Michelle Williams becomes latest actress to front Janis Joplin project

11 Oct 2016 |

Brokeback Mountain star Michelle Williams is in talks to portray rocker Janis Joplin in a new movie.The actress is the latest name linked to director Sean Durkin's biopic, based on Love, Janis - the book written by Joplin's sister Laura, which chronicles the letters the singer sent to family and friends throughout her career.The film is one of many which Hollywood studio bosses have been trying to make about the Piece of My Heart singer for years, and Williams joins a list of actresses, including Renee Zellweger, Amy Adams, and Zooey Deschanel, who have been linked to the role of Janis.

At 36, Michelle is already nine years older than Joplin when she died from a heroin overdose in 1970, aged 27.If Williams signs on to play the rocker in the film, Janis won't be the first tragic star she has portrayed on the big screen - she played Marilyn Monroe in 2011's My Week With Marilyn. Both Marilyn and Janis died from drug overdoses, just like Michelle's former boyfriend and Brokeback Mountain co-star Heath Ledger, who lost his life in 2008, aged 28.Production on a Joplin biopic, which was set to star Amy Adams, stalled last year (15) after producers filed a lawsuit against the screenwriter over the script.Producers at LKL Productions and Silver Reel filed a complaint against writer/producer Ron Terry and his affiliated companies in March, 2015, accusing them of breaching their option agreement for Terry's script Get It While You Can.

The unnamed executives asked a Los Angeles judge to grant an injunction to stop the script from being introduced to competitors, and have also requested their option agreement be extended until the lawsuit is resolved.Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallee was tipped to make the film.