There was once upon a time when Oliver Stone was on board to direct Jamie Foxx in a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic, but those days are reportedly over. The impassioned director, who brought one of the most intelligent depictions of the Bush administration in 2008’s W announced via his Twitter that the project is no longer in his hands.
As for the Martin Luther King Jr. projects, there’s a ton to keep up with, and that’s because there’s four films that are waiting. Oliver Stone’s project starring Jamie Foxx would have been the fifth one, but that dream was tarnished, in Stone’s words because of Martin Luther King Jr.’s estate.
The film which would of had Oliver Stone attached to direct is still being made by a co-production of Warner Bros and Dreamworks. According to director Oliver Stone, there were major issues with the script as far as getting approvals are concerned. Even though Stone did a major rewrite he couldn’t please the powers that be. Stone’s script for the film contained, “issues of adultery, conflicts within the movement, and King’s spiritual transformation into a higher more radical human being.”
Stone went on to say in brute honesty that the estate aren’t on board with his version of the film:
“I’m told the estate & the ‘respectable’ black community that guard King’s reputation won’t approve it. They suffocate the man & the truth,” adding that “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.”
So far there hasn’t been any word from Foxx’s camp on whether or not he’s still on board without Oliver Stone, but our guess is that he is likely to drop due to Stone’s exclusion. Another way this could go is if the studios keep Foxx around and convince him to stay on board with a new director.
Seeing as Oliver Stone makes stories on complex characters and doesn’t shy away from showing people’s flaws, it’s not a big surprise that his script wouldn’t jive with the kind of typical idol-like story Warner Bros may want to tell about Martin Luther King Jr.
The other well publicized Martin Luther King film is Memphis and will star Forest Whitaker as Martin Luther King. Directed by Paul Greengrass, this film is described as an “assassination thriller”, but so far we haven’t heard anything on this one in a while.
The third Martin Luther King Jr. film is called Selma and will be produced by Brad Pitt’s company.
[Image credit: e-strategyblog.com via photopin cc ]
