Did Oprah Land A New Acting Gig?
It turns out Oprah Winfrey may have found the perfect role to make her return to the big screen.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Winfrey is considering an offer to co-star in The Butler, a film centered around a Black man who worked as a butler in the White House, from 1952 to 1986.
The film, still in the casting stages, will be directed by Lee Daniels (Precious) with the possibility of David Oyelowo (Red Tails) taking the lead of Eugene Allen. Daniels has been diligently searching for an all-star cast which is rumored to include Hugh Jackman, Mila Kunis and John Cusack as “real-life figures.” Winfrey would play Allen’s wife.
Allen’s story surfaced in a 2008 Washington Post story entitled “A Butler Well Served by This Election,” which detailed his start as a pantry man in 1952. THR reports, “[Eugene] ended up serving eight presidents and had a unique front-row seat as political and racial history was made, from the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy.”
Along with casting, financing should be finalized in the next week and a half.
The Butler would be Winfrey’s first live-action film since 1998's Beloved.