Hugh Jackman and Lee Daniels team up for Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination film Orders to Kill

Relatively recent projects involving civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. have, for one reason or another, fallen apart. One of those was a film called SELMA, a passion project for director Lee Daniels (PRECIOUS) that centered around the civil rights movement of the mid-60s. That film would’ve starred Hugh Jackman (THE WOLVERINE) in the role of bigoted Alabama governor George Wallace. Again, none of this got off the ground, though today the LA Times is reporting that Daniels and Jackman will get a chance to work together after all on similar subject matter.

The new project is called ORDERS TO KILL, an adaptation of William F. Pepper’s non-fiction book. Here’s its description (via the author’s own website): “Here is the myth-shattering expose which reveals the truth behind the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr… Shocking and controversial revelations from James Earl Ray’s attorney On April 4th, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped out onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, and into his killer’s line of fire. One shot ended Dr. King’s life and forever changed the course of American history — setting into motion a massive cover-up that has withstood a quarter-century of scrutiny. Now, after 18 years of intensive investigation, William F. Pepper tears away the veil of subterfuge that has hidden the truth of King’s death — proving the innocence of convicted assassin James Earl Ray and revealing the evil conspiracy behind the murder of our nation’s greatest civil rights leader.”

According to the LA Times, Jackman would play the part of Pepper himself, a personal friend of King’s who spent years arguing that the confession of James Earl Ray was part of an elaborate conspiracy. The film is said to have echoes of Oliver Stone’s JFK.