Michelle Williams ‘to play jazz singer Peggy Lee in upcoming biopic Fever… with Billie Eilish in talks to executive produce the film’
Michelle Williams will reportedly be playing the late jazz singer Peggy Lee in the upcoming biopic Fever, with Billie Eilish in talks to executive produce the film.
Lee will be the subject of a biopic set to be directed by Todd Haynes, with a script being written by Doug Wright, according to Variety.
Producers of the film include Reese Witherspoon, La La Land producer Marc Platt, and potentially Eilish, reports the website.
Hitting a high note! Michelle Williams will reportedly be playing the late jazz singer Peggy Lee in the upcoming biopic Fever, with Billie Eilish in talks to executive produce the film (pictured January 2020)
The singing sensation, her mother Maggie Baird, and the CEO of her Darkroom label, Justin Lubliner, are all in ‘early discussions’ to possibly executive produce the film.
Interestingly, Haynes was also set to direct Fever in 2014 with a script written by the late screenwriter, Nora Ephron, according to Variety.
Witherspoon, who is now producing Fever, was set to star in the film.
A fan of the late jazz singer, Eilish has previously described being influenced by Lee’s music.
Big fan: Eilish, who is also a fan of Lee, is in talks to join the film as an executive producer
Music icon: Known for her cool, breathy voice, Lee famously sang the songs Is There All There Is?, Fever, and The Way You Look Tonight
‘I used to listen to tons of old music — Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Etta James, Johnny Mathis and people like that — where all the songs had a perfect songwriting structure,’ she told Variety in 2019.
Eilish was even among several stars marking the singer’s 100th birthday with a discussion at the Grammy Museum last year.
Known for her sultry voice, Lee famously sang the songs Is There All There Is?, Fever, and The Way You Look Tonight.
Heavy hitters: She was considered in the same league as fellow singing sensations Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald
She was considered in the same league as fellow singing sensations Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
She received a Grammy for best contemporary female vocal performance for Is That All There Is? in 1969.
Some of her most famous recordings include Why Don’t You Do Right?, I’m a Woman, Lover, Pass Me By, Where or When, I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ and Big Spender.
She died at age 81 from a heart attack in 2002.
Eyes on Hollywood: The singing sensation, her mother Maggie Baird, and the CEO of her Darkroom label, Justin Lubliner, are all in ‘early discussions’ to possibly executive produce the film (pictured 2020)