Chris Rock is set to be assigned the task of bringing the ‘definitive cinematic biopic’ of Martin Luther King Jr to the big-screen for Universal Pictures.
According to Deadline Rock is in advanced talks to direct an adaptation of Jonathan Eig’s critically acclaimed biography King: A Life, and Steven Spielberg is on board as Executive Producer.
Published in May of this year, King: A Life is described as the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon, and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. It paints an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself.
Rock made his directorial debut with 2003’s Head of State, and followed that up with 2007’s I Think I Love My Wife. However, it was 2014’s Top Five for which he earned the best reviews of his behind-the-camera career.
Martin Luther King Jr. was last seen portrayed on the big-screen by David Oyelowo in Ava DuVernay’s Selma, and you can imagine when Rock’s film gets the go-ahead it is going to be one of the most sought-after roles in Hollywood.
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