Just in time for Black History Month in the US comes the latest installment of the popular Genius series, Genius: MLK/X. The new episodes focus on the paralleled journeys of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Minister Malcolm X, along with their wives Coretta Scott King and Dr. Betty Shabazz, as the four of them cement their places in American history as Civil Rights legends.
Ahead of the series premiering on National Geographic on February 1 and Hulu and Disney Plus on February 2, What to Watch spoke with stars Weruche Opia and Jayme Lawson, who portray Coretta Scott King and Dr. Betty Shabazz, respectively. The actresses shared not only what preparation was like going into their roles, but also what they hope viewers get from watching the show.
Read our full interview with the actresses below.
How did it feel coming into the role knowing you were portraying such legends in the civil rights movement? What was your preparation process like?
Opia: It was scary, I'll say that. There was a mix of anxiety, fear, trepidation, joy, excitement, just all the human emotions balled up in one. Because you have moments of doubt. Am I really supposed to be doing this? Can I pull this off? Do I have the chops to do this? Am I a good enough actor? Can I play somebody who is so iconic? What are people going to say about me? Do I even look like her? I mean all these questions go through your head. But I mean I'm very much a believer of what's yours is yours... That was part of the initial thoughts.
But the preparation was more researching them and trying to get into their psyches. I mean, we've also mentioned that the research was quite limited. You know we have a lot of research about the men, but not so much about the women. For me especially, I will say I didn't know much about Coretta Scott King, at all. So this was like an education for me, and the fact that I realize not many people know about her as well gave me more of a kick to be like "Okay, I want to be a part of this education so more people know what she did and who she was."
So that was part of the responsibility. But more than anything it was reading as much as I could about her, praying trying to get into her essence. Not her burden, but her essence, because that burden was heavy [laughing]. I had an etiquette class. A six-hour etiquette class because I wanted to be the church lady [laughing].
When you're looking at these roles, did you look at Cicely Tyson or Angela Bassett who played these iconic women previously?
Lawson: Because I grew up with that, I tried to put that [points away] because that's another pressure to the already added pressure of trying to live up to and honor Dr. Betty Shabazz in and of herself. [laughing] Then when you add the people who have played her before, it's not very helpful in calming the nerves. So there's a real effort to try to make space to discover her for myself and relying solely on the research I could garner from the get-go.
I read a book called Before Betty X, which is actually written by one of her daughters and it's a children's book about fictionalizing the story of her mother from the time she's born til she's about a teenager and I said, "Ooo,okay, this is something here." Because for me, I found the little girl, and I know now that I found the little girl I know how to take care of her and move her throughout the rest of the episodes. And that was something for me that could ground me and put out the noise of other performances I had seen and help me to uncover the woman that I'm meant to uncover here.
What do you hope viewers take away from this season of Genius?
Opia: One thing that I will say I took from being part of this project was the fact that these four icons, I'm seeing them as humans, you know, as complex humans. They achieved great things, but they weren't perfect, in the sense they had all the feelings that I have. Feelings of doubt, feelings of self-worth, fear, anxiety, they went through all the emotions and tried to figure things out by themselves.
Again, we're just pointing out that they were in their 20s when their doing these incredible things. So for me, the biggest thing was that I don't have to have all my stuff together in order to be dedicated to something enough to want to make an impact on the world. And that's what I hope everyone kind of takes from it. That it's just regular people who were so committed to a movement and they made a lasting mark on this world and their legacy sort of speaks today even though they do not walk the face of the earth. And if they can do it, then everyone can.
Genius: MLK/X airs on National Geographic on Thursdays. Episodes become available to stream the next day on Hulu and Disney Plus.
