Let's say this about Lee Daniels, the dude has some close friends in some pretty high places. It's served him well so far, with Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry throwing their weight behind his debut film, Precious, helping push it and co-star Mo'nique to Academy Awards recognition a couple of years ago. While his plan for Selma, a Martin Luther King biopic may have stalled for the time being, Daniels more than made up for it with The Paperboy, a noir crime thriller based on the Pete Dexter novel. He managed to get Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman for that one, but if you can believe it Daniels appears set to aim even higher for his next film.
Last year, Daniels signed on to direct The Butler, based on the inspiring story of Eugene Allen, a butler who worked for the White House for over 30 years and under eight different Presidents. Over that time he witnessed the world change from a unique inside perspective. Initially set to be developed by Columbia Pictures, the film is now being financed independently, and if Daniels has his way in the casting department he'll have no problem finding backers. THR reports that Winfrey, Cusack, David Oyelowo, Hugh Jackman, and Mila Kunis are all circling the project, with Oyelowo planned for the lead role. In what could be a strange decision, Winfrey would reportedly play Allen's wife. Winfrey's a touch old for the part, being more than twenty years older than Oyelowo. Unless, and this is a distinct possibility, Winfrey is playing the character at a later stage of her life.
In an intriguing and inspired move, Kunis is being looked at to play Jackie Kennedy, with Cusack as Richard Nixon. Jackman's role is unclear, but he'd make for a hell of a John F. Kennedy. Oyelowo, who also co-stars in The Paperboy, was set to appear alongside Jackman in Daniels' MLK biopic.
The story comes from a series of Washington Post story from Will Haygood, published just after the election of President Barack Obama. Danny Strong(Recount, Game Change) wrote the first draft of the script, with Daniels currently doing rewrites. If Winfrey signs on, it'll be her first on screen role since 1998.
