The L.A. Times is reporting Hugh Jackman has hooked up with director Lee Daniels (Precious) for Orders to Kill. In the film Hugh Jackman will play William Pepper, an attorney who believes James Earl Ray was wrongly convicted of assassinating civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King.

From the L.A. Times:

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.

Ray has long been viewed as the killer by authorities and much of the public, though Pepper has the support of Martin Luther King Jr.’s son Dexter King, who came to believe the bullet was fired by a Memphis police officer. A 1999 wrongful-death lawsuit against a man and unknown co-conspirators filed by the Kings and argued by Pepper found in favor of the plaintiff. The trial will be the climactic section of the film, according to the person familiar with the project.

This is the second MLK based film Jackman and Daniels have tried to get going. A couple of years ago they were ready to go with Selma. The film was to cover the civil rights march in Alabama that Dr. King led. Jackman was set to play a racist sheriff who led a march against Dr. King, but financing fell through and the film never happened.

The script for Orders to Kill, written by Hanna Weg, is based on the book written by Pepper.

SOURCE: L.A. Times