Michelle Williams has been cast as Peggy Lee in an upcoming biopic The Hollywood Reporter. Todd Haynes, who previously worked with Williams on the Bob Dylan centric I’m not here, is set to run the project.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Fever is based on a screenplay by Nora Ephron, but that the project was shelved after her death in 2012. Billboard reports that Billie Eilish is also in talks to join Fever as an executive producer. Peggy Lee established herself as a big band singer in the early 1940’s, writing nearly 300 songs and maintaining a prolific career as a songwriter and entertainer. Her many hits included ‘Fever’ and ‘Is That All There Is’. She died in 2002 at the age of 81.
In 2017 Deadline reported that Williams was cast as Janis Joplin in a biopic approved by the late singer’s estate. The film was licensed to use two dozen Joplin songs, but no further details of the release have been announced.