If Oprah Winfrey wants to see a movie made, there’s a good chance that it will happen. After returning to the film industry last year in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Winfrey has reportedly signed on to produce another civil rights film. This one will center on Martin Luther King Jr. and Paramount is looking to distribute.
The project is called Selma and it is one that Daniels himself had hoped to direct. In fact, he was attached to it in 2010, but funding fell through and he moved on to other films. However, Selma started picking up steam last summer, when Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere) was tapped to direct, as Slash Film reported at the time.
On Tuesday, Deadline reported that the movie is still in the works and that DuVernay is still attached. She won the Best Director prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Her Middle of Nowhere star, David Oyelowo is set to play King. Paramount is still in talks to distribute and is hoping to also acquire Canadian rights.
In addition to Winfrey (who is also working with HBO on the miniseries America: In the King Years), the film’s other producers are Pathe UK, Brad Pitt’s Plan B and Christian Colson.
There is a second King project in the works at Warner Bros., but that project has stalled. Jamie Foxx was in talks to star, but director Oliver Stone dropped out over disagreements with the King family.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
