Paramount To Help Oprah Winfrey Produce Ava DuVernay’s MLK Pic ‘Selma’Posted by Wilson Morales
February 26, 2014
Source: Deadline
According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures is in the final stages to help Oprah Winfrey and others producers get the MLK film ‘Selma’ off the ground, with Ava DuVernay directing.
The site states that Paramount is tying down U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the film, which is a feature drama about Martin Luther King‘s 1965 landmark voting rights campaign that is regarded as the peak of the civil rights movement.
Ms. DuVernay came on board back in July when Deadline reported Pathe UK, Brad Pitt’s Plan B and producer Christian Colson had chosen her to helm the film after Lee Daniels, who made several attempts to get it off the ground, couldn’t raise enough capital to go into production. His initial cast included David Oyelowo as MLK, Hugh Jackman, Liam Neeson, Ray Winstone, Robert De Niro, and Cedric the Entertainer. He ended up directing another history film, ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler.’
Blackfilm.com interviewed Daniels back in 2013 regarding his departure and he stated, “I couldn’t get ‘Selma’ financed. David (Oyelowo) was not a big name at the time. I had picked him from obscurity to star in the film.” Even with huge names attached, the powers-that-be wanted a known name. “That’s what so deep about Hollywood. We could not get this film financed for the amount of money it needed (to be financed) because there was not a (big) name playing King. But it’s good now because it’s being done, and with David still as the lead. It’s being done by a filmmaker (DuVernay) that I love and an actor that I love,” Daniels reiterated.
Winfrey’s return to the acting world paid off very well in ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler.’ The film went on to bring over $167M to date, with $50M come from international territories. DuVernay is one of the hottest female directors in town, having become the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
With the other MLK projects that Oliver Stone and Paul Greengrass are looking to do respectively on hold, having Paramount come on board can speed up the production and hopefully in theaters sooner than later.
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