'Ali: Commemorative Edition': Will Smith Gets Teased by Muhammad Ali in Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Clip from New Blu-ray Release
Director Michael Mann has, over the course of his career, repeatedly revisited some of his movies for home-video director’s cuts, including The Last of the Mohicans and Miami Vice. He’s at it again with Ali: Commemorative Edition, a recently released Blu-ray package that boasts a reconfigured version of the 2001 film starring Will Smith as Muhammad Ali — as well as a host of new extras. For a taste of that behind-the-scenes material, Yahoo Movies has the exclusive premiere of a clip (watch it above) from the all-new featurette, “On Set With the Greatest.”
Related: Remembering Muhammad Ali’s Life on the Big Screen
Clearly, the Greatest of All Time was not shy about letting the camera know that, while the superstar actor who’s playing him (Smith) is a fine enough looking man, “He ain’t that pretty, but he’s pretty. Pretty enough to get by.” Ali and Smith’s banter about which one of them is more attractive continues when they begin posing for photos, and despite his Parkinson’s Disease, the champ proves to be in fine shape for verbal sparring , to the point that he even chooses this venue to announce — jokingly, of course — his forthcoming boxing comeback at age 60.
Related: The Real-Life Muhammad Ali Fight That Inspired ‘Rocky’
Ali passed away in 2016, but his spirit lives on through movies such as Ali, which earned Smith an Oscar nomination for Best Actor (as well as a Best Supporting Actor nod for Jon Voight’s work as legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell). You can check out more of Ali – as well as Mann’s revised cut of the critically acclaimed biopic – via the Ali: Commemorative Edition, which is available now.
Watch a trailer for 2014 documentary ‘I Am Ali’:
