Jussie Smollett Making Feature Directorial Debut With ‘B-Boy Blues’ Adaptation

Deadline is reporting that Jussie Smollett ("Empire”) will make his feature directorial debut with B-Boy Blues, an adaptation of James Earl Hardy’s best-selling 1994 book and will produce through his newly launched SuperMassive Movies.

B-Boy Blues follows the tumultuous relationship between Mitchell Crawford, a 27-year old journalist, and Raheim Rivers, a 21-year old bicycle messenger and B-boy (banjee boy). They meet in a gay bar in Greenwich Village in the summer of 1993. The B-boy hangs out on street corners, cool and menacing. Raheim is the third B-boy in Mitchell’s life, but underneath the former’s tough exterior, Raheim is smart and talented and a loving parent to his five-year-old son. But Raheim has a violent streak. B-Boy Blues spawned a series that has sold millions worldwide and remains a staple within the black LGBTQ+/Same Gender Loving community.

The film goes into production in New York City on Oct. 17. SuperMassive Movies, is a subsidiary of Jussie Smollett’s already-formed Story Worthy Pictures banner. The film as well as SuperMassive is financed by Cleveland based Radio Broadcast investor, Tom Wilson, with the production label funding independent, micro-budgeted projects from LGBTQ+, women and filmmakers of color. Smollett will also serve as a producer alongside Hardy, Wilson, Frank Gatson, Sampson McCormick and Madia Hill Scott. 

Smollett is a 5x NACCP Image Award winner including a win for Best Supporting Actor on Empire, and he’s a Daytime Emmy nominated producer of the digital drama series Giants. Smollett previously directed two episodes of Empire, “What Is Done” and “Fair Terms”.