Chris Rock teams up with Steven Spielberg for Martin Luther King Jr biopic
Chris Rock and Steven Spielberg are working together on a biopic of Martin Luther King Jr.
Variety reports that Spiral's Rock is in final negotiations to direct and produce an adaptation of author Jonathan Eig's biography King: A Life, with legendary Jurassic Park filmmaker Spielberg executive producing.
Born Michael King Jr, the political philosopher and activist became one of the leading figures of the civil rights movement, overseeing the famous Montgomery bus boycott among other protests before his assassination in 1968.
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Eig's book, which was published earlier this year, utilises new FBI information and stacks of interviews to paint a picture of Dr. King as a "courageous but emotionally troubled individual who demanded peaceful protest while grappling with his own frailties and a government that hunted him".
Actors who have recently portrayed King include David Oyelowo in the 2014 Oscar-nominated historical drama Selma and Anthony Mackie in 2016's All the Way.
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Rock will be seen later this year in a Bayard Rustin biopic titled Rustin, with Fear the Walking Dead's Colman Domingo playing the civil and gay rights activist.
Rustin helped King organise the 1963 March on Washington.
In the Netflix film, which currently has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score, Rock will play former NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) leader Roy Wilkins.
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