Kerry Washington is starring as law professor Anita Hill in the upcoming HBO movie Confirmation.  Confirmation is based on the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Clarence Thomas which took place in 1991.

Actor Wendell Pierce has been cast to play Clarence Thomas.  The movie also stars Jennifer Hudson, Jeffrey Wright, Kimberly Elise, Kristen Ariza and Malcolm Gets.

Kimberly Elise (For Colored Girls), Kristen Ariza (The Utopian Society) and Malcolm Gets (Caroline In The City) are the latest additions to the cast of HBO Films’ Confirmation, toplined by Kerry Washington.

Elise will play Sonia Jarvis, Anita’s college roommate and a D.C. lawyer. Ariza plays Judy Smith, the White House press liaison. Interestingly, it’s a reunion of sorts for Washington and the Smith character. Smith is the founder, CEO and president of the crisis-management firm Smith & Co., the inspiration behind Washington’s ABC drama series Scandal. Smith was Special Assistant and Deputy Press Secretary to President George H.W. Bush and reportedly was instrumental in guiding the his administration through the controversies surrounding the Thomas nomination. Gets plays Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania senator who played a leading role in the Thomas hearings as a Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter became a Democrat in 2009. He died in 2012.