Oscar nominated British actor Tom Wilkinson is reportedly being considered to play President Lyndon B. Johnson for Selma, a Martin Luther King Jr. project in the works for Paramount. Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt are among the producers on the project.
Selma got moving again last month when Winfrey’s Harpo Productions got onboard. Pitt’s Plan B and Pathe are co-producing and Paramount is distributing. David Oyelowo will play King.
According to TheWrap, which first reported the news, Wilkinson is in the early stages of negotiations with the producers. The Hollywood Reporter also reported the casting.
Selma is going to focus on King’s 1965 voting rights campaign. It later pushed LBJ to introduce the Voting Rights Act. Ava DuVernay wrote the first draft.
Wilkinson has been nominated for Oscars for In The Bedroom and Michael Clayton. He can currently be seen in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and just made Good People with James Franco.