First Look at Forest Whitaker in Costume for Lee Daniels’ THE BUTLER, Plus Set Photos of Minka Kelly and James Marsden as the Kennedys

Direct from the ongoing shoot in New Orleans comes the first look at Forest Whitaker in costume as Eugene Allen, the man behind the title role in director Lee Daniels’ The Butler.  We also have some new set photos of James Marsden and Minka Kelly in costume as John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie Kennedy.  The ensemble drama about the life of the White House servant who looked after eight first families was based on Wil Haygood’s 2008 Washington Post article about Allen.  The picture also stars Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, John Cusack, Alex Pettyfer, Aml Ameen, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda and Robin Williams.  Hit the jump to check out the images. [Update: The set photos have been removed at the request of the pictures' owners.]

Here’s the first image of Whitaker as Allen, courtesy of Variety.  The image has a ghostly quality to it, as you can see the window through Allen’s body.  Whether this is intentional or some weird artifact of the camera, I don’t know.  Take a look for yourself below: