The 'Beetlejuice' actress and the 'Walking Dead' alum as well as Alfred Molina join Oscar Isaac and Catherine Keener on the Civil Rights drama.
- Aug 21, 2014
AceShowbiz - Some notable actors are added to the cast of David Simon's miniseries "Show Me a Hero". Winona Ryder, Jon Bernthal and Alfred Molina join Oscar Isaac and Catherine Keener who were earlier tapped to star on the adaptation project.
The Civil Rights drama is based on the 1999 nonfiction book of the same title by Lisa Belkin. Set in the late 1980s, it tells the story of Nick Wasicsko (Isaac), "the youngest big-city mayor in the nation" who is ordered by the federal court to build low-income housing units in the city's white neighborhoods of his town, Yonkers, N.Y. His attempt to do so tears the city apart, paralyzes the municipal government and, ultimately, destroys his political future.
Ryder, who last graced the big screen in 2013's "Homefront", will play Vinni Restiano, the Yonkers councilwoman and Wasicsko's close friend. She lost her seat after her housing vote, but she stages a comeback four years later and wins as City Council president.
"The Walking Dead" alum Bernthal will play Michael H. Sussman, a hard-driving Harvard-trained lawyer who represented the NAACP when it joined the government's anti-segregation case against Yonkers.
Molina, who earned an Emmy nomination for his role in HBO's movie "The Normal Heart", will star as councilman Henry J. "Hank" Spallone, a hard-boiled ex-NYPD detective from the Bronx who became the public voice of the housing opponents.
Keener, meanwhile, takes on the role of Mary Dorman, "an East Yonkers homeowner who comes to a remarkable realization during the battle over where to build low-income housing."
Paul Haggis ("Crash") is on board as director. Simon, who co-created "The Wire", and William F. Zorzi pen the script. Also among the cast are James Belushi, Terry Kinney and Michael Stahl-David.
