The cast includes Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr., hip hop artist Common and British actress Carmen Ejogo who plays Coretta Scott King. That British flavour continues with Tom Wilkinson playing President Lydon B. Johnson, Tim Roth playing the racist Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, who deeply opposed and fought against the marchers, and perhaps most surprising of all, though it shouldn't be, the very talented David Oyelowo (who recently had a pivotal role in 'The Butler) as Dr. Martin Luther King. In fact he had been cast as King when the film was originally going to be made by Lee Daniels in 2007. From the trailer the actor is almost unrecognizable. He achieved his desired look by gaining weight and shaving back his hairline, saying "At one point I looked in the mirror and I couldn't see myself......Dr. King was staring back at me." Adding "It's very costly emotionally, physically, spiritually. You cannot go into an endeavour like this without going there. King felt a lot of guilt about the people who were cut down because of the movement and the cost on his children, his wife. So you have to go there, and I can proudly say I went there."
So here is a first-look at 'Selma'.