Giovanni Ribisi will play a presidential advisor in the Martin Luther King biopic 'Selma'.

The 39-year-old actor has been cast as Lee C. White, an adviser to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) who were crucial to presidential strategies revolving around the civil rights movement, reports Variety.com.

Whilst 'The Butler' actor David Oyelowo will star as the iconic civil rights activist, King.

He will be joined by Tim Roth who was recently cast as the Alabama governor George Wallace, who favoured segregation.

Ava DuVernay will helm the project and Oprah Winfrey - who made her return to acting after a 15-year absence in Lee Daniels' 'The Butler' last year - will produce with Brad Pitt, through his Plan B Productions company and the organisation's executives, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner.

Pathe, who produced 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom', will also have a hand in the production.

The film tells the story of a group of black marchers who attempt to walk from Selma, Alabama, to nearby Montgomery in order to gain the right to vote in 1965. However, the protesters find themselves in the crosshairs of the police.