Meryl Streep confirmed to play Joni Mitchell in biopic

Meryl Streep's casting as Joni Mitchell in the upcoming biopic has been confirmed. Recording executive and Grammy award winner Clive Davis made the announcement on Saturday while introducing Mitchell to the audience at his annual pre-Grammy party.

Rumors emerged in July 2024 that Meryl Streep might portray the singer in her later years. Streep's involvement comes after yesterday's release of the trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2, with the film scheduled for release on May 1. There are also persistent rumours that The Queen's Gambit's Anya Taylor-Joy is slated to portray a younger Joni Mitchell.

Meryl Streep has a longstanding connection with the singer, paying tribute to her when she was awarded the MusiCares Person of the Year in 2022. She also wrote an accompanying essay for the box set.

"It's not just the artifact, music and lyrics, that Joni gives us," said Streep "Her artistry leaves us, ourselves, changed. She has shifted things around inside us. And that's how artists change the world."

Filmmaker and journalist Cameron Crowe, known for directing Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous, is set to write and direct the biopic. The Academy Award winner has been developing the project with Mitchell for two years, and the news was officially announced in March 2023.

In a 2025 New York Times interview, Crowe discussed his close relationship with Mitchell, which began after he interviewed her for Rolling Stone in 1979. He further elaborated on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that the upcoming film is being developed in close collaboration with Mitchell herself.

“We’ve been working on it for about four years. We have regular meetings where I can ask her anything, and she speaks with her heart about all kinds of stuff,” Crowe said. “It’s a movie that will not be from a distance. This is from her perspective, her life, looking out.”