Grammy and Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Billie Eilish is in advanced talks to make her acting movie debut in an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s famed novel “The Bell Jar”, which Focus Features is closing a deal to distribute.
Joy Gorman Wettels (“Little House on the Prairie,” “13 Reasons Why”), Plan B Entertainment, and StudioCanal are producing the project, which will be directed by Oscar winner Sarah Polley (“Women Talking,” “Away from Her”).
Polley is also penning the script based on Plath’s only novel. Published in 1963, the semi-autobiographical work charts a young woman’s descent into mental illness and the burden of societal pressures.
The book conveyed Plath’s own experiences with depression, the author committing suicide just a month after the novel’s first UK publication.
Eilish, the only Oscar winner born in the 21st Century, will reportedly play lead character Esther Greenwood, and there are no plans for her to contribute music to the film at this time.
Various actresses have been attached to failed attempts to adapt the book in the past, including Julia Stiles in 2007, Dakota Fanning in 2017, and a Showtime series with Frankie Shaw in 2019 – none of them made it to screen.
Source: Deadline
