After winning an Academy Award for playing June Carter Cash in WALK THE LINE, Reese Witherspoon has failed to live up to what that award represents. She has Jean-Marc Vallée’s WILD coming this December which could be her ticket back to the A-list, but maybe playing another iconic musician could do it as well. After working on a biopic about Peggy Lee for years with Nora Ephron, that project stalled after the death of the writer-director. But, now it seems to be back on track.
Witherspoon revealed at the Toronto International Film Festival that director Todd Haynes is now involved with the Peggy Lee biopic but did not go into how far along the project is. Haynes recently garnered acclaim for the HBO mini-series MILDRED PIERCE starring Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood, but he has also made movies about musicians before. Haynes helmed the unique Bob Dylan film I’M NOT THERE as well as the disco era film VELVET GOLDMINE with Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale.
Peggy Lee‘s story is not without strife as she broke through the idea that she would be a housewife and mother to go on and become a multiple award-winning singer and songwriter. The character is a good fit for Witherspoon who showed a lot of fire as Johnny Cash’s wife in WALK THE LINE. While I personally think the characters skew very similarly to one another, I would not be opposed to seeing the actress do another strong performance in her wheelhouse.
Once there is more official development on the biopic, we will let you know.