Don Cheadle, the star of films like Hotel Rwanda and Ocean's 11, has cleared several major hurdles in his attempt to bring a biopic of jazz icon Miles Davis to the big screen, according to TMZ.com.

Miles Davis

The Web site reported this week that Cheadle is set to both direct and star in the film and has locked up the rights to much of Davis' Columbia Records catalog, which has been a sticking point in bringing the movie to life.

Cheadle has hired the Oscar-nominated screenwriting and producing duo of Chris Wilkinson and Steve Rivele to work on the film, TMZ.com reported.

Wilkinson and Rivele adapted the life story of Muhammad Ali for Michael Mann's 2001 film Ali, wrote and produced the forthcoming Copying Beethoven, and are currently adapting the Jackie Robinson story for producer Robert Redford.

A Miles Davis biopic has been much rumored for years but began bubbling to the surface in March of this year when Davis was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Davis also made Hollywood's famed RockWalk in late September. The project has picked up steam recently in the wake of the success of the biopics Ray and Walk the Line about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, respectively.

Cheadle and producer Cary Brokaw are set to produce the film, tentatively titled Miles Davis, along with Wilkinson and Rivele, and others.