Minka Kelly Will Play Jackie O To Matthew McConaughey’s JFK In Lee Daniels' ‘The Butler’
Even asLee Daniels' follow-up toPrecious,The Paperboy, makes its debut at Cannes this week, the filmmaker’s wasting no time assembling a stellar cast for his next project,The Butler. The talentedForest Whitakerleads the picture as Eugene Allen, the late White House butler who served under eight different presidents from 1952 through 1986, withOprah Winfreyand rising starDavid Oyelowosigned to play his wife and son.
And the cast only gets more buzzworthy from there. The roster also includesCuba Gooding Jr.,Terrence Howard,Nicole Kidman,Alan Rickman,Jane Fonda,Lenny Kravitz, andJohn Cusack. Now we can addMinka Kellyto the list as well, as Daniels says he’s cast her to play Jackie Kennedy toMatthew McConaughey’s John F. More after the jump.
While Kelly and McConaughey make for an attractive all-American couple, they don’t seem like the obvious choices to play the beloved First Couple. Kelly’s done the prim and proper thing, to some extent, as Lyla Garrity onFriday Night Lights, but the easy Texan charm that McConaughey is known for seems worlds away from JFK’s more reserved New England demeanor. Still, I’m sure it’ll be fun to watch them try.
McConaughey currently stars in Richard Linklater’s true crime comedyBernie, and will next appear in this summer’sKiller JoeandMagic Mike.The Butlerwill mark his second time working with Daniels, as McConaughey also stars inThe Paperboy. Kelly is coming off of the short-livedCharlie’s Angelsreboot on ABC.
Production onThe Butleris scheduled to begin in July. Daniels rewrote the script from a first draft byGame ChangescribeDanny Strong, who in turn based it ona 2008 Washington Post article by Wil Haygood. No release date has been announced for the film, but given the cast and the subject matter I wouldn’t be surprised to see it crop up sometime around Oscar season.
