First Look At Singer Andra Day In Lee Daniels’ ‘The United States Vs. Billie Holiday’
Both Vanity Fair and Essence have posted photos to Lee Daniels’s upcoming film ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday,’ starring singer Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund & Natasha Lyonne. Paramount Pictures will release the film on February 12, 2021
The pic follows Holiday (played by multi Grammy and NAACP nominee singer-songwriter Andra Day) during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, with whom she had a tumultuous affair. The pic will intimately examine Holiday’s struggles with addiction, fame and heartbreaking love.
Suzan-Lori Parks wrote the script. Parks was the first African-American woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for her play Topdog/Underdog.
Holiday, also known as “Lady Day,” was a legendary jazz singer whose career spanned three decades before her passing in 1959. Her iconic performing style has influenced and inspired artists and jazz musicians for years to come.
Diana Ross famously played Holiday in 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues, where the film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Actress in a Leading Role. It was followed by a 1986 Broadway play, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”Audra McDonald won her record-breaking sixth Tony Award for the 2014 Broadway production.
Daniels hasn’t directed a film since the box office hit “The Butler,” instead putting most of his focus on his hit TV shows “Empire” and “Star.” Both show are now cancelled. Daniels is a two-time Oscar nominee in the Best Director and Best Picture category for Precious. He was also the first African American to receive a Director’s Guild of America Nomination for Best Director for Precious.
