Pedro Pascal has joined the cast of If Beale Street Could Talk, director Barry Jeninks’ follow-up to his Oscar Best Picture winner Moonlight. KiKi Layne stars in the pic based on the James Baldwin novel along with Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Brian Tyree Henry and Regina King. Layne plays Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence while carrying their first child to term. Jenkins adapted the book and is producing via his Pastel label with Annapurna Pictures and Plan B. Pascal, so good as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, was most recently on the big screen in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. He’s next up in Sony’s The Equalizer 2. He’s repped by WME, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway Tyerman.

Courtesy of TalentWorks

Actress Ashlie Atkinson has been cast in Spike Lee’s Black Klansman, a bipoic based on the autobiography of Colorado Springs detective Ron Stallworth. Written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Lee and Kevin Willmont, the pic centers on Stallworth, an African American man who dared to challenge the Ku Klux Klan and thwart its attempts to take over the city. He was at the center of an undercover investigation that reached the heights of the organization where he miraculously gained status in their ranks. Adam Driver, John David Washington, and Topher Grace star in the film, which Lee is producing with Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, QC Entertainment, and Blumhouse, while Focus Features is distributing. Atkinson, who can be seen in the upcoming Clark Johnson-directed drama, Juanita, starring Alfre Woodard, is repped by TalentWorks and Rosier Artist Management.