LA Times: Hugh Jackman to tackle Martin Luther King slaying

[MinM]

Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman to tackle Martin Luther King slaying
By Steven Zeitchik
July 31, 2012, 3:32 p.m.

EXCLUSIVE: Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman failed to get a civil rights picture off the ground when their passion project "Selma" fell apart two years ago. But the pair are taking another crack at that subject, exploring the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination with a new film that takes an unconventional view of King's murder.

Daniels will direct and Jackman will star in "Orders to Kill," a story that aims to tell an alternative version of the King shooting, according to a person familiar with the project who was not authorized to talk about it publicly. Millennium Films will produce and finance the film, which is currently being shopped around to distributors in Hollywood. A Millennium spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The film will tell the story of William Pepper (Jackman), a controversial attorney and activist who for decades has argued that convicted killer James Earl Ray, who recanted his confession and died arguing his innocence, didn't shoot MLK.

The picture will follow Pepper over the years as he wages a one-man campaign, interviewing witnesses and building support for his theory that other interests, including those from the U.S. government, were behind the 1968 Memphis killing. (In a nutshell, Pepper, who is still alive, argues that government interests wanted King dead because of his opposition to the Vietnam War.) It will be based on Pepper's own book, which has been adapted for the screen by Hollywood screenwriter Hanna Weg.

The movie has echoes of "JFK," Oliver Stone's film from 20 years ago that also argued for a broad conspiracy behind the assassination of a 1960s icon. Though controversial, the film was a huge hit and won two Oscars...

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mo ... 8278.story

Maybe this will reverse the trend of Hollywood heavyweights ( Leonardo DiCaprio & Tom 'MIC' Hanks) backing disinformation. Get back to the days of Sutherland and Stone.

[RocketMan]

I was prepared to cry DISINFORMATION immediately upon hearing about this project, but then I noticed that it's based on a book by William Pepper!

Now the only thing giving me pause is the director Lee Daniels, who to me seems to be a lightweight, popular director du jour. Never cared much for Precious and his new one called The Paperboy sounds like a trashy fiasco.

[Nordic]

Ha. I'll believe it when I see it.

Although I do wish them luck.

[sunny]

Ha. I'll believe it when I see it.

Although I do wish them luck.

Me too, with a healthy dose of courage.

[jfshade]

Ha. I'll believe it when I see it.
Although I do wish them luck.

Yeah, we'll see. Pepper should certainly be a consultant.

James Douglass was the only print journalist in attendance for the entire civil trial:

Perhaps the lesson of the King assassination is that our government understands the power of nonviolence better than we do, or better than we want to. In the spring of 1968, when Martin King was marching (and Robert Kennedy was campaigning), King was determined that massive, nonviolent civil disobedience would end the domination of democracy by corporate and military power. The powers that be took Martin Luther King seriously. They dealt with him in Memphis.

[MinM]

Posted 09 August 2012 - 08:34 PM

HBO documentary called 'Sing Your Song' about the life of Harry Belafonte.

It covers his life especially during the early Civil Rights movement.

I never knew this, but he goes onto saying in the documtary that in 1960, MLK was arrested in Atlanta for a traffic stop but they trumped up charges and were going to sentence him to work on the chain gang.

Belafonte and others in the movement went to the 2 running Presidential candidates and Nixon ignored them, while the Kennedys did something. JFK made RFK go down to Atlanta and got MLK out of jail.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index ... opic=19382

[foistlastus]

To bad the movie isn't based on Tupper Saussy's Tennessee Waltz.

[MinM]

...something about this seems to indicate that this Parkland movie is not a TV film. I actually think its a feature. Is that what everyone else thinks also?

If so, don't they recall just how bad the Estevez movie was?

BTW, some insight into how Estevez got all those stars--e.g. Helen Hunt, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone etc.--into such a bad movie.

He told them it was a film about the assassination of RFK. But, he did not give them the script until after the contracts were signed and about three days before their scenes were shot.

Its incredible to me that Estevez had writer's block on this movie. To the point he had to go to the beautiful town of Cambria in order to actuallly write the script. I mean, for that piece of crud? Its one thing for Orson Welles to send Herman Mankiewicz to VIctorville for six months to write the first draft of Citizen Kane. But to go into seclusion for that punchless mini soap opera Bobby?

Edited by Jim DiEugenio, Today, 04:15 PM.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index ... ntry258513

On the way: HBO JFK miniseries based on Bugliosi

Bobby Kennedy Movie

[MinM]

Ha. I'll believe it when I see it.

Although I do wish them luck.

Me too, with a healthy dose of courage.

According to Len Osanic via William Pepper .. the MLK Movie is very much up in the air right now...

Show #621
Original airdate: March 14, 2013
Guests: Dave Ratcliffe / Jim DiEugenio
Topics: 50th Anniversary Efforts / JFK Research / Listener Questions

# Play Jim DiEugenio (1:20:21) Real Media or MP3 download

# CTKA, Gary Mack Strikes Again, former Warren Commission critic
# Recent article, Dealey Plaza is not listed as a park, very helpful
# Fifty years is enough, a second article
# March 20, Jim booksigning at Eso Won Books in Los Angeles
# Listeners questions, Destiny Betrayed, a reissue of Stone's JFK?
# AP was visited by FBI agents, told not to feed Garrison's press releases
# A film of Ferrie, Phillips, Bannister, and Oswald? Seen by Bob Tannenbaum
# Jack Dougherty and the TSBD? Important
# The Hollywood Group and the Zapruder film? Jim visited the Wilkinsons
# Their work makes an interesting case for film alteration
# Bill Clinton asks Webb Hubbell to get to the bottom of the JFK assassination
# The Eisenberg memo, Earl Warren's acceptance of the Chairmanship
# Charlie Rose interview of RFK Jr., get RFK Jr. on BOR, pressure Rose
# Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy action alert
# Ruth Paine visits her sister, but can't remember where she lives
# Falls Church, a smoke screen? Avoided where her sister worked and lived
# Jim's Bugliosi book review, 50 Reasons For 50 Years
# Did the Soviets inform Kennedy of the plot? No. Did they try? Don't know
# Richard Case Nagell's story would make a heck of a film
# Europeans enjoy Jim and Len, Black Op Radio IPhone App
# Movies, Orders To Kill, by William Pepper about the King case

OTOH there will be a new Veronica Mars Movie.

[JackRiddler]

Lord help me, I've actually watched all of Season 1 of Veronica Mars and it was fun. It was obvious Season 2 would suck, however, so I skipped that. It was recommended to me by a guy at the Brecht Forum as an example of class-conscious TV.

An apparently amazing documentary, King, shown once on 600 screens in 1970, is probably about to be re-released. There's a fundraising hour on Democracy Now! with a lot of excellent excerpts and they're offering the DVD as a premium on $125 donations.

[MinM]

Who will get their MLK Movie out first...

@RealHughJackman: This is Wolverine saying "cmon univ. of mich wolverines!!! This is your year.Trey...crush it BUB!

https://twitter.com/RealHughJackman/sta ... 3278962688

Hugh Jackman .. or ...

@chicagotribune: Wesley Snipes has been released from prison

https://twitter.com/chicagotribune/stat ... 7427244033

Wesley Snipes?

Wesley Snipes Backs Film About CIA-led MLK Project

Wesley Snipes Backs Film About CIA-led MLK Project

Wesley Snipes is involved in the 1960′s-set thriller “Code Name Zorro,” a biopic of the man who headed up the CIA’s top secret Zorro project designed to destroy Martin Luther King’s credibility.

According to Deadline, the film centers on the final moments in the life of William Sullivan, who’s Zorro project was initiated by J. Edgar Hoover and included tactics such as wiretapping and fraud to set up numerous illegal schemes.

Sullivan intended to air all of the dirty laundry about the project to a journalist, but was killed in a “hunting accident” shortly thereafter.

Justin Stamm penned the script and Snipes has received endorsement from Martin Luther King Jr.’s son, Martin Luther King III.

Snipes will produce, be involved in selecting cast and director, and will likely play a role though which one is presently undetermined...

viewtopic.php?p=370544#p370544

rigorousintuition.ca :: 11/22/63 CIA coup in the USA kills President Kennedy

rigorousintuition.ca :: Hauptmann Murdered by Lindbergh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Sullivan

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=34119

[MinM]

@HuffPostDetroit: This Hollywood actor is in talks to play Martin Luther King Jr.

Forest Whitaker As Martin Luther King? Oscar Winner In Talks For Paul Greengrass' 'Memphis'

Posted: 05/31/2013 8:32 am EDT | Updated: 05/31/2013 8:32 am EDT

Forest Whitaker may play Martin Luther King in a new movie.

Paul Greengrass' long gestating Martin Luther King film "Memphis" may have found its Martin Luther King. According to TheWrap, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is in talks to play King in the new film, which focuses on the last days of the civil rights leader's life.

If the title "Memphis" sounds familiar, it's not because of the Tony Award-winning musical. Greengrass has been trying to make his "Memphis" for quite some time. Vulture first reported on the project back in January of 2011, noting that Greengrass based the film's script on his own original research. By February of that year, Universal had signed on to release "Memphis," but that union didn't last long. Deadline.com reported in April of 2011 that the studio had decided to pass on "Memphis," perhaps owing to pressure from the King estate. As Vulture noted, Greengrass' film focuses on King in the spring of 1968, just before his murder, when he was "chain-smoking, boozing, and packing on the pounds." His marriage was also going through a rough period.

Should Whitaker sign on, it would be another high-profile historical figure on his resume. He won an Oscar for playing Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland" and next stars as Eugene Allen, a service worker who held a job in the White House for 34 years, in "The Butler." That film is directed by Lee Daniels, who has tried to mount his own Martin Luther King film. Daniels wanted to make "Selma," with David Oyelowo as King and Hugh Jackman in a supporting role, but the project never got off the ground. Daniels then announced that he would make another King project with Jackman, titled "Orders to Kill," last summer. As yet, that film has not materialized.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/3 ... 65113.html

[seemslikeadream]

[KeenInsight]

Its unfortunate in history that telling the truth, having compassion, love, and goodness got them killed. Betrayals of those high power criminals that the American public knows about, but can do nothing at the same time. The JFK, RFK, and MLK murders were like a stain upon the American conscious that I don't believe has ever healed, especially with the take over and direction that the U.S. government was lead down. And lest we forget the highly coincidental deaths of nearly 1,400 witnesses linked in some way to the first assassination.

[Hammer of Los]

...

Feelin' lucky, bub?

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