An unexpected but very welcomed film deal has been struck today as
Paul Greengrass' account of the final days of
Martin Luther King Jr. has found financing at Universal
after a month's worth of talks. The Hollywood major looked like the last place the film, titled
Memphis, would end up - what with the box office failure of Green Zone and the public fall-out and break down of Bourne 4, but clearly the bridges weren't fully burned between the two parties.
Deadline say Scott Rudin is producing and the film should obtain a sizable budget, with filming to kick off in June. Written and pitched by Greengrass himself, Memphis will focus on the contentious final days at end of March/early April 68 as Luther King fights for the Memphis citys sanitation workers rights, his fiery relationship with President Johnson over their disagreement on Vietnam, his views on the Black Power Movement and the Working Class and will also delve into his personal life as his chain-smoking habit worsened, his marriage was failing and he was losing himself to unhealthy amounts of booze & food. There of course have been countless conspiracies sounded out about James Earl Rays assassination of Martin Luther King (everyone from CIA, FBI, to, of course, The Mafia) but this one sounds more like itll focus on the man himself over those final days. We imagine the assassination will be at the very end, similar to Gus Van Sant's Oscar nominated Milk from 2008. But man, who on Earth would Greengrass find for Martin Luther? What a role for somebody (he wanted
Anthony Mackie for a Jimmi Hendrix, could he do this also?) it has Oscar written all over it.
And something else I'm wondering... will Greengrass use his now signature shaky-cam? It'll work well for the assassination but for the King Jr speeches and the dialogue scenes, I don't need it...