Michelle Williams will reunite with Todd Haynes for the Peggy Lee Biopic
The long-running biopic of beloved jazz singer Peggy Lee is finally gaining ground as Golden Globe winner Michelle Williams (Fosse / Verdon) has pledged to play the central role and to work with director Todd Haynes (Dark water), according to the deadline.
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The film began development at 20th Century Fox over a decade ago with three-time Oscar nominee Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle) a draft before her death in 2012 and Reese Witherspoon (Little fires everywhere), although the studio put the film on hold after Ephron’s death. Witherspoon later left the project, and with the merger of Disney and Fox that resulted in the latter studio’s banner disguise in the 20th century, the project was abandoned, although sources report MGM is currently in talks to acquire the film. It is currently unclear whether the original script will still be used by Ephron or whether a new writer will be brought in to improve the script or start over.
fever is being produced by Marc Platt, Witherspoon and Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon through their Killer Films banner, while five-time Grammy winner Billie Eilish is currently negotiating to serve as executive producer with her mother Maggie Baird and record label partner Justin Lubliner . Eilish recently attended a celebration of Lee’s life and career in May 2020 and has often cited the late singer as one of the main inspirations for her music.
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The project marks the third time Haynes and Williams have worked on the project Poison Actress who previously starred in Haynes’ Bob Dylan biopic I am not there as a character modeled on Edie Sedgwick and his 2017 mystery drama Wonderful.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
