Deadline just posted this today, calling it an *Exclusive*, although we got wind of it about 2 weeks ago and posted it then – on April 27th HERE.

So, I’m re-posting it, since it seems like it’s only now that the major industry trades are picking it up, and for those who may have missed the news back then.

Viola Davis, who most recently attracted attention for her upcoming role as a Mississippi maid in The Help, will soon be traveling to Pittsburgh to star in the film Still I Rise.

In the film, Davis will portray a mother and middle school teacher who teams up with another woman to transform a local school. The original story is unrelated to the Maya Angelou poem of the same name.

Walden Media executive Mylan Stepanovich said of Ms. Davis, “She’s fantastic. We’re very lucky” to have her play a lead role in the film, opposite another female lead which has yet to be announced (Deadline adds that Maggie Gyllenhaal will play the other female lead in the film. So I guess that’s the *Exclusive* part of their report on this :))

Daniel Barnz (Beastly) is set to direct. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in late May and wrap in mid-July.

Via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.