When he’s not criticizing the BREAKING BAD finale, Oliver Stone is trying to get another biopic going. This time it’s one on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Stone is in negotiations to direct a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic for Dreamworks and Warner Bros according to several sources close to TheWrap.com. Jamie Foxx is in talks to play the civil rights leader. Both parties previously worked together on 1999s ANY GIVEN SUNDAY.
Kario Salem (CHASING MAVERICKS) has worked on the project for Warner Bros. over a period of 3 years, and has spent that time doing research and interviews to build a stronger screenplay. In 2011, Dreamworks who had already acquired the rights to King’s story along with the “I Have a Dream” speech, teamed up with Warners who seemed to have a good thing going.
There’s a couple of MLK biopics that have been trying to get rolling. Paul Greengrass was developing MEMPHIS with producer Scott Rudin until the King family refused to back it because they weren’t in favor of the depiction. Then there’s SELMA that Lee Daniels spent years on which now is in the hands of director Ava DuVernay (MIDDLE OF NOWHERE) and has David Oyelowo set to star as King. That I’d like to see.
Will this be a return to form for Stone? Is Foxx a good fit? Let us know in the strike backs!