Hugh Jackman Cast in Lee Daniels’ SELMA

Lee Daniels, the Oscar-nominated director of Precious, has cast Hugh Jackman in his upcoming civil rights film, Selma.  Speaking to USA Today, Daniels celebrated that he had something to take his mind off award-season madness: “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.” That’s interesting to note because in January Deadline reported that Robert De Niro was on board to play Alabama Governor George Wallace in the film, which is about the historic march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery.

Daniels is currently working on the script and plans to begin shooting Selma this May.  He’s also working to develop an as-yet-untitled series for HBO about a multigenerational, multiracial family in Philadelphia, for which he will also direct the pilot.  As for Jackman, when we last checked his scheduled, he was set to shoot Kevin Lima’s comedy Avon Men in April and Shawn Levy’s robot-boxing drama Real Steel in June.  I don’t know if there has been some shuffling with Jackman’s schedule or if he’ll have a very busy three months.  At least he doesn’t have to worry about Wolverine 2 until next January.