Oscar winner Octavia Spencer has been cast opposite Kevin Costner in the custody-battle drama, Black and White.
The film, which will be shopped to international distributors at Cannes, tells the story of Elliot Anderson (Costner) an attorney widowed after his wife dies in a car crash, and who is also raising his bi-racial granddaughter Eloise, since his daughter died in childbirth.
As he struggles with his grief, Elliot’s world is turned upside-down when the child’s African American grandmother, Rowena (played by Spencer), demands that Eloise be brought under the care of her African American father, Reggie, a drug addict whom Elliot blames for the negligence that led to the death of his own daughter. Elliot finds himself deeply entrenched in a custody battle and will stop at nothing to keep his granddaughter from coming under the watch of his reckless son-in-law.
On the surface, this sounds like an updated version of Losing Isaiah, which starred Halle Berry and Jessica Lange. Black and White is written and directed by Mike Binder (HBO’s The Mind of the Married Man).
Spencer is not letting grass grow under her feet. Up next for the busy actress, she will be seen in Diablo Cody’s directorial debut as well as the upcoming Fruitvale Station.
