Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish will make her big-screen acting debut in an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar.
According to Deadline, the 24-year-old will take on the lead role of Sarah Polley, the writer-director who previously won an Oscar for her Women Talking screenplay. Eilish is reportedly in advanced talks for the role.
Eilish previously starred in the 2023 television series Swarm, co-created by Donald Glover.
“I used to say I hated acting,” Eilish said in her Saturday Night Live monologue. “But the truth is that when I was little I loved it! My mom and dad were actors. So is my brother Finneas. And my dream was to be in a movie.”
The film will be released by Focus Features in the US with other deals in the works.
The Bell Jar was Plath’s only novel, published a month before her suicide at the age of 30. It tells of a young writer dealing with mental illness in the 1950s. “It is a raw, haunting book with flashes of brilliance, a novel in code that is also a long, tormented footnote to Plath’s tormented poetry,” The Guardian’s Robert McCrum wrote in a 2015 list that named it the 85th best book of all time.
It was adapted to film in 1979 starring Marilyn Hassett but received negative reviews. Other attempts, with stars like Julia Stiles and Dakota Fanning attached, failed to materialize.
After winning the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for Women Talking, Polley was cast in a live-action remake of Bambi, but later left the project. Since then, he has written the script for the family drama & Sons.
Polley’s previous films as a director included relationship dramas Take This Waltz and Away From Here.
Eilish recently became the first artist to win the Grammy for song of the year three times. He also twice won the Oscar for Best Original Song for the soundtracks of No Time to Die and Barbie.
Also coming to theaters this year is Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft, a 3D concert documentary by James Cameron, whose release was recently delayed until May. “We’re refining the cut; incorporating cool new 3D technology; adding some behind-the-scenes specials that we know you’ll love,” Cameron wrote on social media.
