Liev Schreiber Joins Cast of THE BUTLER Film

According to Deadline.com, stage veteran Liev Schreiber has joined the cast of the upcoming Lee Daniels film The Butler, as Lyndon B Johnson. Danny Strong wrote the script with Daniels.

Read the original report here.

Based on the life of White House servant EuGene Allen, who worked for eight presidential families over the course of three decades, the film will begin shooting this month in New Orleans.

They join a cast led by Forest Whitaker as Allen, Oprah Winfrey as Allen's wife, Matthew McConaughey as John F. Kennedy, John Cusack as Richard Nixon, Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan, Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, as well as Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Lenny Kravitz, Jess Williams, Vanessa Redgrave, James Marsden and Alex Pettyfer.

Schreiber's many feature credits include Salt with Angelina Jolie; X-Men Origins: Wolverine; Defiance with Daniel Craig; Repo Men; The Painted Veil; The Manchurian Candidate opposite Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington; The Sum of All Fears; Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock; Kate & Leopold; Every Day; Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet; Spring Forward; The Hurricane; A Walk on the Moon with Diane Lane; The Daytrippers; Nora Ephron's Mixed Nuts; and Wes Craven's Scream trilogy.

His performance as Ricky Roma in the 2005 Broadway revival of David Mamet's “Glengarry Glen Ross”, directed by Joe Mantello, earned him his first Tony Award. He was again a Tony nominee for his portrayal of Barry Champlain in the 2007 Broadway revival of Eric Bogosian's “Talk Radio”, directed by Robert Falls, Other stage work includes The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of “Macbeth”, in the lead role opposite Jennifer Ehle, directed by Moisés Kaufman; “Iago”; “Hamlet”; “Henry the V”; and “Cymbeline”.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.