AUSTIN, Texas — The widely acclaimed movie “Selma” about the 1965 Civil Rights movement has disappointed at least one moviegoer: a leading historian of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The director of the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, which hosted a major civil rights summit this year that was headlined by four U.S. presidents, said the film that opened in theaters Thursday incorrectly portrays Johnson as an obstructionist to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Selma” is based on the 1965 marches in Alabama from Selmaq to Montgomery that were led by King. Marchers were calling for voting rights.

LBJ Library Director Mark Updegrove said the film unfairly casts Johnson as a sort of composite character who represents the obstacles blacks faced in getting civil rights laws passed. What history shows, Updegrove said, is that Johnson and King had a partnership.

He said Johnson and King had disagreements but not like the film suggests. Updegrove called the portrayal unfortunate given the current climate following the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police.

“When racial tension is so high, it does no good to suggest that the president of the U.S. himself stood in the way of progress a half-century ago. It flies in the face of history,” Updegrove said.

A spokeswoman for Paramount Pictures, the studio that released the film, did not immediately return messages for comment Wednesday.

“Selma” is nominated for four Golden Globe awards, including best picture for a drama and best director.


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