Having confirmed (awhile ago) that he won’t be coming aboard the fourth Bourne film, Paul Greengrass has jumped on – and then ditched – a number of projects, all remakes: Fantastic Voyage, Treasure Island, Cleopatra. Now, Cinema Blend reports [via Vulture] that Greengrass has written and will direct a thriller based on the incidents surrounding Martin Luther King Jr.’s April 4, 1968 assassination in Memphis, Tennessee.
The project, titled Memphis, is based on Greengrass’s original research and will look at King’s life during the days leading up to his killing at the hands of James Earl Ray (or so the history books tell us). The last major look at the great civil rights leader’s life took the form of the HBO original movie Boycott, starring Jeffrey Wright as King and which focused on the King-led boycott of public buses in the 1950’s. The period of King’s life Greengrass seems interested in shows King in a much different light. By 1968, King’s marriage was failing and his drinking, smoking and infamous infidelity were reaching new heights. He had alienated President Lyndon Johnson with his outspoken protest of the Vietnam War and was on the outs with the rising Black Power movement over his interest in labor organization and helping the urban poor.
Word is that uber-producer Scott Rudin could join Greengrass on the film for Focus Features, but there is nothing in the way on confirmation yet.
It would be nice to see Greengrass enter this fascinating, Michael Mann-esque terrain. There have been conspiracy theories swirling around the real nature of King’s demise for decades – was it really James Earl Ray who shot King as he stood on the second floor balcony of a Memphis motel? Ray recanted his initial confession and maintained his innocence for years. Many theorists maintain that the FBI – led by J. Edgar Hoover, who hated MLK with a passion – was somehow involved. I eagerly await Greengrass’s take on the material.
What do you think really happened to Martin Luther King Jr.? Are you interested in Greengrass’s take on the story?