Variety says Lee Daniels will direct Push, an independently financed adaptation of the bestselling novel by Sapphire (Ramona Lofton). Rocker Lenny Kravitz will make his feature-starring debut alongside Mo’nique, Paula Patton and newcomer Gabourey “Gabbie” Sidibe.
The Geoffrey Fletcher-scripted film is a co-production of Lee Daniels Entertainment and Smokewood Entertainment Group, with the latter financing. Production is just getting under way in New York.
The story concerns Clareece “Precious” Jones, an overweight, illiterate African-American teen in Harlem. Just as she’s about to give birth to her second child, Jones is accepted into an alternative school where a teacher (Patton) helps her find an alternative path in her life. Mo’nique plays the girl’s mother and Kravitz plays a nurse who shows kindness to Jones.
