As his appeal for his 2021 disorderly conduct conviction after he was accused of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019, and lying to Chicago police about it, is being reviewed by the Illinois Supreme Court, Jussie Smollett has returned to the big screen in The Lost Holliday, which he stars in, directed, co-wrote and produced.

The film, which was released in select AMC theaters on Sept. 27, sees the Empire alum starring as Jason Holliday, one half of a married couple, whose husband, Damien Holliday (Jabari Redd) dies suddenly. As Jason is dealing with that loss, he also meets Damien’s estranged mother, Cassandra (Vivica A. Fox), who is surprised to learn that her son was married.

Ahead of an advance screening in Harlem last month, Smollett, Fox and the film’s actors and producers, seemed ready to move on from the legal issues that have plagued Smollett since he claimed he was attacked in early 2019.

Smollett called the past nearly six years, during which he was arrested and saw the charges against him dropped and refiled before he was found guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct, “trying” and “difficult.” But he said that he has continued to express himself creatively during this troubled time.

“I never stopped doing what I loved. I know that from an outsider, looking in, it seems like I took a long pause, but I never stopped. I was always recording; I was always writing; I was always directing something; things that have not come out; things that have come out,” Smollett told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was always creating things.”

And Smollett, who made his feature directorial debut with 2021’s B-Boy Blues, said going forward he wants to continue to act, direct, write, produce and make music.

“I want to fully jump in, in all of the elements,” Smollett added. “I don’t feel like I have to act in every film; I don’t feel like I have to direct every film, but I know that I’ll have some creative input, if you will, in everything I do.”

At the screening, Fox and producer Tressa Azarel Smallwood said they didn’t hesitate to work with Smollett despite his recent legal woes.

Fox, who has known Smollett since he was a child and was directed by him on Empire, was quick to sign on once Smollett asked her to get involved.

“When he gave me a call and said, ‘Vivica, I need you.’ I said, ‘Let me know when you’re ready to go.’ You never turn your back on family,” Fox, who also executive produced The Lost Holliday, told THR. “I’ve known him since he was 8 years old, and I know his heart.”

Smallwood, who was contacted by fellow producer Mona Scott-Young, who worked with Smollett on B-Boy Blues, said of working with Smollett, “I feel like everybody deserves a second chance. We’re in this society where everybody wants to cancel you, just throw you away instead of really listening to the person. And he has to work just like everybody else. I think he has spoken his piece. He has stood by what he has always said. Sometimes you’ve got to wrap your arms around people and give them a second chance. That’s what we do as women, as nurturers.”

Both Smallwood and Scott-Young spoke about being impressed by the script.

“I literally cried,” Smallwood said of her reaction to the script, noting that she reads a lot of screenplays. “I laughed; I knew I had to seek forgiveness for the things that I had been doing wrong and people where I needed to say, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry.’ It just gave me a whirlwind of emotions.”

But, it took a while to get the story right, with Smollett telling THR that the more-than-10-year journey to the big screen, eight of which were spent in development, was a “joyous task.”

Amid AMC’s theatrical partnership, Scott-Young expressed hope that word of mouth will allow for wider distribution.

“We would love to see it released across all theater groups. AMC was phenomenal about partnering with us and giving us the opportunity to put this project on the big screen,” she told THR. “We’re very grateful. We hope that we gain momentum and that people seeing the movie, loving the movie, talking about the movie allows us to get into more theaters.”