Virginia Madsen has signed on to join Hilary Swank and Richard Gere in Amelia, the biopic of famed aviator Amelia Earhart. It's a homecoming of sorts for Madsen, since it's the first time she's made a Fox Searchlight film since Sideways turned her from has-been to star in 2004.
The story obviously focuses on Earhart's feats of solo flight, but also on her relationship with her publisher-promoter George Putnam (Gere). He and Earhart eventually married, but Madsen will play his first wife, Dorothy Binney.
Shooting starts later this month in Canada and South Africa, with Mira Nair directing and a screenplay by Ron Bass. So it'll soon be chocks away for Earhart! Sorry, couldn't resist.