Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey starring in Six Triple Eight

Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey have been cast in Tyler Perry's film 'Six Triple Eight'.

Washington will also executive produce the Netflix movie that tells the true story of the only all-black, all-female World War II battalion that proved crucial to the American war effort.

'Six Triple Eight' tells the story of the 855 women who joined the war effort with little knowledge of their Herculean task, which was to sort through and fix the three-year backlog of undelivered mail.

Facing discrimination, unfamiliar land and a war-torn country they succeeded – in record time – in sorting more than 17 million pieces of mail. Their efforts allowed American soldiers to reconnect with their families and loved ones back home.

Perry is adapting the screenplay from Kevin M. Hymel's article about the battalion that was published in WWII History Magazine.

The ensemble cast for the movie includes Ebony Obsidan, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga and Jay Reeves.

Jeante Godlock, Moriah Brown, Baadja-Lyne Odums, Gregg Sulkin, Dean Norris and Susan Sarandon are also set to star.

Little had been documented about the 6888th Postal Directory Battalion. But in March 2022, President Joe Biden signed the bill for the women to receive the Congressional Gold Medal – the highest honour from Congress.

Tyler previously directed the movie 'A Jazzman's Blues' and explained that the movie made him fall in love with filmmaking.

Asked what he learned as a director on the project, he said: "It taught me that I love it.

"I'd always seen making movies as work. But the feeling that I got every day on set was that I love this. Directing, for me, was all about the necessity of just because I wanted to tell the stories. But this one made me sit in. And I was in so much joy every day."