Uma Thurman

BREAKING: Uma Thurman will star as controversial anti-gay activist Anita Bryant in Anita, produced by Sex And the City creator Darren Star, Howard Rosenman, Jeffrey Schwarz and Dennis Erdman. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will direct from a screenplay by Chad Hodge. Those filmmakers, who most recently helmed Lovelace, won Oscars for Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt and The Times Of Harvey Milk. Anita Bryant doesn’t stand a chance here! The film follows the singer and orange juice spokeswoman who, after allowing a gay screenwriter into her home, is forced to confront her past as an anti-gay Christian crusader who successfully campaigned to overturn a gay rights law in Florida and whose polarizing views destroyed her show biz career in the process. The film will be shopped here at Cannes. Thurman next stars in Lars Van Triers’ Nymphomaniac, and the next film by the directors is The Battle Of AmFAR, which HBO broadcasts in December. UTA Independent and WME are co-repping domestic.

The controversial film releases its first cast photo, featuring plenty of stars -- including Uma Thurman, Shia LaBeouf and Willem Defoe -- in compromising positions.