Short Takes : Lee Takes Over Malcolm X Film

Filmmaker Spike Lee, who complained last year that a white director should not be in charge of a film about Malcolm X, will direct the movie himself.

Lee inherited the movie “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” from director Norman Jewison, who worked months on the project before throwing in the towel, the New York Times said Sunday. Jewison said he did not know how to make it.

Lee was quoted by the newspaper last year saying he had “a big problem” with Jewison directing the film. “Blacks have to control these films,” he said.

A movie about the black militant’s life has been kicking around Hollywood for 20 years. Jewison took it over for Warner Bros. in May, 1990, but finally said Malcolm X was “an enigma to me. I just haven’t licked it.”