The Secret Life of Bees News

Paul Bettany has joined the cast of The Secret Life of Bees, the movie version of the best-selling novel.

Bettany will play widower, T. Ray Owens, the father of the film's 14-year-old central character (Lily Owens) portrayed by Dakota Fanning.

The flick begins shooting this week in North Carolina.

Bettany joins an ensemble cast that includes Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo and Tristan Wilds.

Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah and Sophie Okonedo have signed on to star in the movie adaption of The Secret Life of Bees.

The film is based on the Sue Monk Kidd novel that was published in 2002.

Dakota Fanning is in negotiations to star as the 14-year-old girl who flees her home and is taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters.

Alicia Keys is also rumored to join the film, whose plot follows:

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees centers on Lily Owens (Fanning), who escapes her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father by running away with her caregiver and only friend (Hudson) to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.

Latifah, Okonedo and Keys would play the three sisters.

Shooting is scheduled to begin January 9 in North Carolina.