Lee Daniels usually tries to paint himself as a Hollywood iconoclast, so it's no surprise that casting details for the Precious director's next project have been leaking out in all kinds of non-traditional ways. In USA Today a few days ago Daniels casually dropped the news that Hugh Jackman had joined the cast of Selma, his biopic about the 1965 civil rights march and the role that Martin Luther King Jr. and then-President Lyndon Johnson played in making it happen. By doing that, though, he cast doubt on what we thought was the only confirmed cast member, Robert De Niro as Alabama Governor George Wallace.

As Daniels has been hitting the party circuit over Oscar weekend, though, he and his future stars have done a lot of clearing things up. First up, Movieline got him to confirm that De Niro in fact is still on board-- good news both for fans of the actor and for those of us wondering if De Niro bailing would have been a bad omen for the film. Then on the Oscars red carpet, Lenny Kravitz revealed to E! (via The Playlist) that he would be in the film as well, playing civil rights activist Andrew Young.

Kravitz had a small role in Precious, so it makes sense for him and Daniels to continue their collaboration. It's mysterious, though, that three high profile actors have signed on before anyone has been cast as the central characters of King and Johnson. Is Daniels hoping that by getting big names in smaller parts, he can get more famous actors to eye those two roles? Or is the process of casting someone to play Dr. King so excruciating-- I know I wouldn't want to do it-- that Daniels is dragging it out? Either way, everyone involved seems very willing to talk about it, so expect more news on this to emerge in the coming weeks.