Several weeks ago we told you about the new Dee Rees’ Bessie Smith biopic film was coming which was set to star Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique.
This morning, we discovered the news that the film also added Mike Epps in another dramatic role!
Along with Epps, our sources tell us that Charles S Dutton has landed in the film with Tika Sumpter (of Ride Along, The Have’s And Have Nots fame) and also includes Khandi Alexander.
Mo’Nique will be playing Ma Rainey “Mother Of The Blues.” and and Alexander will be playing Bessie Smith’s older sister, Viola. Dutton will play William “Pa” Rainey, husband to Ma Rainey; Epps will be Richard Morgan, a Bessie Smith romantic interest; and Sumpter will play Lucille, a singer in Bessie’s troupe.
The film is slated to be titled Blue Goose Hollow (the area in Chattanooga, Tennessee where she was born and raised), and according to several sources will be a biography of Bessie Smith, considered by many to be the greatest blues singer of all time.
HBO, The Zanuck Company, Shelby Stone Productions and Latifah’s Flavor Unit Entertainment are all producers of the project, which is set to start in June 2014 in Atlanta.
