Controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone is reportedly considering directing a new biopic about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his Any Given Sunday star Jamie Foxx is said to be up for the lead role.
If Stone’s project were to go forward it would be third major Hollywood production about Dr. King coming to theaters in the near future.
Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) is directing the upcoming Memphis, which will largely focus on King’s final days and African-American filmmaker Ava DuVernay is helming Selma.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Stone has held talks with Foxx to play MLK.
Stone has made severally historically-based films in the past including JFK (1991), Nixon (1995) and W. (2008), all of which were criticized for taking too much dramatic license with their subject matter.
The Platoon director also might be a polarizing choice for many African-Americans given his very negative remarks recently about President Barack Obama.
“Obama is a snake,” Stone told the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan this past August. “He’s a snake. And we have to turn on him.”