In the wake of “A Complete Unknown,” who’s the next iconic musician to get the biopic treatment? Deadline reports that it may be Mamas & the Papas singer Cass Elliot, and an up-and-coming UK actress will play her.
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“Baby Reindeer” star Jessica Gunning is on board to play Elliot in a feature adaptation of “My Mama Cass,” the bestselling memoir by Elliot’s daughter Owen Elliot-Kugell, at Veritas Entertainment. Emma Forrest adapts the screenplay, with Peter Jaysen and Alan Gasmer on board to produce. Veritas is still searching for a director to helm the project.
Here’s a nice blurb by Deadline detailing “My Mama Cass”: “My Mama Cass” is billed as a definitive film on Cass Elliot, centered on her life, legacy, and the mother-daughter bond that shaped them both, rather than a traditional biopic on the Mamas & the Papas member. It’ll explore how, in a musical landscape that was not short on iconoclasts, Elliot was a trailblazer. But her true power was that she took things the world didn’t want to give her…a gifted, outspoken singer who refused to be defined by her weight or the men around her, forging a singular career and choosing motherhood on her own terms at a time when the culture wasn’t ready for any of it. The film also highlights Owen’s journey to unravel the truth surrounding her mother’s untimely death — finally laying to rest a long-standing urban legend of how she tragically died at the age of 32.
Elliot will be Gunning’s biggest role to date after “Baby Reindeer,” the Netflix limited series that earned the actress an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award. But this biopic isn’t the only thing Elliott has in the pipeline. There’s also “Sunny Dancer,” premiering at the Berlinale, a dramedy that stars her, James Norton, Bella Ramsey, and Neil Patrick Harris. Elliott is also part of the ensemble cast of Steven Soderbergh‘s “The Christophers,” which finally fits theaters in April courtesy of NEON.
As for Veritas, “My Mama Cass” is one of several projects they have in development. Others include a “Pacific Blue” reboot, “The Nanny” at TNT, and “Liar, Dreamer, Thief” for Crave. Meanwhile, Gasmer and Jaysen have multiple projects in the works with Netflix and other major studios, including a “Cannonball Run” remake.
Stay tuned for more details on “My Mama Cass” as they arrive, like who will direct the biopic, and what studio it lands at.
