So where has Dee Rees been since her breakout film, the touching and insightful award-winner, Pariah? She's been plenty busy lining up various projects but nothing that has really gotten moving yet, and in general she's been out of the spotlight the past three years. But that is about to change as she'll be directing Queen Latifah in one of the actress' passion projects.
Latifah has been trying to get a biopic on blues legend Bessie Smith off the ground for years, and now it's moving fast with Rees coming on to direct. Titled Blue Goose Hollow, the film will chronicle Smith's career which began in 1912, working alongside "The Mother of the Blues" Ma Rainey, eventually going off on her own and becoming the most successful black artist of her time. She made more than 160 recordings and was one of the biggest influences on the jazz era, but her career was cut short by alcoholism and the Great Depression. She died in a car accident under disputed circumstances in 1937.HBO is listed as one of the producers so it's possible this will hit the network rather than going to the big screen. Filming is set to begin this summer after casting, including someone for the role of Rainey, has been completed. Rees has plenty on her plate already with another HBO series starring Viola Davis, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Martian Time-Slip, crime-thriller Bolo, and indie love story This Man, This Woman. [Shadow and Act]
