Chris Rock and Steven Spielberg to collaborate on Martin Luther King Jr. biopic

Chris Rock and Steven Spielberg are collaborating on a movie about the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Rock is in final talks to direct and produce the project, with Spielberg on board as executive producer. Universal Pictures is backing the biographical drama after optioning Jonathan Eig’s biography “King: A Life.”

Eig’s book has been called the definitive biography of the late civil rights icon. It uses new FBI information and hundreds of interviews to paint a portrayal of King as a “courageous but emotionally troubled individual who demanded peaceful protest while grappling with his own frailties and a government that hunted him.” Since it’s early in the development process, casting has not been announced.