Chris Rock has been a major player in the entertainment realm, both in front of and behind the camera, ever since his time on Saturday Night Live. From movies like The Longest Yard and Amsterdam, to TV shows like Everybody Hates Chris and Fargo, as well as plenty of stand-up and stage work, the man has assembled an impressive resume, and it’s about to get even more stacked. Rock is set to direct a movie about civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and it will see him working with Steven Spielberg.
As reported by Deadline, Universal Pictures has secured the film rights to the Jonathan Eig-penned biography King: A Life, and Chris Rock is in final negotiations to direct and produce. Steven Spielberg will contribute as an executive producer. This will mark the first time these two have worked together, although back in 2007, Rock told Collider that Jerry Seinfeld tricked him into joining Bee Movie by saying that Spielberg was involved with it. More than a decade and a half later, now these men finally have the opportunity to professionally collaborate.
This won’t be Rock’s first time in the director’s chair, as he previously helmed the comedy movies Top Five, Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife. Still, directing a biopic about one of the most important figures in United States history is a major step up, and having Spielberg in his corner will surely be incredibly beneficial when it comes to honing this aspect of his craft. Interestingly enough, this news comes a little over a month after Rock’s next movie, Rustin, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. In that flick, he plays civil rights activist Roy Wilkins, who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington D.C. where King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech.
Between this Martin Luther King Jr. movie, Rustin and delving into the horror genre in 2021 for Spiral: The Book of Saw, Chris Rock has really been stretching his creative muscle’s quite a bit. He and Steven Spielberg will be joined behind the scenes on the King biopic by Kristie Macosko Krieger, who’s producing through Amblin Partners, which Spielberg co-founded. King: A Life, which has become a New York Times bestseller and was nominated for the National Book Award. It stands out among other King biographies for utilizing information from recently declassified FBI files.
There’s no timetable on when Chris Rock will start shooting this Martin Luther King Jr. biopic, let alone when it will be released, so keep your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for updates on this project’s progress. Meanwhile, Netflix subscribers will be able to see Rock in Rustin starting on November 3, and there are many other 2023 new movie releases lined up in these remaining months in the year. Steven Spielberg’s latest movie, 2022’s The Fabelmans, can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription.