Williams will play President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Lee Daniels’ film based on the life of Eugene Allen, a long-time White House servant who worked for eight First Families over three decades. He joins an ensemble cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Vanessa Redgrave, Terrence Howard, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda and Colman Domingo. Danny Strong wrote the script with Daniels based on Wil Haygood’s Washington Post article about Allen. The Butler will be produced by Daniels with Hilary Shor, Cassian Elwes and Pam Williams for Laura Ziskin Productions. The film is scheduled to begin shooting later this month in New Orleans.

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Williams also will star in the comedy, The Angriest Man In Brooklyn, opposite Mila Kunis, Peter Dinklage, Melissa Leo and James Earl Jones. The film is the story of a stand-in doctor who mistakenly tells an obnoxious patient he has 90 minutes to live. The medic tries desperately to locate the man after her comments send him on a contrite tour of the city to right all the wrongs in his life. Phil Alden Robinson will direct from a screenplay by Daniel Taplitz. Landscape’s Bob Cooper and Tyler Mitchell are producing with Daniel J Walker. Jean-Charles Levy serves as executive producer. Production is set to kick off in September in Brooklyn, New York. Williams is represented by WME and MBST Entertainment.

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