Actor Wendell Pierce attends the 45th NAACP Image Awards presented by TV One at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 22, 2014 in Pasadena, California
*Wendell Pierce, a standout alum of HBO shows “The Wire” and “Treme,” has signed on to join Paramount’s Martin Luther King Jr. film “Selma.”
Ava DuVernay is directing the film, which focuses on the attempts of black marchers to walk from Selma to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, in 1965, in order to gain voting rights, only to be beaten back by police. It took the organizers three attempts to make the journey as the number of marchers grew each time.
David Oyelowo is playing Martin Luther King Jr., while Carmen Ejogo will take on the role of Coretta Scott King. Tom Wilkinson will play President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Pierce will play Reverend Hosea Williams, one of King’s confidants and lieutenants in the civil rights movement.
Hosea Williams
The project is currently filming in Atlanta.
The film’s notable collection of producers includes Oprah Winfrey and her Harpo banner, Plan B’s Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (who produced Oscar-winning film “12 Years a Slave”), and Christian Colson, who won an Oscar for “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Emmy-winning actor Pierce played Det. “Bunk” Moreland on HBO’s acclaimed series “The Wire” and starred on all four seasons of “Treme.” He’ll next be seen on Showtime’s “Ray Donovan” and CBS’ midseason comedy “The Odd Couple.”