Will Martin Luther King Jr finally get his turn in the Hollywood spotlight?
You're watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of Selma...
Malcolm X has a movie. Nelson Mandela has a movie. Gandhi has a movie. William Wallace
has a movie! Countless movies have been made about people who’ve faced seemingly insurmountable
odds, yet still managed to change the world - driven by a desire to see their people no
longer suffer. So, where’s the Martin Luther King Jr movie? Why has Hollywood ignored one
of the most important historical figures in the 20th Century, who has been honored in
countless ways everywhere else - including a national holiday. Well, the sad reason is
that Luther’s descendents have the rights to his speeches under a tight lockdown, and
licensed the rights exclusively in 2009 to Dreamworks and Warner Bros who are currently
just sitting on them after Oliver Stone decided not to direct an MLK Jr film after all. Yes,
the Kings have a dream of getting paid. So while they haven’t come out against Selma,
they haven’t supported it either - and the filmmakers here were forced to alter every
single line that Martin Luther King Jr spoke in public or else be sued. But while the Martin
Luther King Jr estate has powerful sway over his legacy, there are powerful forces at work
behind Selma. Oprah Winfrey is a producer on the film, and a co-star, which lends considerable
credibility to the project. And on top of that, Selma is also being produced by the
team behind 12 Years a Slave, Brad Pitt’s Plan B shingle headed up by DeDe Gardner and
Jeremy Kleiner. After dominating at last year’s Oscars, the 12 Years team clearly has some
strong awards connections - which has already resulted in numerous Golden Globe nominations
for Selma, including the first ever nomination for a black female director, Ava DuVernay.
Is Martin Luther King Jr still opening doors for his people? Selma is also relevant today
because of the nationwide protests over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, where
there is a struggle between non-violent and violent protestors. Oprah has already told
the morning talk shows that she hopes Selma will inspire protesters to lean more toward
nonviolence, and to realize that strong leadership - and a clear message - is vital to getting
results. Then there’s David Oyelowo, the UK actor who American audiences are certainly
familiar with, but probably still can’t name-check. Will this be a star making turn,
or go largely unrecognized ala Idris Elba’s Mandela?