Much has been written about the one-and-only time the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X met. It was on March 26, 1964, and the two civil rights leaders were both in Washington for a Senate debate on the Civil Rights Act.
The moment is also depicted in the new installment of National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology series called “ Genius: MLK /X,” premiering Thursday. This is the fourth series.
Kelvin Harrison Jr. (King) and Aaron Pierre (Malcolm X) now can be at ease about being scheduled to shoot the scene on the first day of filming. At the time, it was intimidating.
“I was like, what kind of prank are the producers trying to play on us,” recalled Harrison. “We barely even knew what we were doing yet.
“We kind of went into separate corners … and we didn’t really see each other until that moment. What you see is us seeing each other for the first time in character,” he said.
Looking back, Pierre thinks it was a smart scheduling decision.
“Had we had four months (of shooting) under our belt, I think we might have gone into that differently, but we had no choice but to just lean into the present moment,” he said.
This image released by National Geographic shows Aaron Pierre as Malcolm X in a scene from “Genius: MLK/X.” GENIUS: MLK/X. Credit: AP/Richard DuCree
Executive producers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood kept a photo of the real-life introduction on their two sons’ walls while they were growing up. Their hope is that with “Genius: MLK/X,” viewers will recognize the contributions of both men to civil rights and U.S. history.
“One misconception is that we’re told we have to choose. Either you align with Malcolm, or you align with Martin, you know, but our offering is that we need both,” said Bythewood. “While they challenged each other, they also learned from each other, and they were aligned in many ways.”
Past seasons of “Genius” have covered Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Aretha Franklin. “Genius:…
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