Samuel L. Jackson was supposed to play Brother Baines in Malcolm X

[get these nets]

*very good interview about his life, career, and industry politics

https://www.vulture.com/article/samuel-l-jackson-in-conversation.html

It sounds like a lot of this is from that immediate period post–Jungle Fever, when you were getting studio deals and stuff like that.
Jungle Fever got me into Hollywood. The majority of Black people in America at that time, at a certain economic strata, had a Gator in their family.


You had yourself just come out of rehab at the time you did that part, right?
Yeah. I got there and Spike Lee started talking to me about Gator. In his mind, I was always high when I showed up in the movie. I told Spike, “Look, the worst thing about the crack epidemic is the fracture of the family and how crack addicts ruin their relationships with everybody.” ‘Cause I had fukked up my relationships with most of the people I knew. I told Spike I would much rather deal with the erosion of the relationships. So when I see them, I don’t want to be high. When I see them, I want to be trying to get something from them. He’s like, “Oh, okay.” We end up having dueling crackheads that summer, ‘cause New Jack City was out. So you got Chris Rock doing Pookie, being high and whatever all the time. And you got me being Gator who people were looking at going, Oh shyt, that’s my cousin, that’s my uncle, that’s my son, that’s my nephew, my husband.


But you were clean by that point, right?
I was clean, but I was still detoxing. I had done my 28 days. When I got to set, I really didn’t need makeup. The first day I was on set, I was going to craft service, and the Fruit of Islam who were guarding the set were trying to run me out ‘cause they thought I was a neighborhood crackhead.


Is that the biggest part you’ve done for Spike Lee ?
I guess, yeah. Mister Señor Love Daddy wasn’t a small part, but he was kind of isolated there in that booth. I’m always sitting in there looking out the window like, shyt I want to be out there. I didn’t do that much in Mo’ Better except break Spike’s bones and ruin Denzel’s trumpet playing career. School Daze was very small. So yeah, that was the most significant Spike Lee part I’ve had.


What did you guys fall out over?
Over Malcolm X. I actually read with most of the people who auditioned for Malcolm X. I was supposed to be the guy that turned Malcolm X on to Islam in prison. I forget who played that role. . But it was still down to that Spike Lee scale-plus-10“ salary thing. I was like, “I’m not going to work for no scale-plus-10.

Spoiler: Scale + 10 meaning

[*Scale plus 10” is an industry term used to describe the pay rate actors may receive in a film. The scale is a minimum daily or weekly pay rate established by the Screen Actors Guild. The 10 applies to the 10 percent of an actor’s pay that goes towards their agent.*]

I used to call my agent every day to see if I had any auditions, callbacks, whatever. And my line to her every day was, “Hollywood call?” She was like, “No, sir.” So one day I called, she said, “As a matter of fact, yeah they did. You just won an award at the Cannes Film Festival.” And I’m like, “What? For what?” She said, “Jungle Fever.” I said, “They don’t give supporting actor awards at Cannes.” She’s like, “They made up one for you“. "Get the fukk out of here!” “And consequently, these people in Hollywood want to see you for this movie White Sands. So I took White Sands instead of Malcolm X and we fell out.



*

 

[Whogivesafuck]

Albert Hall did a great job. Baines was a good character composite of James Shabazz,Capt Joseph and Philbert X.

 

[RickyDiBiase]

The only three hour movie that doesn’t feel like it at all.

 

[downtheline]

The production was considered controversial long before filming began. The crux of the controversy was Malcolm X's denunciation of whites before he undertook his hajj. He was, arguably, not well regarded among white citizens by and large; however, he had risen to become a hero in the African-American community and a symbol of blacks' struggles, particularly during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. In the three years before the movie's release, sales of The Autobiography of Malcolm X had increased 300 percent, and four of his books had a nine-fold increase in sales between 1986 and 1991.[9]

Once Warner Bros. agreed to the project, they initially wanted Oscar-nominated Canadian film director Norman Jewison to direct the film. Jewison, director of the seminal civil rights film In the Heat of the Night, was able to bring Denzel Washington into the project to play Malcolm X. Jewison and Washington previously worked together in the 1984 film A Soldier's Story. A protest erupted over the fact that a white director was slated to make the film.[9] Spike Lee was one of the main voices of criticism; since college, he had considered a film adaptation of The Autobiography of Malcolm X to be a dream project. Lee and others felt that it was appropriate that only a black person should direct Malcolm X.[10]

After the public outcry against Jewison, Worth concluded that "it needed a black director at this point. It was insurmountable the other way...There's a grave responsibility here." Jewison left the project, though he noted he gave up the movie not because of the protest, but because he could not reconcile Malcolm's private and public lives and was unsatisfied with Charles Fuller's script. Lee confirmed Jewison's position, stating, "If Norman actually thought he could do it, he would have really fought me. But he bowed out gracefully." Jewison and Denzel Washington would reunite several years later for The Hurricane, in which Washington played imprisoned boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a murder he claimed he did not commit before his conviction was overturned in 1985.

Spike Lee was soon named the director, and he substantially edited the script. "I'm directing this movie and I rewrote the script, and I'm an artist and there's just no two ways around it: this film about Malcolm X is going to be my vision of Malcolm X. But it's not like I'm sitting atop a mountain saying, 'Screw everyone, this is the Malcolm I see.' I've done the research, I've talked to the people who were there."[9] Soon after Spike Lee was announced as the director and before its release, Malcolm X received criticism by black nationalists and members of the United Front to Preserve the Legacy of Malcolm X, headed by poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, who were worried about Lee's portrayal of Malcolm X. One protest in Harlem drew over 200 people.[9][11]Some based their opinion on dislike of Lee's previous films; others were concerned that he would focus on Malcolm X's life before he converted to Islam.[9][11][12] Baraka bluntly accused Spike Lee of being a "Buppie", stating "We will not let Malcolm X's life be trashed to make middle-class Negroes sleep easier", compelling others to write the director and warn him "not to mess up Malcolm's life."[9] Some, including Lee himself, noted the irony that many of the arguments made against him mirrored those made against Jewison.[11]

Although Washington agreed to play Malcolm X while Jewison was scheduled to direct the film, Lee stated he never envisioned any actor other than Washington in the role. The two had previously worked together on Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Lee noted that Washington had "really captured Malcolm" in his Off Broadway performance as him.[13]

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

*Gets conk out of hair*

Sam L *Grabs wrist*

Denzel: "Get your hands off of me"

Sam L: "LET IT BURN MOTHERfukkER shyt"

Spike: 'CUT"

 

[downtheline]

Critic Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times ranked the film No. 1 on his Top 10 list for 1992 and described the film as "one of the great screen biographies, celebrating the sweep of an American life that bottomed out in prison before its hero reinvented himself."[31] In 1999, Ebert and director Martin Scorsese, the latter sitting in for Ebert's late co-host Gene Siskel, both ranked Malcolm X among the ten best films of the 1990s.[32]

Denzel Washington's portrayal of Malcolm X was widely praised and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Washington lost to Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman), a decision which Lee criticized, saying "I'm not the only one who thinks Denzel was robbed on that one."[33]

Malcolm X (1992 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[downtheline]

My apologies in advance, im a sucker () for the oral history of movie productions.

I remember seeing this in the theater, and there was maybe 10 people total.


Spike Lee also encountered difficulty in securing a sufficient budget. Lee told Warners and the bond company that a budget of over US$30 million was necessary; the studio disagreed and offered a lower amount. Following advice from fellow director Francis Ford Coppola, Lee got "the movie company pregnant": taking the movie far enough along into actual production to attempt to force the studio to increase the budget.[10] The film, initially budgeted at $28 million, climbed to nearly $33 million. Lee contributed $2 million of his own $3 million salary. Completion Bond Company, which assumed financial control in January 1992, refused to approve any more expenditures; in addition, the studio and bond company instructed Lee that the film could be no longer than two hours, fifteen minutes in length.[12] The resulting conflict caused the project to be shut down in post-production.[10]

The film was saved by the financial intervention of prominent black Americans, some of whom appear in the film: Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Janet Jackson, Prince, Tracy Chapman, and Peggy Cooper Cafritz, founder of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Their contributions were made as donations; as Lee noted: "This is not a loan. They are not investing in the film. These are black folks with some money who came to the rescue of the movie. As a result, this film will be my version. Not the bond company's version, not Warner Brothers'. I will do the film the way it ought to be, and it will be over three hours."[12] The actions of such prominent members of the African American community giving their money helped finish the project as Lee envisioned it.[9][10]

The dissatisfaction Warners had for how Lee funded the film by completing it through the help of his African American friends later resulted in Warner Bros. blocking out Lee from participating in the development of Space Jam, as Lee had approached Joe Pytka about polishing the film's script.[14]

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Malcolm X in general was Spike Lee's "Apocalypse Now". Everything was going against the grain from the movie having to get crowdfunded by black celebs, the witch hunt from cacs saying the movie was going to cause riots and shyt, the fact that he couldn't film in Mecca, but somehow he managed to to do it. Also the fact that Denzel had to tap deeply into the X character because he wasn't familiar with his cadence and work.

All of this just to end up getting snubbed by award shows and have a special place on Tubi and Pluto.

The cost of raising awareness. A lot of stress, money, and nothing to gain from the higher ups that dictate the direction of the world

 

[Rollie Forbes]

Albert Hall did a great job. Baines was a good character composite of James Shabazz,Capt Joseph and Philbert X.

Until now, I never knew Albert Hall's name. I've seen him in a bunch of roles since Malcolm X, and he's always Bro. Baines to me.
As much as I enjoy Samuel L. Jackson's work, I don't believe that he could've made the character of Baines as memorable as Mr. Hall did.

 

[get these nets]

Until now, I never knew Albert Hall's name. I've seen him in a bunch of roles since Malcolm X, and he's always Bro. Baines to me.
As much as I enjoy Samuel L. Jackson's work, I don't believe that he could've made the character of Baines as memorable as Mr. Hall did.

Agree. He has excellent screen chemistry with Denzel also. He played Easy's neighbor in Devil in a Blue Dress.

 

[Rollie Forbes]

Agree. He has excellent screen chemistry with Denzel also. He played Easy's neighbor in Devil in a Blue Dress.

I think that his role in that movie is the only time he didn't betray anybody. All he did was eat chicken & drink corn liquor with Easy. You would've thought they were old friends in real life!
Side note, we really need to start a petition to have more of Walter Mosely's books given the film treatment. It's a shame that we never got to see more of Easy & Mouse on the big screen.

 

[No_bammer_weed]

This is a goated, coli thread. Informative and engaging, concerning one of the most important cinematic moments in black American history (and movie history for that matter).

Spike was a very prickly character in those days. But it was that acerbic personality that drove X into cinematic masterpiece territory, because this movie had all the makings of a disaster.

 

[null]

breh reminds me a bit of charles. s dutton.



both he and hall have an edge to their acting that samuel l jackson just does not have so IMO hall fitted the role better.

 

[Dameon Farrow]

The production was considered controversial long before filming began. The crux of the controversy was Malcolm X's denunciation of whites before he undertook his hajj. He was, arguably, not well regarded among white citizens by and large; however, he had risen to become a hero in the African-American community and a symbol of blacks' struggles, particularly during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. In the three years before the movie's release, sales of The Autobiography of Malcolm X had increased 300 percent, and four of his books had a nine-fold increase in sales between 1986 and 1991.[9]

Once Warner Bros. agreed to the project, they initially wanted Oscar-nominated Canadian film director Norman Jewison to direct the film. Jewison, director of the seminal civil rights film In the Heat of the Night, was able to bring Denzel Washington into the project to play Malcolm X. Jewison and Washington previously worked together in the 1984 film A Soldier's Story. A protest erupted over the fact that a white director was slated to make the film.[9] Spike Lee was one of the main voices of criticism; since college, he had considered a film adaptation of The Autobiography of Malcolm X to be a dream project. Lee and others felt that it was appropriate that only a black person should direct Malcolm X.[10]

After the public outcry against Jewison, Worth concluded that "it needed a black director at this point. It was insurmountable the other way...There's a grave responsibility here." Jewison left the project, though he noted he gave up the movie not because of the protest, but because he could not reconcile Malcolm's private and public lives and was unsatisfied with Charles Fuller's script. Lee confirmed Jewison's position, stating, "If Norman actually thought he could do it, he would have really fought me. But he bowed out gracefully." Jewison and Denzel Washington would reunite several years later for The Hurricane, in which Washington played imprisoned boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a murder he claimed he did not commit before his conviction was overturned in 1985.

Spike Lee was soon named the director, and he substantially edited the script. "I'm directing this movie and I rewrote the script, and I'm an artist and there's just no two ways around it: this film about Malcolm X is going to be my vision of Malcolm X. But it's not like I'm sitting atop a mountain saying, 'Screw everyone, this is the Malcolm I see.' I've done the research, I've talked to the people who were there."[9] Soon after Spike Lee was announced as the director and before its release, Malcolm X received criticism by black nationalists and members of the United Front to Preserve the Legacy of Malcolm X, headed by poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, who were worried about Lee's portrayal of Malcolm X. One protest in Harlem drew over 200 people.[9][11]Some based their opinion on dislike of Lee's previous films; others were concerned that he would focus on Malcolm X's life before he converted to Islam.[9][11][12] Baraka bluntly accused Spike Lee of being a "Buppie", stating "We will not let Malcolm X's life be trashed to make middle-class Negroes sleep easier", compelling others to write the director and warn him "not to mess up Malcolm's life."[9] Some, including Lee himself, noted the irony that many of the arguments made against him mirrored those made against Jewison.[11]

Although Washington agreed to play Malcolm X while Jewison was scheduled to direct the film, Lee stated he never envisioned any actor other than Washington in the role. The two had previously worked together on Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Lee noted that Washington had "really captured Malcolm" in his Off Broadway performance as him.[13]

Wanting Jewison to direct still blows my mind all these years later....