Malcolm X (1992) is this the definitive version or should there be another adaptation?

[MartyMcFly]

I was partially raised in the NOI and actually met people who knew Malcolm X in the 50s and 60s before he left the NOI and later Minister Farrakhan in the 60s so I know about stuff that wasn't accurate about the movie and autobiography but the movie is a classic and shouldn't be remade. Plus if they did they'll probably shoehorn the BS that Malcolm was gay/bisexual during his Detroit Red days.

We need a big Hollywood film about MLK. I'm actually surprised we haven't gotten one yet.

I think we haven’t gotten one for the same reason I said earlier. Studios have changed and biopics aren’t big money so they don’t invest a lot to get them done. Unless you’re a comic book movie or a remake or a reboot or something based on a popular book, you’re relegated to a certain cash deposit. It’s what Spielberg and Lucas talked about a few years ago and people on this board wanted to string them up. But essentially we’re all blockbusters all the time now and the smaller movies get limited releases, go to Netflix or Hulu or amazon, or come out during Oscar season

 

[daemonova]

I read the book a few decades back, way better than I expected, Alex Haley a good writer, though it always perplexed me how someone could become a black militant after reading that book

 

[daemonova]

I was partially raised in the NOI and actually met people who knew Malcolm X in the 50s and 60s before he left the NOI and later Minister Farrakhan in the 60s so I know about stuff that wasn't accurate about the movie and autobiography but the movie is a classic and shouldn't be remade. Plus if they did they'll probably shoehorn the BS that Malcolm was gay/bisexual during his Detroit Red days.

We need a big Hollywood film about MLK. I'm actually surprised we haven't gotten one yet.

close as you are going to get is Selma, it seems

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

There was already a Malcolm x adaptation with James earl jones plus the theatre play.

 

[the cac mamba]

disgusting that denzel didn't get an oscar for that, shyt was nothing short of incredible. dude literally transformed himself into malcolm if you watch interviews

we all know why he didnt get it, and pacino actually put on a pretty incredible performance pretending to be blind all fukkin movie but easily the biggest snub of all time along with saving private ryan

 

[NormanConnors]

Answered it in the other thread but nah and I've got a few reasons why.

Chief among them, it'll be a daunting task for anyone to step into Denzel's shoes and play the role for a full length flick so off top it'll be a thankless job. You'll always be compared to Denzel and it's not a good look. The best we'll get on that front, in my eyes, are cameos, like the one in Selma.

B, no studio is going to give any director that amount of leeway that Spike got on this one. Dude went over budget, made a 3 hour epic, needed his black celebrity friends to bail him out, and he took A LOT of chances. Studios are really timid now. If you did a Malcolm X movie now, it would be a low budget indie, much like Blakkklansman. And that's no diss to that movie, but a movie about Malcolm on that level deserves a big canvas and you're not getting that anymore unless the studio system changes dramatically overnight. Unless you're a guaranteed moneymaker, you aren't really going to get that green light. And the directors you mentioned hold Spike and that movie too high in esteem to even touch the material. It's like when you ask the Farrelly brothers to make a golf movie and they always say "shyt, it's been done and it won't be done any better than Caddyshack"

Third, we got a full biopic on homie. We got his life as a pimp, a leader, and the man he was at his death. I don't need to see that story again. If you're going to do another Malcolm story, restrict it to one portion of his life, like Selma, and explore him from that perspective. Trying to adapt his autobiography again feels like a fool's errand.

There's a way to do another Malcolm X movie but it has to be a complete 180 from the one Spike and Denzel did. I'm not talking about whether it was true to Malcolm or none of that shyt, I'm talking purely on a film basis and a story basis, you gotta be different. IF your story won't be different enough or you can't figure out an angle that wasn't touched already, don't do it.

I'd be down for that, Marshall was dope. A film based on Malcom's time in Mecca would be

 

[MartyMcFly]

I'd be down for that, Marshall was dope. A film based on Malcom's time in Mecca would be

That’s the way to do a dope biopic to me. The soup to nuts version just feels so paint by numbers. It’s why the last half of straight outta Compton lost steam because they felt the need to hit all the high points and gloss over shyt rather than keep telling the story as it was unfolding.

 

[Dillah810]

That’s the way to do a dope biopic to me. The soup to nuts version just feels so paint by numbers. It’s why the last half of straight outta Compton lost steam because they felt the need to hit all the high points and gloss over shyt rather than keep telling the story as it was unfolding.

It's amazing what you randomly learn on the internet. I never heard this term until I read your post. Googled it and found out what it meant

"Soup to nuts" is an American English idiom that conveys the meaning of "from beginning to end". It is derived from the description of a full course dinner, in which courses progress from soup to a dessert of nuts. It is comparable to expressions in other languages, such as the Latin phrase ab ovo usque ad mala ("from the egg to the apples"), describing the typical Roman meal.

Now I'mma start using this phrase to style on my uncultured friends

 

[FlimFlam]

Thatll get watered down something nasty im today's time

Ill anticipating it having an "all white peoples aint bad" OVERtone

 

[Dante Manning]

I think we haven’t gotten one for the same reason I said earlier. Studios have changed and biopics aren’t big money so they don’t invest a lot to get them done. Unless you’re a comic book movie or a remake or a reboot or something based on a popular book, you’re relegated to a certain cash deposit. It’s what Spielberg and Lucas talked about a few years ago and people on this board wanted to string them up. But essentially we’re all blockbusters all the time now and the smaller movies get limited releases, go to Netflix or Hulu or amazon, or come out during Oscar season

close as you are going to get is Selma, it seems

Cant have a MLK biopic without his famous speeches, apparently spielberg the jew bought the rights to that so the answer lies there..

 

[MartyMcFly]

Cant have a MLK biopic without his famous speeches, apparently spielberg the jew bought the rights to that so the answer lies there..

I was going to dap you till the Jew hate came out. Damn man.

And Ava did a pretty damn good job without his speeches. So it can be done.

 

[Dante Manning]

I was going to dap you till the Jew hate came out. Damn man.

And Ava did a pretty damn good job without his speeches. So it can be done.

Never understood how its hateful to state what someone is... Anyways it seemed he bought the rights with no intention of doing a biopic, knowing what the king meant to a lot of folks thats sinister to say the least. At some point its like if you aint making that flick sell those rights breh

 

[MartyMcFly]

Never understood how its hateful to state what someone is... Anyways it seemed he bought the rights with no intention of doing a biopic, knowing what the king meant to a lot of folks thats sinister to say the least. At some point its like if you aint making that flick sell those rights breh

No he did have intentions of making the movie in 09 when he got them. Even asked Oleyewo to reprise the role for the movie he wants to make. Movie was announced in variety back in 09 when he bought the rights to the speeches and the life story but like a lot of shyt in Hollywood it didn’t happen. Doesn’t mean it won’t.

 

[Sunalmighty]

Denzel and Spike killed it, who could fill those shoes. Fred Hampton, Huey Newton deserve biopics.

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

Inspired by the breh @MartyMcFly who pointed out there was some backlash against Spike Lee getting the job. And also by seeing enough people on here and other places saying that Spike didn't really get Malcolm all the way right. At least saying they could have spent time focusing on more important things.

Would you be down for another Malcolm X film (directed by another high caliber black director of course, such as McQueen, Jenkins, Ava or Coogler) or is there no need to tread those waters?

rumors are the NOI threatened him multiple times about what he could include and couldn't include.... plus the budget concerns

i'd definitely love to see what the OG version could have been with more truth and money... yet even with 1 billion dollars and freedom, they'll never capture that magic in a bottle again.. so please don't try