e Entertainment
The film was to star Jamie Foxx as Dr. King and to be produced by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks. However, Stone wanted to show Dr. King as a flawed leader who frequently had adulterous affairs, whereas the King family wanted Stone to protect the pristine memory of the civil rights icon and present a different story.
In a series of tweets, Stone took his frustrations public and let it be known that he is no longer attached to the film:
Sad news. My MLK project involvement has ended. I did an extensive rewrite of the script, but the producers won’t go with it.
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
The script dealt w/ issues of adultery, conflicts within the movement, and King’s spiritual transformation into a higher, more radical being
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
I’m told the estate and the ‘respectable’ black community that guard King’s reputation won’t approve it. They suffocate the man and the truth.
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
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
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
Martin, I grieve for you. You are still a great inspiration for your fellow Americans—but, thank God, not a saint.
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
e Entertainment
Despite Stone’s self-removal from the project, there are 3 other projects in the making to bring Dr. King’s life to the big screen. One such project is “Memphis,” a film by “Captain Phillips” director Paul Greengrass, which focuses on the end of King’s life before his 1968 assassination on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
