Zooey Deschanel will replace Pink in "The Gospel According to Janis," the Penelope Spheeris-directed Janis Joplin biopic set to start lensing November 13th in Philadelphia reports Variety.

Spheeris wrote the script with David Dalton. Producer Peter Newman said the script was overhauled considerably from past versions, and the turning point was co-writer Dalton.

Once assigned by Rolling Stone to write a cover story that was going to compare the troubled Joplin to Judy Garland, Dalton accompanied the singer on a long tour. His adventure has become the central plot of the film, and an actor soon will be cast to play him.

The start date puts this $10 million drama into production before its Lakeshore-based rival. Renee Zellweger is set to star in that film, though that project has been put into turnaround by Paramount.

Deschanel ("Elf") spent the past four months working with a vocal coach to hone her pipes to approximate Joplin's gritty vocals. Newman said Deschanel will sing all of Joplin's tunes.