British actor David Jonsson bit by the acting bug from one of Spike Lee’s most iconic movies, Malcolm X.
In a newly shared interview with BAFTA Film Firsts, Jonsson, who was recently cast in Black Panther 3, named the 1992 biopic as the movie that made him want to pursue acting.
“The first film I saw that made me think I want to act was Malcolm X. Yeah, it was Denzel [Washington] in Malcolm X,” Jonsson said around the 4-minute mark of the video below. “I said, you know, this is a marrying of art, politics and like social realism. It's something amazing that film can do, isn't it?”
Jonsson added that the Lee-directed film felt like a “mirror” was held up to himself, although it didn’t make him “scared” of his reflection. “I think that that movie just does it so brilliantly and [Washington’s] performance is otherworldly,” he continued.
Washington is also attached to star in Black Panther 3, which the two-time Academy Award winner announced in 2024.
"Ryan's a genius," Washington said about the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, on a 2024 episode of Variety podcast Awards Circuit. "He's still Ryan, humble and full of ideas. Whatever he writes, I'll read."
Coogler also gave Malcolm X its flowers as the “most important American film ever made” while visiting podcast 7 PM in Brooklyn in June.
In Black Panther 3, Jonsson will play Prince T'Challa II, the son of King T'Challa, who was originated by the late Chadwick Boseman, who played the character in 2018’s Black Panther.
The third installment of Black Panther 3 is slated to release on December 15, 2028.
