Janis Joplin role goes to Tony-winner Nina Arianda
CBC News
Posted: Jul 11, 2012 2:32 PM ET
Last Updated: Jul 11, 2012 2:30 PM ET
Nina Arianda, seen in her Tony-winning role in the stage comedy Venus in Fur, will play Janis Joplin in a new biopic. (Joan Marcus/Boneau Bryan-Brown/Associated Press)Producers of Joplin, an upcoming film about rock icon Janis Joplin, have chosen their lead: Tony Award-winner Nina Arianda.
She won a best actress Tony in June for the sexy stage comedy Venus in Fur, which she had also starred in Off-Broadway. She was previously a Tony nominee for her Broadway debut as Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday.
Arianda has appeared onscreen in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, the films Win Win and Tower Heist and on TV's The Good Wife.
A point in her favour is her voice, considered similar to that of the raspy 1960s singer whose talent and early death cemented her a place in rock history. Joplin, aged 27, died of a heroin overdose in October 1970.
The forthcoming independent film will be helmed by Martha Marcy May Marlene director Sean Durkin. In it, Arianda is set to sing at least 20 of Joplin’s songs, such Piece of My Heart, Ball ‘n’ Chain and Me and Bobby McGee.
The Joplin biopic will focus on the last six months of the singer's life, with flashbacks to her early successes at Woodstock and Madison Square Garden.
Joplin will have a production budget of less than $20 million US and will go into production in early 2013, producer Peter Newman told industry website Deadline.
The film has long been in the planning process, with actresses Amy Adams, Zooey Deschanel, the late Brittany Murphy and singers Melissa Etheridge and Pink previously considered for the role.
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