The struggle to make a film about any part of civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s life has been a difficult one, with several projects trying to find traction only to vanish back into limbo again. Paramount’s planned film about the **Selma **campaign has finally gotten some traction, with Tom Wilkinson eyed as President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Selma has been headed to screens for years now, with the likes of Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman attached at one time or another. The current team boasts writer/director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo, who will be bringing MLK to life.
Set in 1965, the drama takes its name from the Alabama town that played host to a historic civil rights march; a march that was often disrupted by violence and ugly racism, yet one that marked a turning point for African-Americans in their struggle for equality. King was joined by the likes of Amelia Boynton and the march took three attempts before it finally reached its target, Montgomery, a town just 54 miles away. Johnson, a staunch civil rights supporter, lent his presidential weight to the campaign with a speech shortly after violence erupted in the town.
Wilkinson, currently on screen in** The Grand Budapest Hotel**, will be seen in Belle, which is out on June 13, and road trip comedy Business Of Pleasure, which should hit our screens in October.