Elise & Parker Join Denzel's 'Great Debaters'

Kimberly Elise and Nate Parker have joined "The Great Debaters," Denzel Washington's period tale for the Weinstein Co. now lensing in Louisiana.

Elise (TV's "Close to Home") plays the wife of Forest Whitaker in the pic, about an East Texas debate team that challenges Harvard in the 1930s, and Parker plays their son, the star debater on the team. Washington is directing and plays the coach