Billie Eilish is set to make her movie acting debut in an adaptation of The Bell Jar.
The Oscar-winning singer-songwriter will reportedly be stepping in front of the camera playing the lead role of Esther Greenwood in a big screen version of Sylvia Plath's classic 1963 novel, with Deadline reporting she is in advance talks for the role.
Women Talking director Sarah Polley is attached to helm the movie from her own script, which Focus Features are closing a deal to back and distribute in the US.
Joy Gorman Wettels originated the movie through her Joy Coalition outfit, and will produce alongside Plan B Entertainment and StudioCanal.
The Bell Jar was Plath's only novel and is a semi-autobiographical work about a young woman's struggles with mental illness, based on the author's own experiences with depression. The book has been translated into more than 40 languages over the years but Plath tragically took her own life just a month after it was first published in the UK.
Larry Peerce previously directed an adaptation of the book in 1979, which starrred Marilyn Hassett and Julie Harris, and other versions have previously been in the works but not come to fruition.
Julia Stiles was set to play Esther in a 2007 take on The Bell Jar, and a decade later, Kirsten Dunst was attached to direct a version with Dakota Fanning in the lead role, but neither project progressed.
And it was reported in 2019 that Showtime were developing a Bell Jar TV series with Frankie Shaw, but that was also abandoned.
Billie is no stranger to the movie world thanks to her soundtracks, and not only is she the only Oscar winner born in the 21st century, but she became the youngest two-time Academy Award winner in 2024 at the age of 2024 when she scooped her second Best Original Song accolade for What Was I Made For? from the Barbie film. In 2022, she bagged the same honour for the title track from Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond, No Time To Die.
Meanwhile, Billie previously admitted she thinks being a woman is "hard".
Answering questions from other celebrities for Britain's Vogue magazine, the bad guy hitmaker made her admission when Nicki Minaj asked: "This may be an odd question, but you seem to be a bit uncomfortable with how beautiful you are at times. I could be wrong. Many women from all walks of life have felt that their work was overshadowed by their beauty or their physical attributes.
"Was there ever a time in your career, or before you made it, when you wished people couldn’t see you and that they could only hear the music, and really get a chance to just listen to the written words?"
Billie said: "Nicki, this question made me tear up a little.
"Well … like you said at the beginning of that question, I’ve never really felt very beautiful or seen myself in that way, so I definitely never struggled with the idea that it would overshadow anything since I didn’t even really see it myself.
"I’ve had to really convince myself that I am beautiful.
"Being a woman is hard."
