'Malcolm X' director gushes about studio bosses

Spike Lee, the director behind Malcolm X, has some sweet words for the executives of Warner Bros.

In a chat with Business Insider, the filmmaker recalls that his ideas for the movie on the Black Nationalist leader were at odds with the studio.

However, despite this, he is grateful to them, as the company's then-heads, Terry Semel and Bob Daly, arrived at the film's screening amid the riots in LA in 1991.

These protests stemmed from the acquittal of LAPD officers after they were accused of beating a Black man, Rodney King.

"The day we flew out to LA to screen the four-hour cut, it turned out, while we were screening the film, the uprising happened," the 68-year-old says.

"I could never forget that day," Spike shares, referring to the day the riots began. "And to Terry and Bob's credit, they stayed throughout the whole four-hour screening."

He continues, "They could have easily said, 'Spike, I'm sorry, the city is in flames, and we gotta get home.' So, no matter what our differences were, making that movie, I have to give respect to both of them because they stayed throughout the full four-hour cut. I thank them for that."

Spike also shares that he adds Rodney's beating footage in the film's opening. "We recorded one of Malcolm's speeches, and we brought Denzel in, and he recorded the speech, and we put that over the savage beating of Rodney King and then used the score from the great Terence Blanchard."

In the meantime, the filmmaker's latest film, Highest 2 Lowest, is streaming on Apple TV+.