Birds of Prey star Jurnee Smollett lands lead role with Jamie Foxx

Birds of Prey star Jurnee Smollett has landed her next lead role alongside Jamie Foxx in a courtroom drama from Amazon, Variety has reported.

Titled The Burial, the film follows a bankrupt funeral home owner who sues a rival businessman over a deal gone wrong, hiring a flamboyant attorney (Foxx) to handle the case.

Smollett will play the opposing counsel, defending the rival businessman, and Tommy Lee Jones will also be starring in the film, which is being directed by Maggie Betts.

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It is based on a true story, inspired by an article written by Jonathan Harr in The New Yorker.

Smollett is best known for playing Black Canary in Birds of Prey starring Margot Robbie, and will be reprising the character in a spin-off film from HBO Max, solely focused on Black Canary. She previously said that she was keen to return to the DC Extended Universe in the role: "It's no secret how much I loved playing Black Canary, and (I was) so honoured to take on that mantle. I would absolutely do it again if given a chance."

She was nominated for an Emmy for playing Leti Lewis on HBO's Lovecraft Country, and has also appeared in Parenthood, Underground and True Blood.

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Though The Burial is Smollett's next lead role, we won't have to wait too long to see her on the big screen again, as she will be acting in Escape From Spiderhead alongside Marvel's Chris Hemsworth for Netflix, which is in post-production now. She will also being starring in Netflix's Lou, which she will be executive producing too, with Allison Janney and Logan Marshall-Green.

Foxx meanwhile has had a long and prolific career before landing this role in The Burial. He has appeared in Dreamgirls, Horrible Bosses, Django Unchained, White House Down, Baby Driver, Soul and will be appearing in December's release of Spider-Man: No Way Home.