"Zero Dark Thirty" star Jennifer Ehle is set to play Kevin Costner's late wife in writer-director Mike Binder's drama "Black and White," TheWrap has learned.
Costner's Treehouse Productions and Binder's Sunlight Productions are co-producing the project, which IM Global was selling to foreign buyers at Cannes. Executive producer Cassian Elwes is handling domestic rights.
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Story follows a widowed attorney (Costner) and his bi-racial granddaughter (Jillian Estell) whose mother (the daughter of Costner's character) died while giving birth.
Octavia Spencer co-stars as the young girl's grandmother who wants her son (Andre Holland) to care for the child. When he's unable to due to a drug addiction, she and Costner's character spar over custody.
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Ehle will play Costner's late wife who regularly appears in his booze-soaked dreams and hallucinations.
Binder, who previously worked with Costner on "The Upside of Anger," will begin shooting "Black and White" this summer in New Orleans.
In addition to a stirring turn in Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," Ehle's recent credits include "The King's Speech," "The Ides of March" and "Contagion." She'll soon be seen in Jose Padilha's remake of "RoboCop," which hits theaters Feb. 7, 2014.
Ehle is represented by ICM Partners and Independent Talent Group.