Here’s an unexpected but of filmmaking news. According to Deadline, Chris Rock is in talks to produce and direct an adaptation of Jonathan Eig‘s Martin Luther King Jr. biography, King: A Life. Not only that, but Steven Spielberg is aboard as exec-producer. Universal Pictures recently acquired the rights to Eig’s book.
Rock is a completely competent filmmaker. His last directorial effort, 2014’s Top Five, was a hilarious comedy effort and one of my favorites of that year. Rock also directed 2003’s Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife in 2007. But those are all comedies and a biopic on MLK is something vastly different, so this is quite a turn for Rock.
A New York Times Bestseller and National Book Award nominee, King: A Life uses a wealth of previously unavailable sources and newly declassified FBI documents to present a never-before-seen account of King’s life.
It’s going to be very interesting to see who Rock casts to play King. There are a ton of great options out there, but until the SAG-AFTRA strike ends (hopefully soon) we won’t know anything.