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Everything-woman Queen Latifah will both star in and executive produce a remake of the play and 1989 film Steel Magnolias for the Lifetime channel, according to deadline. Latifah will be supported by an all-black cast comprising Alfre Woodard, Cosby Show mom Phylicia Rashad, and okayplayer-for-life Jill Scott, among other notables (if you are keeping count that's one Tony-winner, one Emmy-winner and one Grammy-winner. For extra points, match the regal black woman with the appropriate award!)
In other Okayprojector updates, Wire star, Golden Globe-winner and sometime member of the The Bullitts, Idris Elba has recently been slated to portray legendary South African leader Nelson Mandela in the film adaption of his 1995 autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. Meanwhile, in spite of some rumors and cool poster art floating around (see after the jump) Don Cheadle's Miles Davis film project--not a strict biopic but apparently a gangster flick which follows the jazz giant through one particular day in 1979--is not yet in production. Cheadle continues to seek financing for his pet project, according to indiewire, although there is another Davis biopic in the works from Notorious director George Tillman, Jr.
Miles-Davis-Movie-Poster-Don-Cheadle
spotted at SC
