‘Genius: MLK/X’ Stars on Bringing Civil-Rights Icons to Life (VIDEO)
As the 56th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s April 4th, 1968 assassination approaches, we’d like to make a suggestion for anyone looking for content about the late civil-rights leader: Season 4 of National Geographic‘s insightful and effective Genius.
Entitled MLK/X and starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. (The Trial of the Chicago 7) and Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad) as King and Malcolm X, respectively, the eight-episode bio-series charted the concurrent yet dramatically divergent paths both men trod during one of the most important eras of modern history. It’s also filled with information many viewers may not be aware of (they only met once?!). But far from a musty retelling, the series—as Genius has so far done with Picasso, Aretha Franklin, and Einstein—digs beneath the facade of the famous men to examine what drove them and, as Harrison, Jr. puts it, amplify the fact that anyone can make a difference.
Maarten de Boer
“We’re in a place where people are starting to forget who they are and their identity,” the Elvis actor stated when the cast sat down with us back in February at the annual Television Critics’ Association press event, as you can see in the full video above. “And what I really love about the name of the second episode is that it’s ‘Who We Are.’ And I think [Genius] is a really beautiful example of showing us the journey of what humanity looks like and what greatness looks like. That greatness is a part of us in ways that we don’t even recognize at times.”
On the topic of greatness, enough cannot be said about the performances, not just by Pierre and Harrison Jr., but also by Weruche Opia (I May Destroy You) as King’s wife Coretta Scott King and Jayme Lawson (The Batman) as Malcolm X’s spouse Betty Shabazz. Teeming with grace, empathy, and quiet strength, Opia and Lawson are electrifying presences on screen and, especially in the back half of the season, create portraits of these iconic women you want to know even more about after the final credits roll.
“This show gave an opportunity for us to really explore the full humanities of these women and to show the complexity of what it means to stand by your men,” explained Lawson. “[That] doesn’t mean you’re just silently complicit to whatever they’ve got to say, or whatever they say goes. These were women that challenged their ideals, that challenged what they thought and how they thought about going and supporting the movement. These were women that were also dreamers and had aspirations and had agency,” she continued. “They’re not some mythical creatures of that time. They are representatives of women throughout history.”
Sounds like the perfect subjects for a Season 5, Nat. Geo!
Genius: MLK/X, Streaming Now, Disney+
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