Casting Net: Nina Arianda joins Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant in 'Florence Foster Jenkins'

Tony Award-winner Nina Arianda will join the cast of Florence Foster Jenkins opposite Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. The film follows the real life story of Jenkins (Streep), who used her wealth and high-class status at the turn of the 20th century to gain fame as a singer, even though she couldn’t actually sing. Grant will play her butler and best friend. Arianda will play Agnes Stark, “a sexy showgirl trying to work her way into the social stratosphere with the help of her husband. When she first hears Florence’s singing, she cannot help but laugh, but eventually she becomes one of her biggest supporters.” [Deadline]
Kaitlin Doubleday (Empire) will co-star in the drama Po. Christopher Gorham also stars in the film which centers around a widower who must learn to deal with being a single father to his 9-year-old son, who has autism. [Variety]
Jayma Mays (Glee) has been cast opposite Tom Cruise in Mena, a factual story about Barry Seal (Cruise), a pilot, gun runner, and drug trafficker who transported contraband for the CIA and the Medellín Cartel in the ’80s. Mays will play Dana Sibota, the assistant attorney general of Arkansas. She’s foul-mouthed, unreasonable, and demanding as she desperately wants to take Seal down. [Deadline]

Tessa Thompson (Dear White People) will play the female lead opposite Alexander Skarsgard and Michael Pena in the indie feature War On Everyone, a film about two corrupt cops who make money by blackmailing criminals. But they will come up against one criminal who might be far more dangerous than they are. Thompson will play a former stripper who ends up in a relationship with Terry (Skarsgard). [Deadline]

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