No Oscar race is without some kind of controversy and this year finally has one. Over the weekend, Joseph A. Califano Jr., a staffer for President Lyndon B. Johnson, called out Selma director Ava DuVernay for her portrayal of Johnson. The director later responded on Twitter.
On Friday, the Washington Post published an op-ed by Califano, who wrote that the 1965 march on Selma, Alabama lead by Martin Luther King Jr., was actually Johnson’s idea.
“The makers of the new movie Selma apparently just couldn’t resist taking dramatic, trumped-up license with a true story that didn’t need any embellishment to work as a big-screen historical drama,” Califano wrote. “As a result, the film falsely portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson as being at odds with Martin Luther King Jr. and even using the FBI to discredit him, as only reluctantly behind the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and as opposed to the Selma march itself.”
Califano continues, “In fact, Selma was LBJ’s idea, he considered the Voting Rights Act his greatest legislative achievement, he viewed King as an essential partner in getting it enacted — and he didn’t use the FBI to disparage him.”
Califano wrote that Johnson (Tom Wilkinson in the film) and King (David Oyelowo) were partners in getting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed, not at odds, as shown in the film.
According to The Huffington Post, Mark Updegrove, the director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, also criticized the film’s version of events.
DuVernay, who could become the first African American woman nominated for the Best Director Oscar, responded to Califano’s piece on Twitter. In one message, she linked to a 2013 New Yorker article to back up the idea that Johnson delayed voting on the Voting Rights Act to push for his War on Poverty legislation.
I can argue, @HitFixGregory. Notion that Selma was LBJ's idea is jaw dropping and offensive to SNCC, SCLC and black citizens who made it so.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) December 28, 2014
More detail here. LBJ's stall on voting in favor of War on Poverty isn't fantasy made up for a film. “@donnabrazile: http://t.co/dT4Mp4Em5j.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) December 28, 2014
Bottom line is folks should interrogate history. Don't take my word for it or LBJ rep's word for it. Let it come alive for yourself. #Selma
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) December 28, 2014
Selma had a limited release over the weekend and will go wide on Jan. 9.
image of Ava DuVernay courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com
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