Three months after news emerged that he was in talks to come on board the project, Oliver Stone has announced via Twitter that he will not direct and write a biopic about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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
In October, Variety reported that DreamWorks and Warner Bros. were in early talks with Stone to direct and with Jamie Foxx to star in an untitled film that would follow the slain Civil Rights hero from his rise all the way to his assassination in 1968.
Kario Salem wrote the original script with Steven Spielberg, Suzanne De Passe, Madison Jones and Samuel Nappi producing.
Stone also Tweeted that his script included King’s infidelity, conflicts within the non-violent movement and King’s “spiritual transformation into a higher, more radical being.”
Warner Bros. and DreamWorks were not immediately available for comment.
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 & the ‘respectable’ black community that guard King’s reputation won't approve it. They suffocate the man & 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
