Nina Arianda to play Fellini's wife in film

NEW YORK, July 30 (UPI) -- Nina Arianda is to play Italian movie star Giulietta Masina, director Federico Fellini's wife, in the film "Fellini Black and White," producers said Monday.

Arianda won a Tony Award this year for her work in the Broadway play "Venus in Fur."

"Fellini Black and White" was written and is being directed by Henry Bromell, a consulting producer and writer of Showtime's Golden Globe Award-winning series "Homeland."

Co-starring William H. Macy, Terrence Howard, Peter Dinklage and Wagner Maura, the film is set to begin production in early 2013. It takes place during Fellini and Masina's visit to Los Angeles for the 1958 Academy Awards, where their film "Nights of Cabiria" won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Masina was married to Fellini for 50 years until his death in 1993. Masina died just months later.

Arianda was recently cast as Janis Joplin in an upcoming bio-picture about the last six months of the rock icon's life.