Lee Daniels Casts his Martin Luther King Jr. in SELMA

Lee Daniels, the director of the the Academy Award nominated film Precious is hard at work prepping up to shoot his next film, Selma. He's cast british actor David Oyelowo to take on the role of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Oyelowo has done a lot of TV roles and will star in George Lucas' upcoming WWII film Red Tails.

The film revolves around the historic marches staged by King in 1965 in Selma Alabama, which was the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson that ultimately led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act.

Oyelowo joins Hugh Jackman who's already been cast in the film as a racist sherriff, Robert De Niro as Governor George Wallace, and Lenny Kravitz will play civil rights activist Andrew Young.

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