Creed Writer Aaron Covington Remembers Muhammad Ali

When Creed premiered last year, Laila Ali was one of the celebrities in attendance.The retired [...]

Aaron-Covington
(Photo: Russ Burlingame)

When Creed premiered last year, Laila Ali was one of the celebrities in attendance.

The retired boxer and daughter of Muhammad Ali's presence was a symbolic one: her father, the late boxing legend, had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease for decades and had lived largely out of the public eye since 2012, but he was also the basis for Rocky's Apollo Creed, whose son was the title character in the Oscar-nominated boxing drama.

After seeing him talking about the passing of the legendary Ali on social media, we reached out to Creed co-writer Aaron Covington to ask him a few questions about his memories of Ali.

Beyond Creed, what's your emotional connection to Muhammad Ali?

Muhammad Ali always loomed large in my life and with my family. A huge inspiration and influence on me throughout my life.

As somebody who grew up in the '80s, I don't remember a time that I wasn't aware of Ali. What's your earliest memory of the man and his legend?

My earliest memory? I really don't know. His boxing career was over before I was old enough to know anything so I always received my information about him in the form of biographies or tv specials. So it was always some sort of composite of his life. I saw When We Were Kings at a really young age.

The Creed crew closed ranks behind Sly and asked him to represent the film during #OscarsSoWhite, but I wondered at the time about what Ali would say, having a film whose DNA is so tied to him wrapped up in the kind of racial controversy he used to address head on pretty regularly. Was that something you ever thought about?

We were all very much a family during that time. We pulled for him and he pulled for and supported us. That relationship, him letting us make that movie, is more than political.

I also don't know if I'd call it a racial controversy. It's an ongoing issue and us making the movie was the statement. We want movies with more diverse casts and leads and we (were blessed and) made one. So that's amazing and that's one way I thought about it, like Somebody asked Ryan what movie he wanted to make and he said "Creed" and we did it and sometimes that's how change happens, someone says "what if" or gets asked what they want and they are bold or naive or whatever enough to say exactly what they really want, then the stars align and magic happens.

Of course when we wrote and made the movie #OscarsSoWhite didn't exist but a lack of representation did and we knew that by making the movie we wanted to make, well, it would be representative of us.

Take away boxing, and Rocky/Creed (if you can). How has Ali the man and the cultural figure inspired or impacted you as an artist?

I don't want to take away boxing when talking about Ali. I don't want to put him in all these different categories. Or I guess I don't know why that's important. I also don't know how to talk about his impact in brief. Any sound bite doesn't fully encapsulate his impact. Ali is an inspiration for me in some way in every aspect of life. Artists or mentors that influence me are all in everything and every part of me.

You guys had Laila Ali at the Creed premiere representing the family, and obviously there's that famous footage of Muhammad Ali shadowboxing Sly onstage. How, as a fan and as a creator, does it feel to know that the Ali family were impacted in some way by your taking up the banner of this iconic character and doing something that celebrates Apollo and by extension Ali differently than the Rocky franchise did?

I hadn't heard that the Ali family was impacted by Creed. If they were, if they liked the movie then it's an honor. If the boxing felt authentic to them then it's an honor. How does it feel? Good. I love Muhammad Ali.

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