FEATURE:
Both Sides, Now
IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell at the GRAMMYs on 1st February, 2026/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Winkelmeyer for The Recording Academy
Why I Am Especially Excited About An Announced Joni Mitchell Biopic
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THE music biopic…
IN THIS PHOTO: Meryl Streep at 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
is something notoriously hard to get right. I have written about this a lot before. The past couple of years has seen some triumphant performances and portrayals. Marisa Abela as the late Amy Winehouse in 2024’s Back to Black. In a year where we mark twenty years of her second and final studio album, Back to Black, this is a film I would encourage people to check out. Timothée Chalamett starred as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. He won an Academy Award nomination for his celebrated portrayal. Recently, Jeremy Allen White starred as Bruce Springsteen in last year’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. That was a great performance but the film received mixed reviews. Whilst the actors in music biopics often deliver great performance and sound/sing like the artists, making sure the story is balanced, open, honest and compelling can be very difficult. The Beatles films from Sam Mendes come out in 2028 and there have been photos released of the cast on set. Madonna I think is going to write (or co-write) and direct her biopic. Julia Garner was cast as her before the project was put on hold. It is now back in, and you hope that everything can come together, as this is the music biopic I want to see above all others. Although Joni Mitchell has been portrayed on the screen, there have not been recent examples. One of the greatest songwriters ever, one of her defining masterpieces, Blue, turns fifty in June. There has long been talk of a biopic. I think Taylor Swift was suggested at some point. However, as The Guardian we could be close to a biopic hitting the big screen:
“Meryl Streep is to play Joni Mitchell in a forthcoming biopic of the singer-songwriter directed by Cameron Crowe, according to record executive Clive Davis.
Davis confirmed the rumours surrounding the casting at his pre-Grammys party on Saturday, reports Rolling Stone. Last year, Anya Taylor-Joy was linked to the project in the role of the younger Mitchell, as was Streep’s Mamma Mia! co-star Amanda Seyfried.
Crowe, whose best-known film is the music drama Almost Famous, has been attached to the project for some years, and in 2023 said that he hoped for a release date before 2026. Speaking three years ago, Crowe explained that – unlike recent films based on brief periods in the life of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen – the film is not based on a biographical book about the star, but rather Mitchell’s own account of her life.
“It’s Joni’s life, not [seen] through anybody else’s prism,” he said. “It’s through her prism. It’s the characters who impacted her life that you know and a lot that you don’t know. And the music is so cinematic.”
Streep has previously received two Oscar nominations for playing real-life musicians: the violinist Roberta Guaspari in 1999’s Music of the Heart and the titular character in Florence Foster Jenkins, about the life of the amateur singer, in 2016”.
I do hope that both Anya Taylor-Joy and Amanda Seyfried will be in the film as the younger Joni Mitchell, as they are extraordinary actors. However, it does seem like Meryl Streep will be at the forefront. Usually, when we see music biopic of major artists, the story tends to be set in their earlier career. Young actors playing the artist. Maybe it is part of this long tradition where cinema-goers or filmmakers feel like this is what people want to see. That the younger years are the most interesting or worthy. I guess the greatest success usually comes when the artists are in their twenties or thirties.
IN THIS PHOTO: Amanda Seyfried/PHOTO CREDIT: Eddie Wrey for Vogue
However, for enduring legends like Joni Mitchell, you would like to see her played through the years. I wonder whether her early career will be shown in the film and an amazing actor like Amanda Seyfried will be cast. However, the fact Meryl Streep is named lead me to think that we may see a portrayal of Joni Mitchell around her slightly later career. Or even now. You do not often see music biopics where the artists’ later years are shown. It is very much about their peak or when they were young. I am a big fan of Mitchell. One might instantly think that the only interesting time of her career to focus on is her work in the 1960s and 1970s. However, in the modern day, she is someone who holds a lot of influence. A fascinating woman who has overcome some really hard times – in 2015, she ruptured brain aneurysm (a form of haemorrhagic stroke) that left her unable to walk or talk -, I think who she is now is as compelling and screen-worthy as any point of her career. One reason why a biopic is so needed is because I don’t think Joni Mitchell is discussed enough. Her impact and influence on modern artists. The brilliance of her work and albums/periods not often covered. Cameron Crowe has been working on the film idea and project for years. As Stylist report in their article, Joni Mitchell is very much involved with the biopic. You do feel like several actors will play her at different stages of her career:
“Who will star in the Joni Mitchell biopic?
The only confirmed cast member we know of so far is Meryl Streep, who will play the now-82-year-old singer-songwriter. The announcement was made by record producer Clive Davis during a recent pre-Grammys party, where Joni Mitchell herself was in attendance. Cameron Crowe, the film’s director, later confirmed the news in a statement to Rolling Stone. No stranger to taking on the roles of real-life figures, Streep has already portrayed the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Julia Child and Emmeline Pankhurst in the past, and her interest in playing Mitchell has been rumoured for some time.
Anya-Taylor Joy has reportedly been in talks to play Mitchell in her earlier years; however, that particular piece of casting is yet to be confirmed.
IN THIS PHOTO: Anya Taylor-Joy/PHOTO CREDIT: Nisha Johny and Jonathan Jacobs for British Vogue
What will happen in the Joni Mitchell biopic?
While we know the film will cover Mitchell’s life, it’s unclear what the focus will be. However, what we do know is that Crowe is a long-time friend of the musician and the pair have spent the last four years discussing what shape the film could take.
“We’ve been working on it for about four years,” Crowe said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in October 2025. “We have regular meetings where I can ask her anything, and she speaks with her heart about all kinds of stuff. It’s a movie that will be not from a distance… This is from her perspective, her life, looking out.”
It would appear that Mitchell is taking a hands-on approach to her involvement in the making of the film, meaning the project will no doubt have her full blessing. “This is a really personal, wonderful look at her life and music,” Crowe said.
He also revealed that Mitchell has kept all of her clothes, costumes and instruments from over the years, which, if used, will ensure the film has a truly authentic look”.
Of course, in a lot of cases, artists portrayed in music biopics had a brief career or did not continue into middle or older age. Obviously, that is not the case of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, and it would be good if more modern incarnations were brought to the screen, as there is this reliance on exploring these earlier years. Joni Mitchell is someone who has this decades-running career that cannot be distilled.
Of course, if you do keep things too narrow it might not capture everyone and it can be quite limiting and restrictive. If things are too broad and career-spanning, it can be a challenging fitting it all in and the pacing is off. It means you rush through things and it lacks the depth needed. One of the hardest types of film to nail, striking that balance is crucial. However, it seems like this is a passion project for Cameron Crowe. A friend of Joni Mitchell who will be working closely with her, casting one of the greatest actors ever means that the biopic will succeed in terms of the performance and box office. Many Meryl Streep fans going to see the film. She will ably be able to inhabit Joni Mitchell’s shoes and it will be intriguing to see what the story is and precisely what period is focused on. We will discover more details soon. Whether any other actors will join the cast to play Joni Mitchell earlier in her career and whether any synopsis will be revealed.
As much as anything, it is incredible that Joni Mitchell is still with us and she will get to see herself brought to the screen. That will be a magical thing! It will also introduce her work to a new generation. A body of music as masterful, important and extraordinary as any in history. There are music biopics I am a little indifferent to and not hooked by. However, the Joni Mitchell biopic is one I cannot wait to see. If you only know parts of Mitchell’s catalogue or define her by Blue or Ladies of the Canyon for example, go and dig deeper. Today, there is a wave of artists who owe a debt to her. HAIM are huge fans of hers. As is Brandi Carlile (who is a close friend of Micthell and helped her come back to the stage). Seeing some of Mitchell’s more recent live outings brought to screen will be immense. Maybe we will have to wait until 2028, though given the calibre of Meryl Streep and Cameron Crowe, it will be…
ABSOLUTELY worth it.