Witherspoon Overcome With ‘Peggy Lee’ Fever!
Fox 2000 and Reese Witherspoon are getting together for an untitled biopic of singing legend Peggy Lee – with Nora Ephron directing and penning the script. Witherspoon is leading the project and will also produce alongside Marc Platt, Variety reports.
The ‘Walk The Line‘ actress secured the rights to Lee‘s story from the late singer’s estate after meeting with Lee‘s granddaughter, Holly Foster-Wells. Witherspoon then approached Platt, with whom she teamed on the ‘Legally Blonde‘ franchise, and then met with Ephron – a long-time fan of Lee.
Like ‘Walk the Line‘, this Lee biopic will explore the professional and personal life of a singer, songwriter, composer and actress – a career that spanned nearly seven decades.
Lee rose to prominence during the big band era, with her first hit ‘Somebody Else is Taking My Place’ in 1941. She recorded numerous hit albums and songs, including ‘Fever’ and ‘Is That All There Is?’ during the next 30 years, and is seen as one of the most influential jazz vocalists of all time.
As a prolific songwriter she wrote a number of songs and voiced several characters – including in Disney’s 1955 animated hit ‘Lady in the Tramp‘. In the early 1990s, Lee won a landmark case against the Mouse House for royalties from video sales of the movie.
She also starred in other projects including the 1952 version of ‘The Jazz Singer‘ and ‘Pete Kelly’s Blues‘.
Bring on the Fever, I say!
