The DreamWorks-Warner Bros biopic about Martin Luther King Jr. has been in the planning phase for over two years, but the studios are reportedly moving toward production as they seek to hand Jamie Foxx another opportunity to play an iconic figure in a film.
Currently untitled, the biopic will tell the story of King’s rise as a civil rights leader all the way through to his assassination in 1968.
Oliver Stone is set as director of the film, while Steven Spielberg, Suzanne de Passe, Madison Jones and Sam Nappi are producing. Some members of King’s family are involved as executive producers, including Dexter King, Bernice King and Martin Luther King II.
Known as one of Hollywood’s most polarizing figures, Oliver Stone has tackled other politically charged material, including President John Kennedy’s assassination in “JFK,” the Vietnam war in the films “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” and capitalism with “Wall Street.”
Foxx successfully depicted another historic figure on film when he took on the role of R&B singer Ray Charles in “Ray,” for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor.
