Here we go again. For decades the movie world has been trying to make a biopic about Janis Joplin, but time and time again they’ve failed. Now Martha Marcy May Marlene director Sean Durkin is having a go, planning a sub $20-million indie pic about the last six years of Joplin’s life, with flashbacks to her earlier days.
Durkin has already found his star, Nina Arianda, who recently won Best Actress at the Tony Awards for her performance in the show Venus In Fur and has appeared in movies such as Win Win, Midnight in Paris, and Tower Heist.
What sets this attempt at a Joplin biopic apart from most others is that producer Peter Newman has spent 12 years putting it together, and gathering the rights to 21 of Joplin’s best known songs, something that has stymied most previously planned films about the singer. Arianda will sing Joplin’s tunes as well as starring as the young singer who found success but then descended into drink and drugs, dying of a heroin overdose at the age of 27.
The plan is to start shooting the film early next year. (Source: Deadline)