SO WHAT

The Intimate Story of Frances Taylor, Miles Davis’ Muse

IN DEVELOPMENT - Scripted Feature

The Story

When young Broadway dancer Frances Taylor first met Miles Davis, she was traveling the world with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company. Three years later, while in rehearsals for a Broadway show, they would meet again on a street corner in New York City. “Now that I have found you, I will never let you go.” Miles, the young prodigy who fell from grace after almost losing everything to a heroin addiction, is in the midst of a comeback, partly inspired by meeting Frances three years earlier. They are a fashionable, dynamic young couple. Miles, the cool dark prince and Frances, the petite, sparkling dancer. They turn heads wherever they go. They are a sight to be seen.

Frances, a young star on the rise, is cast in the original production of West Side Story. After winning the “Gypsy Robe” for outstanding dancer on Broadway, Miles demands she leave the show. “I want you out of West Side Story.” Out of a deep love for Miles she reluctantly complies. With Frances as his muse, he would go on to make some of the greatest music he’s ever written. As their relationship grows more intense, he doesn’t change his ways but expects her to. Drug use, guilt, and paranoia, would ultimately tear this love affair apart, leaving the dancer no choice but to finally run for her life. But, not before their union gave birth to, musically, some of the greatest works of art ever created.

The Backstory

“She’s the wound of his past he cannot stitch. Muses aren’t wholly people or at least they’re rarely allowed to be. Miles is like the sun pulling everyone into his orbit, or, more aptly, a black hole where few escape.” After reviewing Miles Ahead, a film about Miles Davis, Roger Ebert said:

“The story of their love and the artist/muse dynamic could be a film on its own, perhaps even a better one than what we got.”

So What tells the real love story between Frances and Miles. A story that is at the forefront of Broadway theater and the jazz world of the ‘50s and ‘60s. This film is as important a part of cultural history as much as Picasso and Van Gogh are to the art world.

When two artists get into a relationship, particularly a heterosexual one, only one tends to remain the creative. The other becomes caretaker, lover, muse, a tabula rasa to be reflected on, a source of energy to be drained. When Miles met Frances, she was a dancer of incredible grace.

Frances Taylor Davis (September 28, 1929 – November 17, 2018), a Chicago native, was the first African American ballerina to perform with the Paris Opera Ballet, getting rave reviews from the press for her performances in Paris. Reviewers compared her to the famous ballet dancer Leslie Caron. Francis went on to perform with Benny Goodman at the London Palladium. Frances appeared in productions of Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess. She was one of the original cast members in the Broadway production of West Side Story receiving the company's "gypsy robe" for being the outstanding dancer in the cast.

When Miles demands she give up dancing for good, as if her role as his wife is enough to feed her soul, Frances, the ever-faithful wife, and creative partner, does. But the weight of Miles’ demands would ultimately become too heavy for even Frances’ love to bear. She can no longer take the abuse and ends up leaving him.

Following her split from Davis in 1965, Taylor appeared in television specials with performers such as Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis Jr. and had a role as the maid in the Peter Sellers’ film The Party (1968).

The Importance of this Project

The earlier Miles Davis film just touched on the story of Frances and Miles. So What tells the accurate and detailed story of Miles and Frances’ relationship that lit his creative journey and caused an intense inferno of addiction leading to divorce. The script portrays two artists at the height of their powers trying to balance fame, and a marriage that Miles so desperately needed but couldn’t seem to hang onto. Director Gary Bairos’ narrative reveals an intimate, raw portrayal of two black American artistic trailblazers in theatre and music.