By Okla Jones ·Updated October 5, 2023
Chris Rock is bringing the harrowing story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to a screen near you.
The seasoned comedian is in final talks to direct and produce the film, with Steven Spielberg slated to serve as executive producer. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming project from Universal Pictures is a biopic about the martyred civil rights leader, based on Jonathan Eig’s New York Times best-selling biography, King: A Life.
Eig’s book was published earlier this year, debuting amidst an array of acclaim. Its official synopsis reads that Dr. King was a “courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself,” while the author will “dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.”
Rock, who previously directed 2014’s Top Five, 2003’s Head of State and 2007’s I Think I Love My Wife, can be seen next in George C. Wolfe’s Rustin. He also launched the Netflix live stand-up special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage this past March.
Kristie Macosko Krieger and Amblin Partners will co-produce alongside Rock, while Universal’s Senior Vice President of Production Development Ryan Jones will oversee. The book option was brokered by Lucy Stille at Lucy Stille Literary on behalf of the David Black Agency.
TOPICS: Chris Rock MLK
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