Meryl Streep to play Joni Mitchell
Hollywood veteran Meryl Streep is to play music legend Joni Mitchell in a new biopic, according to record industry mogul Clive Davis.
Meryl Streep is to play Joni Mitchell in a new biopic, according to music mogul Clive Davis.
The Oscar-winner has long been rumoured to be in contention to take the lead role in a film about the music legend, which is being made by music writer-turned-director Cameron Crowe, and now Davis appears to have confirmed the casting news.
According to Rolling Stone, Davis made the revelation during his annual pre-Grammy Awards party in Los Angeles on Saturday night (01.02.26). The publication reports the music industry veteran took to the stage to welcome his celebrity guests and when it came to greet Mitchell, he declared she would be portrayed Streep in Crowe's biopic.
Streep has been linked to the role since 2024 but an official announcement has yet to be made. Anya Taylor-Joy has also been linked to the project with reports suggesting she may play a younger version of the singer onscreen.
Crowe has been working on the film for many years and he recently suggested it would be entering production in 2026.
During a 2025 interview with the New York Times, he was asked about his friendship with Mitchell and he replied: "I am friends with Joni Mitchell. Proudly.
"In the best way. She was my best interview at Rolling Stone. The '79 interview that we did when she was putting out the Mingus album was, by far, the best interview I did there."
When pressed for details about his biopic, the director explained: "We're going to make it next year. There's not a lot I can say about it.
"Soon I'll be able to speak more definitively about who's in it and how we're gonna do it and everything.
"I actually had a dream of a structure of how to tell that story. So I called her place {Mitchell's] and told her right-hand person that I'd had this dream, and if somebody comes knocking, come to me first and I'll tell you this idea and we'll see what happens.
'She's like: 'They're knocking all the time, and Joni wonders why you've taken so long to call. So yes, come over and tell us what your idea is.'
"This was about four and a half years ago. Joni said: 'Let's spend every Monday night. You come over here, we'll talk. You ask me anything you want.'
"So that's what I've been doing all this time. It's been incredibly inspiring - the most I've interviewed anybody, the deepest-tissue kind of conversations I've had with any artist, and I've found it invigorating and can't wait to make the movie."
