I have come to the conclusion that director Lee Daniels loves stirring up controversy. While his current film in production, “The Butler”, adapted from a true story about a Black man who served several Presidents, might be considered tame his next project will not be. Daniels is gearing up to take a look at an alternative theory about the death of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Namely, that James Earl Ray is innocent. This is bound to make folks uncomfortable.
According to vulture.com, Daniels is going to adapt one of the books written by attorney William Pepper who has pushed a conspiracy theory surrounding Dr. King’s death. Daniels has enlisted Hugh Jackman (aka Wolverine) to play Pepper in the flick. Daniels is determined to get some sort of MLK film to the theaters. A few years back he tried to get “Selma” into production but it stalled before it began so Daniels has developed this project instead.
While there is no official word from The Estate of Dr. Martin Luther King about whether this project will be sanctioned or not, at least one of Dr. King’s children, Dexter, has endorsed the book the film is based upon. He wrote a foreword for the reissue of “Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind The Murder of Dr. Martin Luther King” written by Pepper. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that his siblings are on board with this effort.
It’s always tricky trying to take real life events and bring them to the screen but it’s clear that Daniels not only likes controversy, he also enjoys a challenge.
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