It was reported last week that Oliver Stone was in talks to direct a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic. Now it looks like the outspoken director is moving full steam ahead with those plans, with Jamie Foxx in the starring role as first expected.


"I'm so out of the loop on feature films,” Stone told The Wall Street Journal upon confirming the news and expressing his eagerness to get behind the camera again. (Stone's most recent movie was 2012's "Savages.")


The newly announced biopic is an authorized portrait of King's life, with the civil-rights leader's family advising the production. As reported last week, Stone is working with a script originally written by Ronald Hardwood ("The Pianist," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") and then rewritten by Kario Salem ("The Score"). Steven Spielberg is among the movie's producers.


The 67-year-old director may feel he's "out of the loop" on movies, but that doesn't mean he's unaware of the recent "50 Shades of Grey" casting shakeup. When asked who he think should replace Charlie Hunnam as S&M provocateur Christian Grey, Stone offered Leonardo DiCaprio as his suggestion. At 38 years old, that may make DiCaprio slightly too old to play the 28-year-old Grey, but Stone is right about one thing: "He'd make a fortune."


Another of Stone's biopics, 1991's controversial Oscar-winning "JFK," is slated to return to AMC theaters on Nov. 17 and 20. Those unfamiliar with the director's biographical narratives, which are typically the source of much praise as well as much contention, can use that opportunity to see what Stone might have in store for the untitled MLK project.


For more on Stone, including his thoughts on the government shutdown, head to the Wall Street Journal.


[via WSJ]




Loading Slideshow...



  • "Creation" (2009)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Charles Darwin <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Paul Bettany <strong>Period depicted:</strong> Adult life, as Darwin's scientific theories clash with his religious wife's beliefs <strong>Also starring:</strong> Jennifer Connelly, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones, Jim Carter




  • "Heart Beat" (1980)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> The Beat Generation <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Nick Nolte (Neal Cassady), Sissy Spacek (Carolyn Cassady), John Heard (Jack Kerouac) <strong>Period depicted:</strong> The period in which the three entered a love triangle in the late 1950s and '60s <strong>Also starring:</strong> John Larroquette, David Lynch, Ray Sharkey




  • "James Dean" (2001)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> James Dean <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> James Franco <strong>Period depicted:</strong> Age 8 to his death at age 24 <strong>Also starring:</strong> Michael Moriarty, Enrico Colantoni




  • "Lust For Life" (1956)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Vincent van Gogh <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Kirk Douglas <strong>Period depicted:</strong> Adult life, particularly the onset of van Gogh's mental illness <strong>Also starring:</strong> Anthony Quinn




  • "Pandaemonium" (2000)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> John Hannah (Wordsworth) and Linus Roache (Coleridge) <strong>Period depicted:</strong> The poets' collaboration on "Lyrical Ballads" and Coleridge penning "Kubla Khan" <strong>Also starring:</strong> Samantha Morton, Samuel West




  • "Stalin" (1992)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Joseph Stalin <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Robert Duvall <strong>Period depicted:</strong> Stalin's ruling and the Soviet Union's rise to power <strong>Also starring:</strong> Julia Ormond, Jim Carter, Kevin McNally




  • "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (1965)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Michelangelo <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Charlton Heston <strong>Period depicted:</strong> The painting of the Sistine Chapel, during which time Michelangelo clashed with Pope Julius II <strong>Also starring:</strong> Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II




  • "The Gathering Storm" (2002)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Winston Churchill <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Albert Finney <strong>Period depicted:</strong> The years leading up to World War II <strong>Also starring:</strong> Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent, Linus Roache, Lena Headey, Derek Jacobi, Tom Wilkinson




  • "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Ernesto Guevara, who would soon become known as Che Guevara <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Gael García Bernal <strong>Period depicted:</strong> Guevara's 1952 expedition across South America with his friend Alberto Granado, during which he witnessed the injustices that would later prompt his revolution <strong>Also starring:</strong> Rodrigo de la Serna




  • "Wilde" (1997)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Oscar Wilde <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Stephen Fry <strong>Period depicted:</strong> Wilde's marriage to Constance Lloyd, during which he comes to terms with his homosexuality <strong>Also starring:</strong> Jude Law, Tim Wilkinson, Jennifer Ehle, Gemma Jones, Vanessa Redgrave




  • "The Babe" (1992)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Babe Ruth <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> John Goodman <strong>Period depicted:</strong> Age 7 through Ruth's decline in the mid-1930s <strong>Also starring:</strong> Kelly McGillis, James Cromwell




  • "The Bunker" (1981)


    <strong>Subject:</strong> Adolph Hitler <strong>Portrayed by:</strong> Anthony Hopkins <strong>Period depicted:</strong> The last three months of Hitler's life <strong>Also starring:</strong> Richard Jordan, Piper Laurie, Michael Lonsdale