The film begins with an image of an American flag interspersed with George Holliday’s home video footage of the 3 Mar 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers, accompanied by audio of a speech given by “Malcolm X,” charging “the white man” with various atrocities. The opening sequence concludes with the American flag burning, and, as pieces fall off, its tattered remains form an “X.”
       In a piece published in the 5 Jan 1993 LAT, Malcolm X’s eldest daughter, Attallah Shabazz, stated that in 1967, producer Marvin Worth approached Alex Haley and her mother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, about purchasing rights to The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X. Soon after, novelist James Baldwin was hired to write a manuscript that was developed into a screenplay by Arnold Perl. According to the 25 Oct 1991 DV, Betty Shabazz and her six children with Malcolm X were to receive a portion of Marvin Worth’s profit participation points in the film.
       The project remained in development for over twenty years. On 12 Jan 1986, an LAT brief noted a fifth draft of the script, written by novelist David Bradley (not to be confused with film director David Bradley), was underway. Playwrights David Mamet and Charles Fuller also worked on the script at different times, although they are not credited onscreen. Actors contending for the title role included Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor, while Sidney Lumet was briefly attached to direct.
       By May 1990, the film was nearing production at Warner Bros. with Norman Jewison set to direct a script he had worked on with Charles Fuller, and Denzel Washington was in talks to play Malcolm X, as noted in a 30 May 1990 Var item. Insisting that only a black director could tell Malcolm X’s story, Spike Lee protested Jewison’s involvement and insisted on directing himself. Marvin Worth consented, hiring Lee to replace Jewison. Warner Bros. agreed to finance despite the personnel change, and Lee began rewriting a version of the script by James Baldwin and Arnold Perl, as noted in the 16 Sep 1991 DV.
       When Spike Lee requested a $40 million production budget, Warner Bros. only agreed to finance $20 million. An additional $8.5 million was procured through the sale of foreign distribution rights to Largo International N.V.
       Concerned that Lee would take an exploitative approach, some black activist groups protested the making of the film, as noted in the 5 Aug 1991 Var and 9 Sep 1991 NYT. One protest rally took place 3 Aug 1991 at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem, and another, organized by poet Amiri Baraka, was held 7 Sep 1991. Baraka publicly warned Spike Lee “not to mess up Malcolm’s life.” Lee rejected Baraka’s request to review the script. He and Baraka later declared a truce, according to a 16 Mar 1992 Time magazine article.
       Principal photography was preceded by second-unit photography in Mecca, Saudia Arabia, as noted in a 24 Jul 1991 DV. There, an all-Muslim crew shot exteriors only, as non-Muslims were not allowed in the city, according to an item in the 23 Sep 1991 People. Principal photography followed on 16 Sep 1991, according to the 15 Oct 1991 HR production chart. Although filmmakers originally wanted to shoot in 70mm, as noted in the 25 Oct 1991 DV, budget constrictions led them to shoot in Super 35mm – a camera format that uses full-frame aperture, and allows for better quality optical printing to other formats such as 1.85:1.
       New York City locations included sections of Harlem and Queens. For the scene depicting Malcolm X’s assassination, Lee wanted to use the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, where the real-life tragedy took place, but the derelict building was deemed unsafe due to asbestos issues, and the Diplomat Hotel in midtown Manhattan was used instead, according to a 16 Dec 1991 Var brief. The 15 Oct 1991 HR production chart also listed New Jersey and Boston, MA, as U.S. locations. In New Jersey, the Essex County prison, a condemned building in the city of Newark, stood in for the Boston prison where Malcolm X served time. New York filming wrapped in mid-Dec 1991, as noted in a 16 Dec 1991 Var item. Further filming took place in South Africa’s Soweto township, and, in mid-Jan 1992, in Cairo, Egypt, where a replica of Mecca’s El Ka-Aba was built.
       Lee went $4-$5 million over the $28 million budget. In Dec 1991, the film was still shooting in New York when Warner Bros. announced it would not provide additional money. The Completion Bond Company (CBC) assumed financial control of the picture. As noted in a 6 Apr 1992 DV article, it was not common practice for a major studio film to be taken over by a completion bond company, but Warner Bros. had made an arrangement with CBC knowing that, because of the controversial nature of the picture, they would not replace Lee with a different director if the production ran into problems. After CBC took over, Lee had to get their approval for all expenditures. According to a 3 Apr 1992 LAT article, CBC cut off funding after Lee intercepted layoff notices and continued to pay crewmembers the bond company was no longer willing to pay. With editing still underway, CBC sent a letter stating that any work undertaken after 27 Mar 1992 would be at the production company’s expense. To keep the payroll going, Lee reached out to prominent black entertainers and athletes, and raised an estimated $72,000 in donations from Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Prince, Janet Jackson, Magic Johnson, and Peggy Cooper-Cafritz, among others. According to the 22 May 1992 DV, Lee also invested $2 million of his $3 million salary into the film.
       Although Lee initially promised a 135-minute running time, as stated in the 10 Aug 1992 DV, he fought with Warner Bros. over the length, often citing Oliver Stone’s 189-minute JFK (1991, see entry), and arguing that a slain black hero should be afforded as much screen time as a slain white hero. The eventual running time came in at 201 minutes.
       A 16 Nov 1992 WSJ brief estimated that Warner Bros. spent a total of $40 million on production and marketing of Malcolm X. By that time, merchandise carrying the film’s “X” symbol had been in stores for months, including a popular baseball cap that was sold at Spike’s Joint, Lee’s own store in Brooklyn, as noted in the 25 Oct 1991 DV. As interviews were being lined up for Lee to promote the film, the director sparked controversy by requesting to be interviewed by black journalists, the 2 Nov 1992 HR reported. LAT refused to comply, and KCOP film critic Gary Franklin threatened to boycott the film, according to the 30 Oct 1992 DV, but Premiere magazine went along with the request by hiring black writer Ralph Wiley to interview Lee. The filmmaker later explained that his request had been a protest against hiring practices in the media world, and he cited a recent study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors that found black journalists accounted for only 4.8% of newsroom staffing in the U.S.
       As a result of the film’s subject matter and violence surrounding recent black films, including New Jack City and Boyz N the Hood (1991, see entries), the theatrical release of Malcolm X required extra security precautions. A 10 Nov 1992 DV item stated that LAPD Chief Willie Williams reached out to Spike Lee personally to make sure the opening went smoothly. Precautions were expected to be particularly high in Los Angeles, where only six months earlier, the Los Angeles riots (AKA the Rodney King riots) had taken place. According to a 15 Nov 1992 Long Beach Press-Telegram item, former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke argued potential violence as a reason to ban the film from theaters altogether, and his National Association for the Advancement of White People of Michigan sent letters to Detroit, MI, theaters, urging them to boycott the film.
       The inclusion of George Holliday’s home video footage of Rodney King’s beating became a point of contention when Holliday learned of Lee’s plans to use it in the opening credit sequence. Concerned that the sequence would incite more violence after the riots, Holliday sought an injunction against its use in the film, as well as $100,000 plus damages, according to an 11 Sep 1992 HR news brief. Holliday’s attorneys contended that the licensing deal Spike Lee made with Holliday’s former attorney, James Jordan, was invalid because Holliday had already severed ties with Jordan by the time it was negotiated. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount, according to a 2 Oct 1992 DV article, and Lee retained rights to use the footage. Another lawsuit, brought by Islamic technical consultant Jefri Aalmuhammed, charged that Aalmuhammed was not properly compensated or credited for making substantial script revisions and directing scenes shot in Egypt.
       A 26 Aug 1992 LAT article reported that Lee was calling for all African Americans, including schoolchildren, to take the day off on 20 Nov 1992 to see Malcolm X in theaters. Although he hoped the effort would “send Hollywood a message” about supporting black filmmakers, Lee rescinded the statement after coming under criticism from the black community. Notably, Attallah Shabazz was quoted in the 26 Oct 1992 Newsweek as saying, “I do not request nor do I think my father would want you to play hooky….Stay in school and learn. Stay at your job and feed your family.”
       Based on advance praise for Denzel Washington’s performance, Warner Bros. decided that a Wednesday release, accompanied by positive reviews, would bolster the opening-weekend box-office, as stated in a 23 Oct 1992 HR item. Therefore, the release date was moved from 20 Nov 1992 to 18 Nov 1992. The film opened in 1,124 theaters nationwide, and went on to gross $48.1 million, according to a 30 Mar 1996 Philadelphia Daily News article.
       Critical reception was largely positive, although some criticized the film’s slow pacing and three-hour-plus running time. As stated in a 30 Nov 1992 Long Beach Press-Telegram brief, the film received a notable endorsement from Betty Shabazz, who commended Lee for capturing the essence of her late husband “quite well”; however, she remarked that her screen persona, as portrayed by Angela Bassett, was more assertive than she had been in real life.
       Denzel Washington received an Academy Award nomination for Actor in a Leading Role, and Ruth E. Carter was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design. Malcolm X was named one of the top ten films of the year by the National Board of Review, and received the following National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards: Outstanding Motion Picture; Outstanding Lead Actor (Denzel Washington); Outstanding Supporting Actor (Al Freeman, Jr.); and Outstanding Supporting Actress (Angela Bassett).
       Al Freeman, Jr., who plays “Elijah Muhammad,” had previously appeared as Malcolm X in the TV miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (ABC, 18 Feb 1979—12 Jul 1981).
       End credits include the following statements: “JFK footage courtesy of Camelot Productions Corp.; Rodney King footage courtesy of George Holliday, copyright © 1991, all rights reserved; Joe Louis vs. Billy Conn fight sports audio courtesy of The Miley Collection, Evansville, Indiana; Malcolm X photos courtesy of Gordon Parks; ‘Soiling of Old Glory’ photo courtesy of Stanley Forman (1976 Pulitzer Prize)”; “Additional archival photos courtesy of: AP/Wide World Photos; Black Star Press; David Gahr; Dr. Laurance G. Henry; Joseph Louw, Life Magazine © Time Warner; National Archives; New York Post; Roy Schatt; New York Public Library/Schomburg Center; Time Magazine; Time Photo Syndication; Lloyd Yearwood”; “Additional archival footage courtesy of: CBS News Archives; NBC News Archives; Olympic footage courtesy of ABC Sports, International Olympic Committee, UCLA Film & Television Archive; WTN”; “Joe Louis’ name and likeness © 1991 Estate of Joe Louis under License authorized by Curtis Management Group, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; ‘Great Books of the Western World’ used with permission of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., © 1952, 1990; All Marvel characters: ™ & © 1991 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., used with permission, all rights reserved”; “Special Thanks to: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques; King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud; His Royal Highness Prince Bandar Bin; Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Ambassador to the United States of America, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia; His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Faizal Bin; Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Director of Islamic Affairs, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington, D.C.; His Excellency Doctor Shihab Jamjoon, Deputy Minister of Information; His Excellency Sheik El Hazar; His Excellency Nabil Murad; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Government of Cairo, Egypt; The African National Congress (ANC); Al-Azhar University; Aramex; Arthur Klein; Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO); Coca-Cola U.S.A.; Compass Forwarding; Congress of South African Students (COSAS); Converse, Inc.; David Dinkins; Downtown Holiday Inn; David Dubois; Early Halloween, Vintage Clothing N.Y.C.; Egypt Air; Emeco Travel; Film and Allied Worker’s Organisation (FAWO); Hellman International Forwarders; Quincy Jones; Logical Designs; Luster Products, Inc.; Maponya’s Rent-A-Car; Mkwanazi Caterers; Meridian Hotel; Miller Brewing Company; New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission; New York City Fire Department, Explosives Unit, Dept. Chief Inspector Robert A. Materasso; New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater & Broadcasting; Nike; Phakamani Combined School, Soweto; Product Placement and Promotional Partners; Rahway State Prison Inmates; Oliver Stone; U.S. Embassy; Valley Railroad”; “Thank Allah for: Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, Tracy Chapman, Prince, Janet Jackson, and Peggy Cooper-Cafritz”; “Thank Jesus for: Aretha Franklin and Arrested Development”; “In Memory of Alex Haley”; “Read ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ published by Ballantine Books”; and, “This film is based upon ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ as told to Alex Haley, and public records. Dialogue and certain events and characters contained in this film were created for the purposes of dramatization.”
       Credits for the Egyptian and South African film units acknowledge the assistance of MISR International Films and RM Productions, respectively.