For quite a long time, Janis Joplin has been the holy grail of rock biopic, with numerous attempts to take on the story of the troubled singer stymied by financing problems and an inability to get the rights to the songs. For example, in 2004 Pink was widely reported to be in line to play the singer in a movie directed by Penelope Spheeris, while a rival biopic starring Renee Zellweger was also in the works, but neither actually happened. Now it looks like there’s a new Joplin project in the works, although whether it’ll actually make it to the screen isn’t yet clear.
In an interview with FearNet, Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey casually mentioned that one of the films he’s working on is a “Fernando Meirelles Janis Joplin movie with Amy Adams playing Janis Joplin.” Not much was made of it at the time, but now Deadline has stepped forward to say they’ve managed to confirm that Adams is indeed signed on for the role, with City Of God’s Fernando Meirelles behind the camera, although ‘There’s no studio involved yet, and the script has been through several drafts.’ Moviehole meanwhile reports that Adams is coming in to replace Zooey Deschanel, who apparently wasn’t a big enough name to get the movie funded, and that the film is tenetatively titled, Janis Joplin: get It While You Can.
However, seeing as Adams is 36 and Joplin died of a drug overdose aged 27, you’d think there might be an age problem, but then actresses always like to play young and Adams is still very fresh-faced. They’d better get moving soon though or Adams really will be too old for the role.