Just a few days ago, Tambay reposted his earlier article (HERE) on the number of Martin Luther King film projects in various stages of development, stating that there are currently 5 of them.

Well make that now 4…

Oliver
Stone publicly announced through Twitter yesterday that his
MLK project with Jamie Foxx as King, which was a co-production between Warner Bros
and Dreamworks, has been cancelled.

According to Stone, the producers weren’t exactly
thrilled with Stone’s script which dealt with “issues of adultery, conflicts within the
movement, and King’s spiritual transformation into a  higher more radical human being.”

He further went on to say that “I’m told the estate & the
‘respectable’ black community that guard King’s reputation won’t approve it. They
suffocate the man & the truth,” adding that “I wish you could see the film I would’ve
made. I fear if ‘they’ ever make it, it’ll be just another commemoration of the
March on Washington.”

No word yet if Foxx is still on board the project, or if the producers and the studios will try to find someone else to write and direct
the project, or just shoot down the whole thing altogether.

Though, of course, not having read the script, I can see
where Stone was coming from, wanting to make a film about the remarkable human
being who was Martin Luther King, instead of a one dimensional, saint-like “living
statue,” spouting off speeches, which is no doubt what the King family wants.