‘Precious’ Filmmaker to Serve Up ‘Butler’ Next

Published by Jeff Leins on July 30, 2010

Lee Daniels, director of the critically-acclaimed film Precious, is lining up his next movie, The Butler, and has approached Denzel Washington to star.

According to Deadline, Daniels will re-write and direct the story of Eugene Allen, a servant at the White House from 1952 to 1986 under eight different presidents where he witnessed the collapse of segregation in the United States.  Allen was invited the inauguration of President Barack Obama before passing away in March.

The film will be based on a series of articles by Wil Haygood about Allen and a first draft from Danny Strong (Recount).

Since his previous work received six Oscar nominations, Daniels has been desperately searching for financing for Selma, a civil rights story about Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr.  He has even lined up a cast that includes Hugh Jackman, Liam Neeson, David Oyelowo, Ray Winstone, Robert De Niro, Cedric the Entertainer, all of whom cleared their schedules and took pay cuts to participate.  Unfortunately, we live in a bizarre world where that caliber of talent couldn’t get financing and it may take a backseat for now.

I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the melodramatic Precious, but Selma looked and felt like a worthy story worth telling, even if it mined similar issues as his latest.  Instead we’ll see more awards bait from Daniels in the form of a humble African American symbol.