The film focuses on Smith’s transformation from a struggling
young singer into “The Empress of the Blues,” who became one of the most
successful recording artists of the 1920s and is an enduring icon today.
Director and writer Dee Rees, of Pariah fame, says the film
will not shy away from Smith's sexuality.
She says the biopic will show the singer's strength of will and refusal to conform, telling the Daily Mail: “Bessie never walks around things. She just walks right through it.”
