to learn.
As a younger brother himself, Parham connected with that closeness.
“Me and my older brother have that relationship where we talk about everything under the sun,” he said.
For Ealy, those family scenes raise a question that a championship record cannot answer: How much did the people closest to Ali make his extraordinary life possible?
He credited creator and showrunner Ben Watkins with exploring that foundation without pretending it was flawless.
“It wasn’t picture perfect, but sometimes that struggle brings out the resilience needed to become great,” Ealy said.
The Greatest, the first authorized scripted series about Muhammad Ali’s life, counts his widow, Lonnie Ali, among its executive producers. All eight episodes premiere November 4, 2026, exclusively on Prime Video.
Jill Munroe is a Los Angeles-bred entertainment journalist, producer, and host. Follow her socials @StilettoJill or visit JillMunroe.com. Catch her live M-Thu on KBLA Talk 1580 from 6PM to 7P
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