So, in the spirit of all those words I just said, Warner Bros and DreamWorks decided to team up on one MLK movie, rather than make two separate biopics – presumably one for white people and one for black people. The new version will bring together DreamWorks, who acquired King’s life rights in 2009, with writer Kario Salem (“The Score”), who was scripting an MLK movie for Warner Bros. The studios agreed the film will be a 50/50 joint venture.

There are many producers, including Suzanne de Passe, Madison Jones, Sam Nappi, and the Kings Dexter, Bernice and Martin Luther III. (Hollywood Reporter)

The decision by Universal to scrap Paul Greengrass’ Martin Luther King Jr biopic, Memphis, had everyone assuming it was purely a scheduling decision. Either that on Paul went off and did something crazy. Turns out…

It was pressure from King’s estate that may have contributed to Universal’s exeunt. They didn’t take issue with Greengrass shaking a camera at the memory of MLK Jr., but they did take issue with him making up facts about his life. Namely the extra-marital affairs that appeared in the script but not in reality.

Andrew Young, a close friend to King, told Deadline that he reached out to Universal and had this to say about the script:

“I thought it was fiction.” As for the depiction of infidelity, Young said: “There is testimony in congressional hearings that a lot of that information was manufactured by the FBI and wasn’t true. 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.”

“But we had the most powerful and understanding wives in history, Coretta, my wife Jean, and Ralph Abernathy’s wife Juanita. These women were more dedicated and enthusiastic in pushing us into these struggles than anybody, and the inference Coretta might have been upset about Martin being gone so much or them having marital troubles, it’s just not true.”

Why did they stop with one extra-marital affair? You need to go completely outlandish nowadays if you want your biopic to be a hit. I mean, look at the renaissance that Abraham Lincoln is enjoying. Maybe if you called this bitch MLK Jr: Secret Werewolf, you’d have yourself a go picture, Greengrass.

That “may” is for real though, so it doesn’t mean this is going to happen for sure. Greengrass is in high demand these days despite last year’s big financial flop Th Green Zone, and has been previously attached to stuff like a 3D movie about Cleopatra starring Angelina Jolie, an aborted Jimi Hendrix biopic, Fantastic Voyage and Treasure Island. It’d be pretty cool to see a version of Fantastic Voyage in which the tiny ship gets hijacked by Islamic terrorists, but Memphis sounds like it would be a good movie too.

As far as casting is concerned, it’s all speculation at this point. Some are saying that Greengrass’s choice to play Hendrix, Anthony Mackie, might also make a good MLK, although that seems a bit tenuous. Did you know that Martin Luther King used to say “‘scuse me while I kiss this guy” at some of his speeches as a joke? (IndieWire)