A film for Dr. King?

Having made box-office returns on Malcolm X, do you think Hollywood will ever get around to making a film about Martin Luther King, who was killed on this date 40 years ago?

Who would be cast in the title role? And would the box-office pay in Peoria?

Of course there was a good five-hour TV mini-series in the late '70s, "King", starring Paul Winfield as Dr. King. The challenge would be a feature film that cuts the amazing arc and accomplishments of his life into a three-hour or so epic. The mini-series format is a more natural. But yeah, when you look at an epic like Dickie Attenborough's Gandhi, clearly it can be done.



As for casting, Terrence Howard is a great actor and close enough in the looks department to pull it off, but the trickiest thing for casting Martin Luther King, Jr. would be that voice. I think more than his physical appearance we can all hear that voice loud and clear, and if whoever was cast couldn't come close to that distinctive timber it just wouldn't be quite right.


By the by, Terrence is attached to star in a biopic of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

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I agree it would be hard to do full justice to King's life and accomplishments in even a 3-hr film, especially since he's a more familiar figure to most US movie-goers now than were Gandhi or Malcolm X.

And you're right about the voice. It's very distinctive in both tone and meter. But I've heard people imitate exactly Jack and Bobby Kennedy, George Burns, and other distinctive voices, so I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't someone somewhere who has nailed King's voice, too. Problem, of course, is to get someone who looks something like him and sounds something like him, too--the equivalent of Frank Goshen doing Kirk Douglas. Paul Winfield who played King in the mini-series had a great voice but he didn't sound exactly like King, of course. Didn't look much like him either.

However, if they can use prosthetics to enhance the resemblance to Ray Charles in Ray, there may also be audio tricks that would help duplicate King's voice.

Of course, there would also be a problem in casting other familiar figures who were with King--Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, Mrs. King, and others whose faces are well known.

On the other hand, do we really need an exact or even close facsimile of the person being depicted? Isn't the point of acting to create a believable image that carries the audience along with the story? A fantasy that suggests reality? How much did Ralphy Bellamy look like the real FDR, yet he won an Oscar for portraying the true spirit of the man.

Just throwing out some thoughts. It also would be tough to know what to highlight--how many of the public events, the marches, the sermons to depict and how much of the private person to show. I'd hate for the film to gloss over his message of non-violence and linger on his murder, for instance.

If King was on the cast, it will be exciting and meaningful

The great Jeffrey Wright would be my absolute first choice for a King biopic. The guy has already portrayed The Doctor to much acclaim in a 2001 made for TV flick on HBO called "Boycott". I haven't seen that movie, but I'm sure Wright did a fantastic job and whatnot. He's just a really good actor, ya know?

I think that would be a great movie and would make alot of money.
I think Denzel Washington would be a good Dr.King. He does not realy look like King in terms of his face but with make up any thing is possible.

I think it would be a thankless project because if the director portrays him as a human being with doubts, stressors and faults, he'll be accused of assailing his legacy. The truth however is that his accomplishments in spite of his human shortcomings are what made him great. If the movie portrayed a perfect human being in an imperfect world, I wouldn't waste my money on it.

Gosh darn, i had the same idea as Holden! Terrence Howard would have been my pick for the role as well. I'd have thought that the 'I Have a Dream' speech (if it were included) or similar instances to which his voice is instantly recognised with- they would use stock footage anyway.

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I second that.

I think Dr.King movie become a good movie.Denzel Washington would not be a good king

I saw the documentary film From Montgomery to Memphis, which was about Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement in the American South, and in the North, showing various marches, etc. that he led, participated in, from confronting police in Montgomery, Al, to his assassination in Memphis, TN. An excellent film that was.

If you have never seen and heard the entirety of Dr. King's 1963 speech, I highly recommend you to do so now:

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I would go and see it no matter who is in it, well, maybe not if it was Eddie Murphy

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Murphy can play seriouse roles also. I think Murphy would be a good choice as he could capture all of King's charisma.

I know he can but i think he has gone off the last couple of years