Jackman going over to Selma

Hugh Jackman is busting out the star power he possesses once again as he signs on to star in the new Lee Daniels directed movie Selma, reports Coming Soon. In it Jackman will play Alabama Governor George Wallace, already canceling out previous reports that Robert De Niro would be tackling the role.

Here’s a bit more on what Daniels has to say on the recent development on the Paul Webb written tale, and what it’s even about. Selma is expected to come out in theaters sometime in 2011 under Pathe, Plan B Entertainment, Cloud Eight and Celador Films.:

“I had to do a lot of homework on the script, and I spent a lot of time writing. I feel like I’m caught up a little bit with that,” he said. “I have to really start casting the movie because we’re shooting it soon. The only person I’ve nailed in for sure is Hugh Jackman. It’s all over the place.”

“It’s a moment in time in Martin Luther King and LBJ’s (life) around the signing of the Civil Rights. It’s a snapshot of the march,” Daniels told us last October. “It’s really Lyndon Johnson’s story. Martin Luther King is a part of it, but it’s really the arc of a man that starts out as a racist who is forced to look at himself in the mirror and then ultimately side with King. It’s really a journey of a white cat and how he sneers at tradition and against George Wallace, against everybody, says, ‘Uh-uh.’”

Jackman is in the middle of filming Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and is expected to take on the lead role in Shawn Levy’s Real Steel and Avon Man.