Maggie Gyllenhaal has joined the steadily growing cast of White House Down for Sony Pictures and director Roland Emmerich.

The story centers on a paramilitary group that takes everyone in the White House hostage. Jamie Foxx is in talks to play the President of the United States, while Channing Tatum is portraying a Secret Service agent who tries to stop the takeover. Maggie Gyllenhaal will play another Secret Service agent, assigned to protect the President.

Roland Emmerich is directing from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man). Bradley Fisher, Harald Kloser, and Laeta Kalogridis are producing. Channing Tatum's partner Reid Carolin will serve as executive producer.

No production schedule was released. Sony paid $3 million for James Vanderbilt's spec script, the biggest screenplay sale of the year so far.