Oliver Stone and Jamie Foxx in Talks to Reteam for Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic

[Akijama]

Filmmaker Oliver Stone has his sights set on tackling the life of another historical figure. The Alexander and W. filmmaker is in early talks to direct a biopic about the life of Martin Luther King Jr., with his Any Given Sunday star Jamie Foxx in talks to star. The project is set up at DreamWorks and is expected to have the support of King’s family, unlike director Paul Greengrass’ long-developing MLK film Memphis, which provides a three-dimensional look at Dr. King and includes the Civil Rights leader’s extramarital indiscretions. Hit the jump for more on this new project, including how it might affect Greengrass’ film.

News of Stone and Foxx’s involvement in an MLK biopic comes courtesy of The Wrap, which reports that the DreamWorks film has a screenplay by Kario Salem. There’s no word on whether this will be a cradle-to-grave biopic like Foxx’s Ray or if it will focus on a specific period in Dr. King’s life, but the film is expected to have the full support of the King family and that may go a long way to finally getting a Martin Luther King biopic off the ground. The involvement of Stone isn’t exactly promising, though, as the filmmaker’s recent output has been somewhat lacking.

Greengrass has been trying for years to get Memphis made with producer Scott Rudin, but the disapproval of the King family has made it difficult for him to get a studio involved with the right budget. Director Ava DuVernay is also developing an MLK film of her own called Selma with David Oyelowo (The Butler) set to play King, but the names of Stone and Foxx add significant degree of starpower to the DreamWorks project. Stone is just coming off of last year’s underwhelming Savages, but Foxx is enjoying a string of high profile roles with Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and a villainous turn in next year’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The actor is currently filming director Will Gluck’s (Easy A) reboot of Annie.

Should Stone and Foxx close their deals for the Martin Luther King film, I expect we’ll hear more news about the project soon.

http://collider.com/jamie-foxx-olive...king-jr-movie/

[chris_sc77]

I hope.They can get it done . I hope it has a little more balls than some of Stones last few films.

[Abdrewes]

Sweet! Let's hope that the juice Oliver Stone showed in Savages will be present in this project. It'll be killer if the movie turns out to be great. A shouty version of Martin Luther King Jr's life is what I've been dying to see my entire life!!

[Mandalorian]

I've been awaiting a good MLK biopic for so long, it's exhausting! Don't tease me Oliver.

[oscarmerkx]

Originally Posted by Akijama

http://collider.com/jamie-foxx-olive...king-jr-movie/

Oliver Stone's attachment alone is probably what this film needs

[chris_sc77]

Director Oliver Stone (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) has confirmed that he and Jamie Foxx are officially moving forward with plans to make an authorized biopic of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life story. Warner Bros. and DreamWorks will distribute the film, which, according to The Wrap, is being produced by Steven Spielberg. [Wall Street Journal]

[Offender_Mullet]

Originally Posted by chris_sc77

Director Oliver Stone (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) has confirmed that he and Jamie Foxx are officially moving forward with plans to make an authorized biopic of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life story. Warner Bros. and DreamWorks will distribute the film, which, according to The Wrap, is being produced by Steven Spielberg. [Wall Street Journal]

Aaaaand the keywords are: "authorized" and "Steven Spielberg". Look for a watered-down, over-romanticized version of M.L.K. (note: I have not seen Lincoln yet), without the scandals.

[jamesdevil]

Oooh, is that the starter pistol for the anti-Spielberg jerk predicting things before there is anything to inform said predictions? Count me in!

[Offender_Mullet]

Do you honestly think it's going to be anything like Greengrass’ proposed film? Highly unlikely, even with Stone involved. Why do you think it's been so hard for him to get his version off the ground? It contains 'touchy' subject matter that uninformed people would quickly deem Greengrass a 'racist' for portraying M.L.K. in anything but the brightest light. Just sayin'.

[chris_sc77]

Stone is a way better filmmaker than Greengrass but he has kinda been losing his edge recently in regards to his fiction-films.
Hope Stone finds a way to be honest about the mans story and present an interesting epic story.

[chris_sc77]

Really really bad news.
STONE IS OFF THE PROJECT
The studios have no faith in these great filmmakers and are trying to make this safe by censoring the project and the facts regarding the great Dr. king:
http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/on-e...he-big-screen/


"Oliver Stone has run smack into the same wall on a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr biopic that director Paul Greengrass hit when Universal kicked his MLK project Memphis to the curb two years back. Stone took to his Twitter account today to say that DreamWorks and Warner Bros rejected his script rewrite and that he was done with the movie that also had Jamie Foxx attached. It came down to the studios–which are in lockstep with the MLK estate that brought them the right to use his famous copyrighted speeches–rejecting Stone’s characterization of long running rumors that King Jr. engaged in extramarital affairs. “I’m told the estate & the ‘respectable’ black community that guard King’s reputation won’t approve it. They suffocate the man & the truth,” Stone wrote. He also added a message directly to MLK: ‘I wish you could see the film I would’ve made. I fear if ‘they’ ever make it, it’ll be just another commemoration of the March on Washington.”

This is almost a carbon copy of what happened two years ago with Memphis, the superb script that Captain Phillips helmer Paul Greengrass wrote and set at Universal with producer Scott Rudin. The project stopped in its tracks after a version of the script found its way to the King family, and Ambassador Andrew Young, who was one of Dr. King’s closest confidantes during the turbulent Civil Rights movement of the 60s. While Universal was never really clear on why it halted the movie, blaming scheduling, it’s also clear that a film disowned by MLK’s family might hurt its audience appeal. This is an incredibly difficult and emotional situation because it depicts flaws in a man whose message of tolerance and equality and nonviolence still means so much to so many and has made him one of the most galvanizing figures of the 20th Century. I read the script for Memphis–which juxtaposed MLK’s final days, haunted by Hoover’s FBI, whose agents were then thrust into a ticking clock thriller to find his killer–to be exceptionally good, and the depiction of Dr. King with a woman who wasn’t his wife was presented in matter of fact fashion and it wasn’t a focus of the story at all. It was just there. Young understandably felt differently. “There is testimony in congressional hearings that a lot of that information was manufactured by the FBI and wasn’t true,” Young told me. “The FBI testified to that. I was saying simply, why make up a story when the true story is so great? My only concern here is honoring the message of Martin Luther King’s life, and how you can change the world without killing anybody. You’ve seen glimpses of that in the fall of the Berlin Wall, in Poland, South Africa, in a movement in Egypt that began with prayers, where even mercenaries and the most brutal soldiers have trouble shooting someone on their knees. These regimes crumbled before non-violent demonstrations, and that is a message the world needs......” '


i cant say how disappointing this is and what a fantastic beautiful and honest movie could have been made that it doesnt look like we will ever see and it is such a shame for all of us who appreciate great cinema .

I can only express disgust and disappointment to those suppressing this mans true story including some of kings living family and other black leaders wanting to to only some of Dr. Kings story.

I hope Foxx sticks up for his Any Given Sunday director and leaves the project as well if they are sanitizing this and making it some PG-13 safe Butler-ish forgettable nonsense.

[Visco.]

Why can't a white man play Martin Luther King Jr? Racist...

[Abdrewes]

This is what have been waiting for my entire life!

[Pounder]

Get Steve Mcqueen to do it. Fassbender as MLK

[JavaJulien]

It came down to the studios–which are in lockstep with the MLK estate that brought them the right to use his famous copyrighted speeches–rejecting Stone’s characterization of long running rumors that King Jr. engaged in extramarital affairs.

Even people who walked with Dr. King have admitted that he had an affair. In the case of the story of his life, the good definitely outweighs the bad so it's stupid to pretend that he was a man without flaws.

Originally Posted by Visco.

Why can't a white man play Martin Luther King Jr? Racist...

Considering comic fanboys used that argument non-ironically when Donald Glover was campaigning to play Spider-man, I'm honestly not sure if you're serious. :P