Jussie Smollett debuts as director with B-Boy Blues, adaptation of James Earl Hardy's novel

Jussie Smollet is making his debut as a director with B-Boy Blues, an adaptation of James Earl Hardy’s bestselling 1994 novel. The film is being produced by the actor’s newly launched production house SuperMassive Movies. According to a report by Deadline, B-Boy Blues follows the relationship that develops between 27-year-old journalist Mitchell Crawford and Raheim Rivers, a 21-year old bicycle messenger and B-boy (banjee boy). The two meet in a gay bar in Greenwich Village in 1993. Raheim is the third B-boy in Mitchell’s life and even though he seems cool and menacing, he is actually a loving parent to a five-year-old son. The film goes into production in New York City on 17 October and will see Smollet as a producer alongside Hardy, Wilson, Frank Gatson, Sampson McCormick, and Madia Hill Scott. Smollett is best known for his role as Jamal Lyon in Fox’s Empire, which brought the actor the NAACP Image award in the best supporting actor category. While B-Boy Blues will be Smollett’s first time directing a feature film, he has already directed two episodes of Empire. The actor has had a few controversial episodes in his career, including where he reported an alleged hate crime in 2019, the validity of which was later questioned by Chicago Police. In a September court hearing, Smollett and his team filed to have the charges dropped, a request that was denied by the judge. The actor was dropped from the cast of Empire following the scandal.