Octavia Spencer Cast in Diablo Cody’s Next Film

Octavia Spencer reads to pupils at Crescent Heights Elementary school in Support of SAG Awards and SAG Foundations BookPALS programme on Oct. 26, 2011 in Los Angeles

*Fresh from her standout performance in “The Help,” breakout star Octavia Spencer has signed on to star alongside Julianne Hough and Russell Brand in Oscar winner Diablo Cody’s untitled directorial debut.

The project, which was once titled “Lamb of God,” follows a young conservative religious woman (Hough) who loses her faith after a plane crash, decides to go to Las Vegas to live the life of a sinner, and on her journey finds her way back to her faith. Brand plays her unlikely companion who helps her find herself.

Spencer will play a card dealer who works at the same casino as Brand and wants to help her in her quest for sin. The movie is heading for a spring 2012 start.

Cody, an Oscar winner for “Juno,” penned Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult,” which Paramount will release in December.