Film News: MLK Movie Generates Family Controversy

Fresh off yesterday's announcement of a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic helmed by Steven Spielberg, two of the civil rights leader's children are threatening legal action over the project.

Bernice King and Martin Luther King III are in the midst of a legal dispute with their brother Dexter King over the rights to the personal papers of their late mother, Coretta Scott King, and are also disputing the film project focused on their father. Dexter King is the chairman-CEO of the King Estate.

Variety reports that DreamWorks insiders do not feel that the family dispute will affect the project.

Dexter King has released a statement saying, "The King Estate is committed to working very closely with DreamWorks (and producers) Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones . . . For over 15 years, I have had the honor of being chief executive of the King Estate Corp. and am charged with the duties of managing my father's name, image, likeness, recorded voice, copyrighted works and rights of publicity." [Variety]