Joe Berlinger is on board to direct a Martin Luther King assassination film.
The 57-year-old filmmaker – who recently worked on Netflix’s chilling docu-series about serial killer Ted Bundy ‘Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes’ and the upcoming theatrical film ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ about the same murderer which stars Zac Efron – will helm ‘Slay The Dreamer’ which will chart efforts to re-open the investigation into the assassination of the civil rights leader.
The film will be based on the story of his friend and adviser Reverend James Lawson – the man who invited him to speak in Memphis on 5 April 1968, where he was shot dead.
James Earl Ray was eventually convicted of the crime, however, the movie will follow Lawson as he investigates the incident and tracks down the only eyewitness to the shooting, Grace Walden, who turned down a reward and refused confirm it was Ray who committed the crime.
Speaking to Deadline, Berlinger said: "This is an extremely painful chapter of American history that for many remains unresolved, In this era of accountability and racial division, I am extremely humbled at the prospect of working with Revered Lawson to shine a light on what really happened that fateful day 51 years ago."
Berlinger’s latest project ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ will be released on May 5, 2019 following Netflix’s successful acquisition of the biopic.
The movie follows the infamous serial killer who charmed his 30 or more female victims before killing them in the 1970s, through the eyes of his long-time girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer, played by Lily Collins, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
Joe Berlinger to direct Martin Luther King film
