The Kasi Lemmons-directed Harriet biopic starring Cynthia Erivo at Focus Features has added to its cast.
Vanessa Bell Calloway, Zackary Momoh, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Deborah Ayorinde have come aboard a cast which includes Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, Jennifer Nettles, and Clarke Peters.
Calloway will play Harriet’s mother and while Momoh will play Harriet’s husband.
Lemmons directs from a screenplay she co-wrote with Gregory Allen Howard.
Debra Martin Chase, under her Martin Chase Productions, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, with Stay Gold Features and Gregory Allen Howard will be producers.
The film will begin production this October in Virginia.
The logline: Based on the story of iconic freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, Harriet follows Tubman on her escape from slavery and subsequent missions to free dozens of slaves through the Underground Railroad in the face of growing pre-Civil War adversity.
Calloway currently stars in Bounce TV’s Saints and Sinners and co-starred in the Barack and Michelle Obama biographical romance film, Southside With You.
The U.K.-bred Momoh starred in Netflix’s Seven Seconds. Ayorinde, who appeared in Girls Trip and Luke Cage, will next appear in True Detective.
Curtis-Hall (who is Lemmons’ husband), currently stars in Shonda Rhimes’ ABC series, For the People. Curtis Hall and Calloway also appeared together in Coming to America.
Deadline first reported the news of their castings.