While the movie “Selma,” a good bit of which was filmed in metro Atlanta, is racking up accolades and awards nominations, the portrayal of one character has prompted some debate.
Family members and former aides to President Lyndon Baines Johnson have complained about how he comes across; former domestic aide Joseph Califano has said the movie “falsely portrays LBJ as an obstructionist.”
On the other hand is author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a weekly co-host of “The Al Sharpton Show” on American Urban Radio Network. He said the movie, which indicates Johnson was in on former FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover’s investigations into King’s activities, gave an accurate portrayal.
“As ‘Selma’ pointed out, Hoover’s gutter campaign against King happened on Johnson’s watch, and he did nothing to stop it,” Hutchinson wrote in a Huffington Post column.
The actor who portrayed the 36th president, Tom Wilkinson, said the film builds the LBJ character over time.
“It was a wonderfully written script and a wonderfully written role,” he said during a recent interview. “You don’t know what sort of guy this politician is, and slowly he reveals himself to be on the side of the angels.”
Wilkinson filmed his part within about a week’s time.
“I’m only a tiny little fragment,” he demurred.
He researched Johnson’s presidency some to get a sense of the man, but was determined not to imitate him.
“I didn’t want to do an impersonation,” he said. “I was well into my teens when he was president. I wanted to use that.”
Wilkinson is British, as are several of the other key cast members in “Selma,” including David Oyelowo, who played King; Carmen Ejogo, who played Coretta Scott King; and Tim Roth, who played Alabama Gov. George Wallace. (Director Ava DuVernay said in a recent interview that this was sheer coincidence, and that she cast the best actors she could find for each role, regardless of nationality.)
Wilkinson recalls observing America’s civil rights era with interest.
“It was a decade where America was a real focus of the Western world,” he said. “President Kennedy seemed to usher in a young, youthful, positive energy that the rest of the world was envious of. Martin Luther King Jr. had this worldwide reputation. I’ve been in a love affair with America since I was a very small boy.”
Although he wasn’t in Atlanta long, he quickly bonded with the cast and crew.
“All of the actors were drawn by an excellent, coherent, compelling script,” he said. “And although the script was good, the film was better.”
Contributing: Jim Galloway
