Hugh Jackman set for a role in Lee Daniels’s civil rights film Selma

USA Today got a chance to talk to Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels (PRECIOUS), and Daniels let slip a new bit of casting info about his next film, SELMA, which focuses on the civil rights movement of the mid-60s and the involvements of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Here’s Daniels speaking to USA Today: “I had to do a lot of homework on the script, and I spent a lot of time writing. I feel like I’m caught up a little bit with that,” he says. Daniels hopes to start shooting the film in May, and for him, it’s crunch time. “I have to really start casting the movie because we’re shooting it soon. The only person I’ve nailed in for sure is Hugh Jackman. It’s all over the place.”

The above quote, coming directly from Daniels, contradicts an earlier report that stated Robert De Niro would be cast in SELMA as Alabama governor/racist George Wallace. This makes sense; Just yesterday we reported that De Niro would be joining Neil Burger’s THE DARK FIELDS, which is reportedly going to start shooting in May… the same time Daniels is hoping to start shooting SELMA.

So where does that leave Wolverine? Will it be he who plays what’s being called the “showy role” of Governor Wallace instead? Who knows?! But it would be interesting to watch Jackman play a real scumbag. He doesn’t do that often.

Source: USA Today

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