Is there one scene in particular that you’re most proud of?
AH: I’m proud of them all, but I think the one that does strike me the most is the scene between Malcolm and Jim at that table. It says so much in such a short time and I think it sums up Jim and his quiet demeanor. Jim is very observant and responsive through the majority of the film but not as talkative through a lot of it. I think that him and what he says at that table are a combination of all those observations up to that point.
LOJ: We spent the first four or five days — correct me if I’m wrong, Kingsley — shooting the bulk of Kingsley’s hotel stuff, which is the heart and soul of the film. We shot Kingsley’s scenes first because Kingsley was going to do Obama next in The Comey Rule. So I felt like Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X laid into me for seven or eight days straight and because of the way it was laid out, we weren’t getting to my response yet. So, there’s nowhere for that tension to go. We get our real body and our real emotions involved in this acting thing that we do, so I was feeling the heat of him coming at me. I’m sitting in that chair as he calls me all kinds of names, so there was a lot of tension in my body seven, eight days. When I did get my chance to respond, I was like, “Ohhhhh, now. Let’s do it! I got a couple of pages, brother.” I really loved that. It was like acting school. There’s not a whole lot of stuff that you can point to where Black and brown actors are given the chance to use our training in this way, you know? We get trained on Shakespeare and Molière and August Wilson too, but very rarely are we given this kind of dialogue that Kemp Powers has given us where we get to use the things that we’ve learned. So I loved all the sparring that we get to do in the hotel.
KBA: I just enjoyed all of it, man. The easy answer to that question is the scene around the table with Jimmy, because something happened in that moment. But, actually, you know what, no. I loved getting to the last week when Eli was in the ring and Michael Imperioli was around, which, I mean, I couldn’t speak. I had these tiny, little bits at the beginning of the story that I wanted to add in to show Malcolm respondent to how important cashes win was for him. It’s just as important storytelling-wise to make sure that we had those cutaways of Malcolm. I loved playing with that, because I felt the pressure had kind of gone. They add the prayer when Cassius wins; I said to the journalists, let’s add some prayers. So I really loved coloring in the scenes and trying to add to that huge moment at the beginning. You know, just with little kinds of flashes. When I saw the way Regina cut it together, I felt so proud because it was a reminder that it all fucking matters. It’s not just about the scenes where you’re in the room and you’ve got 15 pages; it’s also about when you’re not speaking. So yeah, I love that. There was one bit when I kept going to Regina asking, “Is that too much? Is he too excited for the win?” And she was like, “No, no, no, no, because it sets up how important it was.” So yeah, I’d say watching Eli fighting with Michael Imperioli there — it felt like a different time.
EG: Honestly, I have so many. It’d be hard to boil it down. I’ll say three. The first one is Kingsley. I think it was the day after George Floyd and it hit me so much more when Kingsley said his line, “Black people can’t be on the fence. Our people are dying in the street every day. Black people are dying. Every day.” I remember I was in my seat and he walked past me, and I kind of bumped him because I was standing there. I was like, “I’m not letting you move me off my spot. I’m the champ of the world,” and he took all that energy and just threw a haymaker back with words. It just came out of him. I remember everyone in the room — you can feel it on the film — the room went dead silent. That’s not acting. I was like, “What just happened, because none of the other takes had been like that.” It was just a moment where you’re like, oh shoot, I just saw a film moment. That’s gonna leave a lasting impression forever.
The other moment — I wasn’t there — but it was Leslie, with his “A Change Is Gonna Come” scene. When he dropped the tear of tears. It was beautiful. And for me, my most proud moment was just my first day on set. I got to do all my stuff on the bed and give my speech. It was our very first day of all of us doing our thing. Like Leslie said, to have words like that and actions like that, and to be able to interact and look in the mirror. I’ve been preparing to play Cassius for almost two years; so to finally have that moment, it felt like something that could never be taken away. I did it… Well, you know, I knew in the moment I did it well, and I honored it. I put the work in. So those three moments were special for me in the process.
