Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman to tackle Martin Luther King slaying

Dr. William Pepper’s excellent work on the assassination of his friend, Dr. Martin Luther King will be brought to life on the screen. Pepper was the attorney for both James Earl Ray in his last legal appeal and for the family of Dr. King in their civil suit which proved Ray’s innocence and pointed to higher levels of government in the assassination. A hyper-linked trial transcript of the suit appears at http://ratical.org/ratville/JFK/MLKACT/ thanks to the work of researcher Dave Ratcliffe. Also see the excellent synopsis of the only American journalist at the trial, Jim Douglass at http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/Unspeakable/MLKconExp.html. Dr. Pepper has been a featured speaker at COPA conferences and is now the attorney for Sirhan Sirhan, bringing his legal appeal based on new evidence that he did not kill Robert Kennedy.

Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman to tackle Martin Luther King slaying
By Steven Zeitchik
Los Angeles Times
July 31, 2012, 3:32 p.m.

EXCLUSIVE: Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman failed to get a civil rights picture off the ground when their passion project “Selma” fell apart two years ago. But the pair are taking another crack at that subject, exploring the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination with a new film that takes an unconventional view of King’s murder.

Daniels will direct and Jackman will star in “Orders to Kill,” a story that aims to tell an alternative version of the King shooting, according to a person familiar with the project who was not authorized to talk about it publicly. Millennium Films will produce and finance the film, which is currently being shopped around to distributors in Hollywood. A Millennium spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The film will tell the story of William Pepper (Jackman), a controversial attorney and activist who for decades has argued that convicted killer James Earl Ray, who recanted his confession and died arguing his innocence, didn’t shoot MLK.

The picture will follow Pepper over the years as he wages a one-man campaign, interviewing witnesses and building support for his theory that other interests, including those from the U.S. government, were behind the 1968 Memphis killing. (In a nutshell, Pepper, who is still alive, argues that government interests wanted King dead because of his opposition to the Vietnam War.) It will be based on Pepper’s own book, which has been adapted for the screen by Hollywood screenwriter Hanna Weg.

The movie has echoes of “JFK,” Oliver Stone’s film from 20 years ago that also argued for a broad conspiracy behind the assassination of a 1960s icon. Though controversial, the film was a huge hit and won two Oscars…