Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
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Source: National Geographic / NatGeo
The trailer for the next installment of National Geographic’s acclaimed series Genius focusing on the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X made its debut.
As the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday weekend begins, National Geographic has released the full trailer for the next installment of their award-winning Genius series focusing on the civil rights leader and another iconic figure in the struggle for social justice, Malcolm X. The series, entitled Genius: MLK/X, is the first time that it will explore the lives of two impactful figures at once, opening with the two’s only public interaction on Capitol Hill at a Senate hearing in 1964.
Genius: MLK/X features Kelvin Harrison Jr., the Screen Actors Guild Award winner for his role in The Trial of The Chicago 7 and the star of Chevalier as Dr. King. Aaron Pierre, the actor notable for his performance as Caesar in Barry Jenkins’ Amazon series, The Underground Railroad, and M. Night Shyamalan’s, Old, portrays the activist, Malcolm X.
The docudrama series zeroes in on the lives of the two iconic figures going back to their formative years where both were reared with a strong sense of family but also beset by tragedy that placed them on their respective journeys to realize their identities and to fight for change for their people and the world.
The limited series also stars Weruche Opia as Coretta Scott King, MLK’s wife, and Jayme Lawson as Betty Shabazz, the wife of Malcolm X. Genius MLK/X also takes time to fully detail their lives and identities in full as powerful civil rights activists carrying on their late husbands’ work. The series also features the late Emmy Award winner Ron Cephas Jones in one of his final roles.
Genius: MLK/X is produced by Reggie Rock Bythewood, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ron Howard, Brian Glazer, Francie Calfo and Kristen Zolner. Ambassador Atallah Shabazz is also involved with the series, having served as a consulting producer. It is also produced by Undisputed Cinema, Imagine Television, and 20th Television. The series will air weekly and debuts on National Geographic Feb. 1 at 9 p.m. ET/8 CT with two episodes, which will be available on Disney+ and Hulu the next day.
Check out the trailer for Genius: MLK/X below.
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Source: Arnold Jerocki / Getty / Chris Rock
A Martin Luther King Jr. biopic directed by Chris Rock? Yes, this is actually happening.
Spotted on Variety, the victim of Will Smith’s mighty hand, Chris Rock, is in final talks to team up with Steven Spielberg to bring us a new film focusing on the life of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
The website reports that Rock will serve as a director while Spielberg will be onboard as an executive producer on the upcoming film.
The film will be back by Universal Pictures and will pull all its information from Jonathan Eig’s biography “King: A Life,” which the film studio has already optioned.
Per Variety:
Eig’s book has been called the definitive biography of the late civil rights icon. It uses new FBI information and hundreds of interviews to paint a portrayal of King as a “courageous but emotionally troubled individual who demanded peaceful protest while grappling with his own frailties and a government that hunted him.” Since it’s early in the development process, casting has not been announced.
This will not be the first time Rock will sit in the director’s chair for a film. His previous directing credits include 2014’s Top Five, also starring Rosario Dawson, 2003’s Head of State, and 2007’s I Think I Love My Wife.
If you’re itching to see Rock in front of the camera again, he will be starring alongside Colman Domingo in the upcoming Netflix film Rustin, which follows the man who was an advisor to MLK.
Earlier this year, Rock used a Netflix Live standup special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, to finally break his silence about the infamous slap moment and other topics.
It’s good to see Chris Rock is out here working, but MLK biopic? We’re not sure this is something we want to see him directing.
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Photo: Arnold Jerocki / Getty
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Source: Boston Globe / Getty/ MLK
A moment meant to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, became nothing but pure jokes on social media.
Friday, Jan.13, “The Embrace,” a 20-foot tall, 40-foot wide monument, made its debut on Boston Common, where King gave his speech on April 23, 1965, to a crowd of 22,000.
The statue, which Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas designed, drew inspiration from a photo of King and Scott King hugging each other after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
The headless monument only features the couple’s arms embracing each other, and it has drawn tremendous amounts of criticism from folks on Twitter and some members of the King’s family.
Many people call the statue hideous, while others point out that it looks like a sexual act is going down.
Scott King’s causing, Seneca Scott said the monument was insulting speaking to CNN and, in an essay published by Compact Magazine, called it a “masturbatory metal homage.”
Yikes.
“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott said to CNN.
Martin Luther King III Likes The MLK Statue
On the other hand, the civil rights activist’s son, Martin Luther King III, said he was grateful for the statue that represents his parents’ love story and partnership, telling CNN’s Don Lemon he liked the monument.
“I think that’s a huge representation of bringing people together,” King told CNN. “I think the artist did a great job. I’m satisfied. Yeah, it didn’t have my mom and dad’s images, but it represents something that brings people together.”
“And in this time, day and age, when there’s so much division, we need symbols that talk about bringing us together,” he continued.
The Artist Defends His Work
During an appearance on CNN This Morning, Hill defended his work, saying his goal was to capture “the feeling of love” from the King’s relationship and has no plans of changing the statue.
“This is a piece that was selected by the people of Boston. This is not Hank just came and put something. Thousands of people worked on this, thousands of people actually put it together, and no one saw this, I would say, perverse perspective,” Thomas said.
He also points out that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Washington Monument were not instant hits, and “The Embrace” is another one of those situations.
Twitter is not trying to hear it and has let the jokes fly. You can see the reactions to the monument in the gallery below.
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Photo: Boston Globe / Getty
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