Naomi Watts to Star in AIDS Drama 'We Are All the Same'

When I was in high school, my class was visited by two small, wonderful and totally adorable young kids -- both of whom were HIV positive. Every once in a while I wonder what happened to them, since over a decade has passed -- you hope for the best, but know that it is likely the worst. I'm sure they'll pop up in my mind much more in the next little while considering the new film that is in the works. Naomi Watts has just signed on to star in an adaptation of We Are All the Same a book by Nightline correspondent Jim Wooten.

The book details a South African boy's struggle with AIDS, and the failures of South African leaders in regards to the AIDS epidemic. Nkosi was infected by his mother, who did everything she could to make sure he would be provided for upon her death. At 3, he was adopted by a white South African named Gail Johnson. Before he died at the age of 12, she struggled to get him enrolled in public school and the pair traveled across the world to garner support for an organization in his name -- Nkosi's Haven. The adaptation is being penned by Keir Pearson, who co-wrote Hotel Rwanda with Terry George. One of the project's producers, Scott Nemes says: "It's one of those passion projects that you hope you become involved in." It'll be a nice change of pace from Watts' usual thriller fare -- the next of which is David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises.