Though their last attempt to collaborate on a Civil Rights tale, Selma, collapsed due to schedules and financing, director Lee Daniels and star High Jackman aren’t ready to give up on the subject just yet. They’ve now turned their focus to Orders To Kill, which digs up a conspiracy theory about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Daniels has contracted Hanna Weg to adapt William Pepper’s book of the same name, and Jackman will play Pepper. He’s a controversial lawyer and activist who has built a case for decades hinged around the idea that convicted killer James Earl Ray was not the person responsible for shooting the inspirational civil rights leader.
Instead, Pepper argues that a combination of government interests had him taken out because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Though Pepper has yet to win much public support, he has a strong proponent in King’s son Dexter, who was brought around to the idea that the killing shot was fired by a police officer at a rally in Memphis. Pepper argued a wrongful death lawsuit in 1999 for the family and won, with the legal drama making up the movie’s big finish, according to the LA Times’ sources.
But first, Daniels must complete work on The Butler, which boasts a massive cast and promote divisive murder mystery** T****he Paperboy**, which will likely arrive over here next year. Jackman, meanwhile, will soon be seen in Les Miserables and heard but not seen in Rise Of The Guardians.