Samuel Jackson to Play MLK on Broadway

Samuel Jackson has been cast as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Broadway production of the play "The Mountaintop," a dramatic exploration of the Nobel Prize-winning civil rights leader's final night before being assassinated.

The production, which opened two years ago in London and won the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Play, will open in October in New York. Jackson had long been rumored to star; rumored co-star Halle Berry was unable to join due to her ongoing child custody issues with ex Gabriel Aubry.

King was gunned down on April 4th, 1968, on the porch of his Memphis hotel. The night before, having earlier had his plane delayed by bomb threats, he gave a rousing speech, now known as the "I've Been To The Mountaintop Address."

In the speech, King alluded to the threats on his life, and in the play, he examines his life and decisions as he unknowingly closes in on the last moments of his life.

Read more at The Huffington Post