Kevin Costner’s ‘JFK’ Paved the Way for Denzel Washington’s Most Controversial Movie That WB Cut Short: “Don’t tell ‘em I said so!”

Kevin Costner is no stranger to three-hour epics but his film JFK’s long runtime reportedly led Spike Lee to fight for the same.

Before crossing the industry standard runtime of two hours on his own films like Horizon – An American Saga, Kevin Costner clocked in a whopping three-hour-and-ten-minute runtime with the Oliver Stone directorial JFK.

The controversial political thriller explored the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of the then-President John F.Kennedy.

While the film received polarizing reviews and was extremely controversial, the runtime seemed to be the least talked-about issue with the film.

This reportedly inspired filmmaker Spike Lee to fight to keep his own ambitious political biopic Malcolm X at a longer runtime, despite WB urging him to keep it short.

Spike Lee mentioned how the Kevin Costner starrer JFK inspired his Malcolm X

Kevin Costner in JFK | Credits: Warner Bros.

Kevin Costner’s JFK saw the Yellowstone star play a lawyer in the hunt for the truth about the assassination of John F.

Kennedy and the subsequent arrest and death of the prime suspect Lee Harvey Oswald.

Director Oliver Stone’s sprawling three-hour epic left no stone unturned in laying out all the conspiracy theories that went against the Warren Commission.

While the world focused on the film’s controversial messaging, the long runtime which was unorthodox for a film of that scale, was passed over.

The usual industry standard was reportedly under two hours as most executives believed that the audience checked out after that time while watching.

However, Stone got away with it.

Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X | Credits: Warner Bros.

Around the same time, Spike Lee was reportedly working on his cut for his own politically charged film Malcolm X with Denzel Washington.

Chronicling the controversial activist’s life, Lee reportedly wanted to extend the runtime but WB was not having it.

However, he had heard about the same studio allowing Stone to keep JFK’s runtime of three hours.

Spike Lee then reportedly fought to keep his cut of more than three hours as he felt the need to show Denzel Washington’s character through different times.

He said to IndieWire,

I asked [WB executive Bob Daley], ‘How long is ‘JFK’?’ He said it was two hours.

He didn’t know that Oliver and I were friends, so I called Oliver and asked him, ‘How long is ‘JFK’?’ He said, ‘Spike, it’s three hours, but don’t tell ‘em I said so!’

I felt that if that subject justified three hours, so did Malcolm X.

However, the fight seemed to be much harder for Spike Lee as WB reportedly pulled out of the film when he refused to bring the cut down to two hours.

They reportedly only returned after Lee finished the film getting financing from prominent African-American celebrities.

Oliver Stone said that he would probably cut some stuff out of JFK

Oliver Stone | Credits: Tom Cinema.

While Spike Lee’s Malcolm X ended up being 202 minutes i.e.

three hours and twenty minutes long, it drew a lot of appreciation from critics and Denzel Washington received a nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars.

However, Oliver Stone’s JFK did not receive such a unanimous response with many criticizing the subject matter.

Amidst accusations of peddling conspiracies and demanding proof, the long runtime of JFK seemed to have gone under the table.

Stone mentioned in hindsight that he would have cut off a few portions of the film.

He said to ScreenRant,

 It was rare, and I remember Spike Lee, wanted to get the same thing from Malcolm X, and he was asking me how long the film was, and I guess Warner’s was tough with him too, but they let me have it because they saw the film and they felt it really worked.

In hindsight, I could have cut some stuff, I thought it was true.

The filmmaker also mentioned that he felt the need to convince people about the alternative theory to JFK’s assassination and hence tried to pack in more information.

JFK and Malcolm X are available for rent on Apple TV.