The much anticipated Martin Luther King Jr. biopic is to be scribed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood. [Variety]
Dreamworks, which has tied Steven Spielberg to the project, is receiving unprecedented access to the King estate and is clearly not taking the honor lightly.
Harwood, who won an Oscar for The Pianist, is a native of South Africa and has written a number of screenplays about another civil rights leader Nelson Mandela. “I will do my utmost to be true to the truth,” Harwood said on the assignment, which might be the most important socially relevant film since Milk. Harwood has a number of screenplays to his name, including the critically-acclaimed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Spielberg was linked to the project as a producer in May, after Dreamworks received access to the King estate and his intellectual property, the first film to do so. Since, they have been relatively slow to move. I think they are responsibly avoiding haste while piecing together such an important film. This is one movie that could be worth the wait.
Where will the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic rank among socially important films? Who should play the lead?