◆ SpookStack

' I hewe Feb. 21, 1965. Os Rev. 7-27-67) jie TWOSTUDIOSPLAN MALCOLM X FILMS t ' eee i dwin and Louis Lomax Writing Scripts Gat oOai . By VINCENT CANBY - ‘ollywood (apparently . re-- Ei s Adalcgl. os hot box- office p . Oo motion-- pitture companies are rushing’ plans for major films based on. the life of the black nation-' al leader, borm Malcolm. Lijile, who was assassimated i Columbia Pictures, which, ovns the rights to “The Auto-# biagraphy of Malcolm x"; h to begin production in; the fall with a script now being written by James Bald- Sidney Poitier has been mentioned as the possible star,” altho all parties connected Project refuse to com-; mbt ; ‘At the same time, 20th Cen- tury-Foa is planning to start production late this summer on “Malcolm X," based on an orig- inal screenplay being written, by. Louis Lomax, a newspaper-F men and television commen- _ ahe possibility that two films about Malcolm X mi be. ready for release at abou thé same time does not seem: to be deterring either company -£ 2 ‘Hot* Summer Feared : * An executive at Fox said Thursday that “the only thing: that would persuade us not to, goahead would be our inability) to.come up with a good script." A. Columbia official said sim Ply that “the project is fraugh th peril,” but thi might happen to the project: should the warnings of Froleat! racial unrest materialize this The two companies have,} hGwever, been sparring rather a over their rival films. week an arbitration com- mittee of the Motion Picture 7 The . . u has no iegel ‘authority, but the fim Pre rerart member som in an attempt fore- re ne use of similar. and dplicate. film titles (anil, in- cwectly, film stories), register tifles with the bureau and re- c@ve priority on their use. e Fox spokesman suggested! wae the reason ss columbia given the right to use its title, even though it was regis- after Fox's, was because “The Autobiography of Mal- efim.X” belongs to a copy) iS in work, That book, writ-: te&® in collaboratién with Alex! aléy, was published by Grove Press - ia October, 1965. eached Thursday in Holiv- produce “The Autobiography” fof Columbia, had another explanation: “I have just one thing to say. I submitted [‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’j to: Fox before submitting it to Cdumbia® . - ; David Brown, a Fox vice président and the director of story operations, confirmed this, but said that at that time Fox already was working on its own original treatment of the Malcom X story “although that was not conveyed to Mr. Worth atthe time.* Mrs. Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm K, is coop- erating with Mr. Baldwin on the. prepesation of¢dé<efum- bia screenpisy~ ang ee the filrrtémyany the exclusive right to portray her in the forthcoming film. —_ ; ‘Although Columbia execu- tives would not disclose how much had been paid for “The Autobiography,” they said that Mrs. Shabazz and her children would also receive part of the film’s net profits, which will paid into a trust fund. = |; Officials at Fox were reluc- tarit to disclose the scope of the ‘Malcolm: X screenplay bein, written by Mr. Lomax, as wi as the names of those persons, lassociated with the black na: {tionalist from whom they have: received legal releases. Paul Monash will produce the Fox film, which, it is expected, will made without well-known players. pe Tol VW a Bishop i" \~ Casper —.___ Callahan —___ Conrad Felt Gale pic Rosen Sulli wht? Tav Trotter es Tele. Room —y FIO OPS | ORDED COPY FILEO Uy 2s The Washington Post Times Herald The Washington Daily News [. The Evening Star (Washington) ——_ The Sunday Star (Washington) Daily News (New York) Sunday News (New York} New York Post The New York Times > The Sun (Baltimore) The Worker The New Leader The Wall Street Journal The National Observer People’s Vida 1968 ——— Date Afsociation of America’s title rogistration bureau gave Colum- bia the right to use the title, Autobiography of Mal- coim X,” for its film altho Fa add earlier registered {ts |; “The Autobiography of Mal- tolm X” covers his life from his boyhood in Michigan, through his Harlem hoodlum days and his conversion to Ell- / GO “ 397 32, if —- T RECO Muhammad's Nation of Is- = a. a ; jo big beak with Muham- NOT REC CED ad an ips te~Hecet. 4a }