Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Pat Healy, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods have joined the cast for The Papers, the Steven Spielberg-directed movie about the Washington Post’s role in exposing the Pentagon Papers in 1971, and how the Post’s editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham joined the New York Times in challenging the federal government over their right to publish them.

Production kicked off last week in New York on the fast track after Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep came aboard to play Bradlee and Kay Graham, and then Spielberg joined to direct Liz Hannah and Josh Singer’s script. Spielberg is producing with Amy Pascal and Kristie Macosko; Pascal’s Pascal Pictures originally acquired Hannah’s Black List script.

The movie will bow December 22 in select theaters in the heat of Oscar season and is set to go wide January 12.