Director Lee Daniels’ next film could be a new biopic about the inimitable jazz singer Billie Holiday.
Daniels — who scored two Oscar nominations as producer and director of the 2009 Precious — is in talks to helm Billie, from a script by Suzan Lori-Parks, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for her 2001 drama Topdog/Underdog, for producers Joe Roth and Jeff Kirshenbaum, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Although no deals are in place, singer and songwriter Andra Day is being discussed for the title role, with Lakeith Stanfield under consideration for the male lead.
If the project, which is not set up at a studio yet, comes together, it won’t be the first time that Holliday, whose vocals have been featured in dozens of movies, has gotten the big-screen treatment. Her life story was also told in 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams.
Daniels, who is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment, also is the co-creator and executive producer of Fox’s Empire, which has just been renewed for its fifth season.
The news was first reported by Variety.
