Kerry Washington is heading to The Prom. The Emmy-nominated Scandal star has joined the A-list cast of Ryan Murphy’s feature adaptation for Netflix. Deadline broke the news in June about the casting of Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Awkwafina, James Corden, Keegan-Michael Key and Andrew Rannells.
Streep will star as Dee Dee Allen, a two-time Tony winner who teams with Corden’s Barry Glickman in a flop musical about Eleanor Roosevelt. After career-ending reviews, they decide — along with Broadway babies Angie Dickinson (Kidman) and Trent Oliver (Rannells) — to champion a cause to rehabilitate their careers. They find one in Emma, a high school senior in Indiana who isn’t allowed to take her girlfriend to the prom.
Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin wrote the screenplay, which Murphy, Alexis Woodall, Bill Damaschke and Dori Berinstein are producing. Music and lyrics are by Beguelin and Matthew Sklar, based on the original concept by Jack Viertel.
Washington is headlining the action drama Shadow Force, along with Sterling K. Brown, which landed at Lionsgate. She’s also set to co-star in the Hulu limited series Little Fires Everywhere, opposite Reese Witherspoon, and recently premiered her film American Son at TIFF. It will be available to stream on Netflix in November.
Washington is repped by Washington Square Arts, CAA and attorney Gretchen Rush.
