Jackman, Daniels Tackle MLK; Ellis Plays Him

The Los Angeles Times reports that Hugh Jackman and director Lee Daniels will team on an upcoming adaptation of William Francis Pepper's nonfiction book Orders to Kill.

The book follows Pepper (Jackman), an attorney and activist who argued that James Earl Ray did not shoot Martin Luther King Jr. . The movie will focus on the years that the writer started a campaign to prove that the U.S. government was behind the assassination . He believes that the government wanted Martin Luther King dead, due to his open opposition to the Vietnam War .

Hanna Weg is adapting the script and the project is being shopped around to distributors.

In related news it was announced a few days ago that "True Blood's" co-star Nelsan Ellis has been cast as MLK in Daniels' biopic "The Butler".