With “The Butler” ruling the box office, director Lee Daniels says he’ll focus on another historical figure for his next bigscreen venture.
Amy Adams will play ill-fated rock star Janis Joplin in Daniels’ currently untitled biopic, a project which has been in various stages of development for a decade.
“This is my next project for sure,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, adding “I had no idea Janis Joplin was so smart – intellectual, even. Look, some of the smartest people in the world have been drug addicts.”
Joplin fronted the seminal late ’60s San Francisco blues-rok act Big Brother and the Holding Company, before branching out into a short-lived but endlessly influential solo career. She dies of a drug overdose at age 27.
A Hollywood biopic has been long in the making (as memorably spoofed on NBC’s “30 Rock”), with various versions in development over the last ten years or so. Stars as varied as Zooey Deschanel, P!nk, Renée Zellweger and the late Brittany Murphy have all rumored to be playing Joplin. At one point, Fernando Meirelles (“City Of God”) was said to be directing a film version.
Adams was announced to be playing Joplin in 2010. Daniels seems convinced she’s the right choice to pal the part. “Guess what? She can sing her ass off!,” he exclaimed, likely forgetting Adams’ vocal turn in “Enchanted.”
Daniels’ future plans don’t end with the Joplin story however. “After Joplin, I’m hoping to get ‘Miss Saigon’ off the ground,” he revealed. “And then — I want to make a horror movie!”