There seems to be a theme of the film world really wanting to make films about the civil rights movement until it comes to the crunch and they actually have to pay the cash to do it. Last year, Lee Daniels planned to make a film about the Selma, Alabama marches but was derailed by financing issues, and now Paul Greengrass is facing the same issue over his film Memphis, about the last few days of Martin Luther King’s life.
Deadline reports that while it was only last month that Universal picked up the movie and agreed to finance and distribute it, they’ve now dropped out. Greengrass has worked with Unniversal on the likes of the Bourne films and Green Zone, so it’s a bit of a blow for them to abandon the project. The official reason concerns scheduling, with Universal citing uncertainty over whether with a June shoot planned, Memphis could be ready for release by Martin Luther King Day in February 2012 (and as Greengrass took eons to deliver Green Zone, their concerns might not have been unfounded).
However there are also rumours that pressure from the MLK estate made Universal rethink. Greengrass’ film was being made without their co-operation, with the director basing the film on his own research, looking at King’s life while trying to organise the citys sanitation workers in spring of 1968, just before his murder on April 4 of that year. King’s estate apparently made it known they may go public over their displeasure with Greengrass’ script, although it’s not known if this is because they genuinely find it objectionable, or if it’s because they’re backing a rival biopic over at Dreamworks.
However it wouldn’t be suprising if Greengrass’ film paints a less than 100% complimentary picture of King, as in 1968 he was at a low ebb, with his marriage of the rocks, his influence in the halls of powers diminished (partly because he was very vocal in his opposition to the Vietnam War), a reported alcohol problem and he had even because a divisive figure within the civil rights movement. You can understand why his estate doesn’t particularly want people concentrating on that.
Greengrass is now free to try and find others who will back his project, although he may find it tough.