Paramount Pictures and Pathé today announced that Selma will have a limited release in the U.S. on Christmas day and will open wide on January 9, 2015. Directed by Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), the film is being produced by Oprah Winfrey, Plan B, the producers of the Academy Award®-winning 12 Years a Slave and Cloud Eight Films’ Academy Award®-winning Christian Colson (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire).
Academy Award nominee Oprah Winfrey joins the film’s cast as Annie Lee Cooper, an elderly woman and visible leader amongst the civil rights protesters in Selma who tried to register to vote and was unfairly denied by the sheriff.
The film is currently shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery and Selma, Alabama.
Selma is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s historic struggle to secure voting rights for all people a dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated with the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and led to President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The film’s release will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the landmark legislation.
The film stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr., Tom Wilkinson as Lyndon Baines Johnson, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King, Andre Holland as Andrew Young, Omar J. Dorsey as James Orange, Alessandro Nivola as John Doar, Dylan Baker as J. Edgar Hoover, Giovanni Ribisi as Lee White, Tessa Thompson as Diane Nash, Colman Domingo as Ralph Abernathy, Stephen Root as Al Lingo, Jeremy Strong as James Reeb, with Tim Roth as George Wallace, and Oprah Winfrey as Annie Lee Cooper.
Paramount is handling the film’s domestic distribution, Pathé is distributing in the UK and France and Pathé International will handle sales to the rest of the world.
