Waiting for 'Action!'

Branch, who last year published "At Canaan's Edge," the final installment of his civil rights trilogy, insists that "it can be done." Moreover, he adds, "when it is done it can break down the notion that it's only an American story. I think it's worldwide, because it's about the optimistic side of American freedom. In that sense, I think some of the obstacles and the things that are holding us back from a breakthrough in film are very much like what is unresolved in American history and politics. We're still unresolved about what we think of the '60s, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. That's what the culture wars are about."

Certainly, exceptions have come along to disprove Hollywood's calculus. Few thought that an expensive historical spectacle about a nonviolent activist in India could make its money back, and "Gandhi" was a huge hit. "Schindler's List" was another critical and commercial success about an unlikely subject. Or, those five words that changed Hollywood history: "The Passion of the Christ."

Another, perhaps more relevant example is "Ray," which Belafonte and his then-manager, Arnold Rifkin, tried to pitch to studios 12 years before it was finally produced. "I always said to Taylor [Branch], maybe we're before our time," Rifkin recalled recently. "Maybe people aren't ready."

Which raises the question of whether today they are, both in a business sense and as a matter of cultural consciousness. Saxon points out that "Ray" was financed by Philip Anschutz, a Colorado businessman and founder of Walden Media, "who agreed to step up with money without a safety net. My hope is that rather than a publicly traded company, someone with the money and conviction will make it, with a great filmmaker, like an Attenborough or a Spielberg or a Demme." In 2004 eBay executive Jeff Skoll founded Participant Productions with the express purpose of telling "compelling, entertaining stories that also create awareness of the real issues that shape our lives." (Memo to Skoll: Option "A Fire You Can't Put Out" and put Foxx on your call list, stat.)

Today, several civil-rights-related scripts are floating around Hollywood: According to "Talk to Me" director Kasi Lemmons, "There are a lot of King projects people are talking about," including one she hopes to be involved in. Craig Brewer ("Hustle & Flow," "Black Snake Moan") said earlier this year he intends to make a film centered on the King assassination. Several scripts about the life of Thurgood Marshall have been circulating, including "The Crusaders," in which Terrence Howard is reportedly in negotiations to star as the late Supreme Court justice. "There's a growing community of African American directors, and a growing feeling that we should maybe look at the civil rights movement," says Lemmons, adding, "Things come into the collective consciousness in waves. Maybe you have to be far enough away from it."

Brewer's producer, Stephanie Allain, agrees. "It feels like we went through decades of 'me, me, me,' " she says, "and now, at least in Hollywood, people are talking about these kinds of movies. [It feels like] the consciousness is elevating and moving towards what we had in the civil rights era." Berney concurs, noting that there are more and more African American actors with the clout to bring a pet project to the screen. "From the scripts we've seen lately, it's definitely bubbling to the surface, and there's going to be a string of them. And what I hope is that the first one's really good. Because [if it's not], it could hurt the possibilities of the others."

It's true that the only thing worse than no civil rights films may be the wrong civil rights films; considering the compressions, elisions and distortions necessary to make a feature film, making one about a subject so important is fraught with more than the usual degree of danger. For his part, Branch says he's "definitely trying again" to adapt his books for the screen, either as a motion picture or a miniseries. The idea, he says, "seems to get reincarnated every time I finish one of the books. And each time, some of my friends say, 'Stay out of Hollywood, you'll only get your head handed to you.' And some say, 'It's worth the sacrifice and possible humiliation because of how many young people respond to movies who would never read a fat history book.' "

It's just that demographic potential that motivates Branch, who notes that the civil rights movement "wiped out terrorism in an entire part of the country."

"Every era needs inspiration," he says, "And the civil rights era was one of incredible inspiration and surprise and leadership and miracles and optimism, all in the public square. That's what a movement is. You are moved, and then you share that movement with other people, and it becomes really big. And that is the most powerful antidote to cynicism that I know."