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Queen Latifah Sings The Blues In Stunning Trailer For HBO's "Bessie"

HBO has released its first full trailer for Bessie, the upcoming biopic about legendary blues singer Bessie Smith starring Academy Award winner Queen Latifah.

The trailer also shows off Mo'Nique's fiery performance as fellow blues legend Ma Rainey and Michael Kenneth Williams as Bessie's bodyguard-turned-husband Jack Gee. Other cast members include Khandi Alexander, Mike Epps, and Oliver Platt.

Related: First Look at Queen Latifah as Queer Jazz Icon Bessie Smith

Latifah has been silent about her orientation but Smith, a.k.a. the Empress of the Blues, was fairly open about being bisexual.

Directed by Dee Rees—whose 2012 film Pariah is a new queer classic—Bessie chronicles the singer's tumultous love life, her battles with addiction, her meteoric rise and untimely death in 1937 at age 43.

Check out the trailer below. 

Bessie premieres on May 16.

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