Jussie Smollett announces directorial film debut amid legal battle

Actor is set to adapt James Earl Hardy’s ‘B-Boy Blues’

Jussie Smollett appears in court in February, 2020 (Getty)

Jussie Smollett is set to make his directorial feature film debut with a forthcoming adaptation of James Earl Hardy’s B-Boy Blues.

The news comes as Smollett continues to face legal charges over allegations that he staged a hate crime against himself in 2019.

Last month, Smollett and his legal team requested that the charges - to which he pleaded not guilty - be dropped, but the request was turned down by a judge.

B-Boy Blues is set to begin production on 17 October in New York City.

Hardy’s novel, published in 1994, tells the story of a love affair between a journalist and a bike messenger, both of whom are black men.

Smollett, who was a regular on the Fox musical drama Empire before leaving the show in early 2019, has previously directed two episodes of the series, along with several music videos.

In January 2019, Smollett reported an alleged attack in Chicago, claiming that two men wearing masks had assaulted him and placed a noose around his neck.

He was initially charged with disorderly conduct when it was alleged that he had staged the incident himself. These charges were soon dropped.

However, in February of this year, Smollett was handed new charges, which amounted to six counts of filing false police reports.

He has always denied the charges and, in September, appeared in an Instagram Live video in which he maintained his innocence.