Dylan Baker Set For J Edgar Hoover Role In MLK Pic ‘Selma’

EXCLUSIVE: Spider-Man 2 and 3‘s Dylan Baker has joined the cast of Paramount’s Martin Luther King Jr. pic Selma as one of the civil rights leader’s most vigorous government adversaries. He’ll play FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who under the direction of then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy, carried out extensive investigations of King and his cohorts, including wiretapping and heavy surveillance.

Related: Paramount To Make MLK Pic ‘Selma’; Oprah Winfrey Producing

Ava DuVernay is directing the film, which is in production with David Oyelowo playing MLK, Carmen Ejogo as wife Coretta Scott King and a supporting cast that includes Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson, Cuba Gooding Jr, Common, Alessandro Nivola and Tessa Thompson. Last month Tim Roth joined the cast as segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace. Baker is coming off an Emmy-nominated run on The Good Wife and stints on Chicago Fire and spinoff Chicago PD. He is repped by Innovative and Viking.