Anthony Mackie to Play MLK in HBO's ALL THE WAY Adaptation

HBO's ALL THE WAY adaptation is taking shape.

Deadline writes that stage and screen actor Anthony Mackie will portray Martin LUTHER King Jr. alongside Tony-winning Broadway star Bryan Cranston, reprising his role as Lyndon B. Johnson in the TV version of Robert Schenkkan's play, helmed by Jay Roach.

ALL THE WAY, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Schenkkan, ran at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre in 2014. The play was directed by Bill Rauch, Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where ALL THE WAY began its theatrical life.

The story takes audiences behind the doors of the Oval Office and inside the first year of LBJ's presidency and his fight to pass a landmark civil rights bill.

Mackie's role will reportedly be "signifcant, and portrays a far more collaborative and complex relationship than was depicted in the Best Picture nominee SELMA," according to Deadline.

With Robert Schenkkan set to adapt ALL THE WAY, the movie will be produced by Amblin Television, Tale Told Productions, and Moon Shot Entertainment. Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank, and Justin Falvey will serve as executive producers with Schenkkan and Cranston with James Degus as co-executive producer.

Production on the LBJ project begins in September.

Mackie will soon appear on the big screen as 'Falcon' in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, as well as ANT-MAN, XMAS, SHELTER, OUR BRAND IS CRISIS and MAKE A WISH. He is also slated to star as Jesse Owens in an upcoming biopic from Jamie Linden and George Olson. The actor recently starred in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. Mackie has appeared on Broadway in A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE, DROWNING CROW and MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM. Among his off-Broadway credits are A SOLDIER'S PLAY, MCREELE, TALK and UP AGAINST THE WIND.

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