The artistic sensibilities of filmmaker Todd Haynes and Michelle Williams seem perfectly matched. And the collaborations have happened—the two previously partnered on “I’m Not Here,” and “Wonderstruck,” but these were all minor supporting parts. That’s now changing as Haynes and Williams are getting together for her first lead role in one of his movies—the long-in-development biopic of popular American singer Peggy Lee called, “Fever,” which Haynes had hoped to make years ago with Reese Witherspoon in the lead spot.
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What’s more, there’s a big support staff around it that almost ensures that it gets made. The artist-friendly MGM is in talks to back the film, Marc Platt, Witherspoon, and Killer Films’ Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon are producing. What’s more, singer Billie Eilish and her label Darkroom label are also in early discussions about possibly coming aboard the film as executive producers. The connection? Eilish is a big Peggy Lee fan and told Variety in 2019 that she was an inspiration. “I used to listen to tons of old music — Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Etta James, Johnny Mathis, and people like that,” she said. Where all the songs had a perfect songwriting structure.”
Doug Wright (“Quills”) is writing the screenplay. Back in the early part of the last decade, Reese Witherspoon came close to starring in the picture with Fox 2000 producing and Nora Ephron on board as a writer and Haynes as director. Ephron completed a first draft, but then passed away in 2012, and the project was put on hold. Things got dicier when Fox 2000 was dissolved in the Disney acquisition, but apparently, the entire affair got new legs when Williams was enticed into starring in the role recently. Evidently, Haynes never gave up on the project.
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“Fever” will eventually release in the U.S. via MGM’s distribution and a marketing joint venture United Artists Releasing. “Fever” will be the second film under the recently announced MGM / Killer Films’ first-look film deal after Billy Porter’s “What If?” [Deadline]