Lee Daniels will direct the independently financed adaptation of Ramona 'Sapphire' Lofton's "Push" for Lee Daniels Entertainment and Smokewood Entertainment Group says Variety.

Rocker Lenny Kravitz will make his feature-starring debut alongside Mo'nique, Paula Patton and Gabourey "Gabbie" Sidibe.

The Geoffrey Fletcher-scripted story concerns Clareece "Precious" Jones (Sidibe), 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. Production is just getting under way in New York.