Biopics bring peril, pitfalls

October 01, 2009 When Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider said in May that DreamWorks planned to make a biopic on Martin Luther King Jr., it took less than 24 hours for the project to hit a speed bump. Two of King's children disputed a third's authority to speak for the estate, and soon enough King's own words came to mind: "All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem." Granted, putting someone's life story on film hardly compares to the struggle for civil rights.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.