Jamie Foxx and Mary J. Blige are ready to make history. The stars both announced ambitious new film projects today, each portraying political figures. 
Foxx joins Independence Day director Roland Emmerich's thriller White House Down, about a Secret Service agent (Channing Tatum) who tries to save the President when the White House is attacked. Foxx will play the fictional President of the United States. The Oscar winner is on a roll after wrapping production on the highly-anticipated Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino. 
Meanwhile Blige, who is rumored to have landed the leading role in an upcoming Nina Simone biopic, is prepping to play another iconic figure, Dr. Betty Shabazz. The R&B artist revealed she will play Malcolm X's wife in the TV movie Parallel Lives, about the relationship between Shabazz and Coretta Scott King. No word yet on who will play King. 
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(Photos from left: Matt Dames/Sony via Getty Images, Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)