Doctor Martin Luther King Junior, a man of many names.
A martyr, a legend, a hero, a revolutionary. During his time on earth, Dr. King positively molded the mindset of millions, and reformed the political and social system for the betterment of black Americans and transformed today’s modern race relations. As we approach the 50th Anniversary of his assassination, we prepare for the launching of HBO’s latest documentary King In the Wilderness, which profiles King as we’ve never seen him before: through close friends, advisors, and archival footage. You can catch here our exclusive interviews on King’s Impact and personal significance to films creators and team below from the film’s New York premiere at The Riverside Church:
Peter Kunhardt, Filmmaker:
“I think good old-fashioned storytelling will never go out of style. And in this fast-paced environment we’re living in – to take the time to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end and build up character- each interview we did was two to three hours so instead of just getting a quick sound bite we really got deeply into the man himself and the memories that people had of him. I think that he combination of all those elements will present him in a way, if people take the time to watch, will send a message that is relevant to today. We had a great researcher and a lot of the footage people feel they had never seen before came from the networks and what happened was back in the 60’s they shot in 60 millimeter film and they would snip off whatever soundbite they were using and leave the rest on transfer so we went and asked to have these rolls of film transferred for the first time in 50 years so you’re seeing things in beautiful quality. I think I’m most pleased that people are going to see him as real man that’s goes through the same things we all do – suffers the same depressions we all do. He’s a real man and I think it’s exciting to see a message from someone you can identify with and I hope that can send a message to people that they too can make progress it just takes a little effort.”
Trey Ellis, Executive Producer:
“As The Interviewer, I interviewed most of the people that you see in the documentary. The documentary talks about King at his lowest point for the last three years of his life when he was his least popular: amongst blacks and amongst whites, amongst the media and politicians so it’s inspiring to see he kept doing what he was doing. To parallel King’s activism with today’s, it’s important to know that social media only goes so far, if you look at the anti-gun violence movement you have to get people together it can’t only exists in cyberspace so if you look at what people in the 60’s accomplished without those social media skills we really have no excuse for getting off our butts and really making a huge difference.”
Tamara Tunie, Actress:
“I’m glad to be here tonight for a couple reasons, one when I saw that this documentary was being screened about Dr. King, I immediately responded this was something I immediately wanted to be a part of. But also one of the creators Trey Ellis is a very dear friend of mine we’ve been friends for many years so I’m happy to be here to support my HBO family as well, they’re a very important Network and they do amazing things so it’s a trifecta. I think most of the time we see a lot of the speeches and we see a lot of the more public Dr. King so I’m interested in seeing a lot of the more private moments and the more human moments.”
Teddy Kunhardt, Executive Producer:
“Everything that Dr. King experienced is so relevant today. I can’t imagine what it would be like if Twitter existed if Dr. King was alive today and Donald Trump was president. The country still has so many things wrong with it. It’s such a racist country and I hope people watch this film and see that having that moral compass that Dr. King exuded and having that steadfast passion of nonviolence so I hope when audience watch this, it resonates with people because I think that’s the key to our country’s success.”
George Kunhardt, Executive Producer:
“I’m excited for people to see he’s more than just the I have a dream speech, he’s more than just the sit-ins. He’s a man who lived a very challenging life, especially the last three years of his life and I think that people are going to watch this and realize that King is a human being he’s not this God figure. Rather he was a human being, he tried his hardest, and he was an amazing being. He’s a human being at the core.”
Be sure to catch the premiere of King in The Wilderness Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
