Dust off that hi-hat because Michelle Williams is ready to sing and dance once again. Deadline reports that the Fosse/Verdon Emmy winner is in talks to star as singer and actress Peggy Lee in the upcoming biopic Fever from director Todd Haynes. The film was first developed at Fox 2000 Pictures and initially had Reese Witherspoon attached to star, but it was shelved after Nora Ephron, who wrote the original script, died in 2012. Witherspoon left the project after Fox 2000 folded in the Great Disney-Fox Merger of 2019. But now, with Williams onboard, the film has been revived, with MGM in talks to produce alongside Marc Platt, Witherspoon, and Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon via their Killer Films production company.
But that’s not all, folks! Grammy-winning wunderkind Billie Eilish and her mother, Maggie Laird, are in talks to executive-produce the film with their record-label partner, Justin Lubliner. True “Eyelashes” will know that Eilish credits Lee as a major musical influence of hers and even participated in “100 Years of Peggy Lee,” a virtual panel discussion about her life and legacy last May. Lee was best known for her cover of the Little Willie John song “Fever,” to which she added her own lyrics, but had a career spanning over seven decades. She was also an accomplished actress, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Pete Kelly’s Blues. Will playing Lee finally do the trick for four-time Oscar also-ran Williams? It’s impossible to know, but given her track record for playing talented women, this may do the trick.
