QUEEN LATIFAH TO PLAY BI-SEXUAL BLUES SINGER

So we know this role won't be a stretch...Queen Latifah signs on to play notoriously bi-sexual blues singer Bessie Smith in a new bio-pic…

According to Deadline HBO just green lit a project from Queen Latifah's Flava Unit based on blues icon Bessie Smith.

Speculation over Smith's sexuality was frequent gossip column fodder in the 1920s and 30s. 

 Legendary blues singer Bessie Smith is buried near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 4, 1937. Some 7,000 mourners attended her funeral. 

Smith had been killed a few days before when the old Packard she was driving hit a parked truck near Coahoma, Mississippi, between Clarksdale and Memphis. There is no record of Smith's exact birth date, but she was about 43 years old.

The untitled film will be written and directed by Dee Rees, the filmmaker behind 2010 indie darling 'Pariah.'