The actress, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Frozen River, will join Hilary Swank and Minnie Driver for the film Betty Ann Waters.
Based on a true story, Betty Ann Waters is a single, unemployed mother who will get her law degree in order to defend her brother, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and robbery. By challenging his conviction with DNA evidence, she succeeds in setting him free in 2001.
Swank plays the lead role, while Minnie Driver plays her friend, and Melissa Leo will play a police officer.
This year, Leo has other films coming out, but no dates have officially been confirmed. We should be seeing her in Greta True Adolescents and Veronika Decides to Die.