First announced two years ago, Martin Luther King biopic Memphis is back on track and on top of the pile of film projects for director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) and producer Scott Rudin (The Social Network).

Paul Greengrass ©AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK

Now that the shooting of Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks, is over, the British filmmaker can focus on Memphis, a movie that documents the last days of the Civil Rights leader which he spent organizing a protest march for black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Paul Greengrass will also tackle the hunt for his murderer, James Earl Ray.

Over the past couple of years, the project has gone through quite a few ups and downs. Initially picked up by Universal Pictures, the film was shelved when its funding turned problematic.

Wild Bunch jumped in to save the project, but Memphis still lacks a cast and a production schedule. Its launch should coincide with Martin Luther King Day, marked the third Monday of each January.