THE DRUM MAJOR
An Official Selection of the Amnesty International Human Rights Film Festival

Actor-filmmaker Michael Mack has credits that speak for themselves. He starred in the PBS/Nickelodeon series “Powerhouse,” did many voices for the popular “Elder Scrolls” games, co-hosted the travel show “Three for the Road,” brought professional theatre to the Washington National Cathedral for the first time in its history, and played Commander Sirol, the first Black Romulan in “Star Trek” history. 

His other TV/film roles include “Head of State,” “Homicide,” “House of Cards,” “Something the Lord Made,” “Veep,” “The West Wing,” “The Wire,” “The Young & the Restless,” and several national commercials.

On MLK Day 2025, I spoke with Michael about his film “The Drum Major,” a wonderful arthouse documentary that pays tribute to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Here’s some of that interview.

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CC: I love your film “The Drum Major.”

MM: Thank you. So do I.

CC: It shows!

MM: Anything to honor Dr. King.

CC: What did he – or does he – mean to you?

MM: When I was a kid, my dad said, “The greatest man who ever lived was Jesus Christ. The second greatest was Dr. King.”

CC: Do you remember the assassination, the riots and all?

MM: Absolutely. Like it was yesterday. Those memories and Dr. King’s dream for America had everything to do with why we – the filmmaking team – made “The Drum Major.” 

It cost a lot of money to produce. Nobody got rich off this. The licensing for many of the visuals was “for educational purposes only.” Commercial use would have been too expensive.

CC: So, you wound up with a film you couldn’t sell?

MM: Yes, but it got made. 

We’ve done screenings at film festivals, the IMF, the African American Civil War Museum, Historical Society of Washington, UDC, churches, homeless shelters, other venues. This film has meant a lot to a lot of people. It’s a public service. On YouTube, free of charge, and with the blessing of my investors. Thank God. I’m grateful.  

CC: There are many great documentaries about Dr. King, but this one goes beyond… what we might call… the usual.

MM: That’s why I play “the Voice of Dr. King.” So, we can, virtually, hear him in conversation. Hear things he actually thought. And hear parts of speeches that aren’t in the usual news clips and sound bites. 

And that’s a creative challenge for a twenty-minute documentary. Dr. King’s speeches were forty minutes to an hour long. And he often spoke in a cadence. So, for the speeches to make sense to the ear, they had to be edited and presented as if meant to be three to five minutes long.

CC: What was your biggest creative challenge in making this film?

MM: The third sermon. “The Mountaintop.” How to illustrate it. 

King does this march through time which has to include us getting to the Promised Land without him – although he’s narrating the march. Then there’s the Promised Land itself. How do you represent that?

At the time, when we made the film, Barack Obama was new to the White House. “Does this mean Dr. King’s dream has come true?” I went with that visual to show a new level of progress, something that many had considered impossible until it happened. But… I had my concerns about the future. 

So, I sat at a piano with Jennifer Rouse, who plays “We Shall Overcome” on the soundtrack, and we came up with a new arrangement of the song. It’s intended to both lull and haunt the listener. The song never ends. Never reaches its conclusion. It stops somewhere in the middle and begins again. 

CC: In other words, the work is ongoing.

MM: Exactly.