Sarah Polley is adapting The Bell Jar and it sounds like Billie Eilish will be in it
If talks are successful, the role would mark the ten-time Grammy winner’s film debut
National treasure Sarah Polley is currently at work on an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, and it’s been reported that she has an actor in mind to bring the harrowing 1963 semi-autobiographical novel to the screen.
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Per Deadline, Billie Eilish is in talks with Polley about a role in the film.
Eilish would play Esther Greenwood, the novel’s protagonist, an ambitious English major whose mental health deteriorates alongside an examination of societal expectations of women in the 1950s.
“The material feels like a good fit for dark pop queen Eilish, known for her soulful and introspective lyrics and songs. No plans at this stage for Eilish to contribute music to the project, but that could be nice if it came to pass,” said Deadline‘s story.
Polley won an Academy Award for 2022’s Women Talking, and Eilish has two Oscars of her own, for songs she contributed to the Barbie and No Time to Die soundtracks.
If confirmed, the film would mark Eilish’s movie-acting debut.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
