There are a handful of Martin Luther King Jr. projects in the works right now, and all have met with some sort of resistance. Most recently we've seen Ava Duvernay take over Selma for Lee Daniels, and Paul Greengrass has had his share of problems getting Memphis off the ground. But there's one boasting some real Hollywood muscle that has been in development for a few years and may finally be moving forward.
Dreamworks and Warner Bros. are seeking Oliver Stone to direct the untitled biopic, with Jamie Foxx sought to star as the famous civil rights leader. That's just the tip of powerhouse talent behind this one as Steven Spielberg is listed as a producer, with Kario Salem (Chasing Mavericks) penning the script based off the original draft by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Pianist).But before we get too excited there are some issues that could stand in the way, including one that's pretty familiar. THR says no offers are on the table just yet, although Foxx and Stone want to do it despite having some reservations. What might those reservations be? Well, members of the MLK are on board as producers so we can assume the project has the full support of the estate. But that was also the case with Greengrass' film, and the partnership came to an abrupt and kind of ugly end when he didn't want to tell a squeaky clean version of King's story. Does anyone think that Stone, the guy behind controversial biopics JFK, Nixon, and W. is going to toe the line? Probably not.
We'll see what happens when/if this actually happens, but with so many MLK films around it's going to be a race to see which one arrives first.
