Malcolm X

Malcolm X (1992)

Timing: 3:22 (202 min)

7.547/10
1874

7.333/10
17885

7.7/10
111000

All about film

Video 7

Photo 120

Actors and characters

Release date

1992-11-18

Country

Japan, United States,

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, LARGO Entertainment, JVC, Marvin Worth Productions, Largo International

Genre

Drama, History, Action

Budget

$34 000 000

Revenue

$48 169 908

Website

https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/malcolm-x

Director

Spike Lee

Actors

Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman Jr., Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee, Theresa Randle, Kate Vernon, Lonette McKee, Tommy Hollis
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Spike Lee, Marvin Worth

Operator

Ernest R. Dickerson

Composer

Terence Blanchard

Artist

Wing Lee, John Magoun, Jeffrey D. McDonald

Audition

Robi Reed

Editing

Barry Alexander Brown
All team (117)

• The film is based on the book "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (authors Alex Haley and Malcolm X), 1965.
• In 2010, the film was included in the National Film Registry.
• Betty Shabazz (1936-1997), the widow of Malcolm X (1925-1965), worked as a consultant during the film's production.
• Denzel Washington invested his entire fee into the film's production.
• Director Spike Lee removed all references to Louis Farrakhan from the film due to threats against him.
• Initially, Spike Lee requested $33 million for the project – more than the usual budgets for his films, but a reasonable sum considering the scope of the undertaking. Warner Bros. offered him $20 million for a film lasting 2 hours and 15 minutes, plus another $8 million from Largo Entertainment for international distribution rights. When the film's production exceeded the budget by $5 million, Lee invested almost his entire fee, but this was not enough, so he turned to his celebrity friends, including Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and Bill Cosby. Responses to screenings of the 'rough' version of the film were positive, and ultimately Warner Bros. provided additional funding.
• Preparing for the role, Denzel Washington eliminated pork from his diet, attended classes organized by the Nation of Islam (the militant wing of the religious organization), and learned to dance the Lindy Hop (an African American dance that emerged in New York in the 1920s-1930s). He immersed himself so thoroughly in the character that he knew what pair of glasses Malcolm X wore on any given day.
• Brother Baines, who introduced Malcolm X to the Nation of Islam, is a fictional character. X recounted in his autobiography that he was introduced to the Nation of Islam by letters from a brother and sister.
• The first non-documentary film and the first American production to receive permission to film in Mecca. A second film crew was hired for the filming there, as director Spike Lee and other non-Muslims were denied entry into the city. Lee was very keen to film specifically in Mecca, and Warner Bros. initially refused to sponsor on-location shooting, planning to film the Mecca scenes in New Jersey. Ultimately, however, Lee received both the funding and permission to film in Mecca.
• At the end of the film, Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) is shown quoting Malcolm X in his speech. Mandela refused to repeat X's final words, “by any means necessary,” and Spike Lee inserted black-and-white footage of X himself uttering those words.
• When Malcolm X delivers a sermon on the street in Harlem, Bobby Seale (co-founder of the Black Panther Party) and Al Sharpton, a Baptist minister and civil rights activist, are shown nearby.
• The film depicts a white student offering Malcolm X help, which he brusquely refuses. This incident actually happened, and X repeatedly expressed regret over it after leaving the Nation of Islam.
• The film is based on 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X' (by Alex Haley and Malcolm X), 1965.