Two-time Oscar winner Billie Eilish will star in a film adaptation of “The Bell Jar,” directed by Sarah Polley, distributed by Focus Features.
Sylvia Plath’s most personal novel is finally coming to the big screen — and the woman tapped to bring it to life may surprise you.
Billie Eilish, the 24-year-old who has spent years singing about depression, anxiety, and the weight of living in the public eye, is in talks to star in The Bell Jar.
The film will be directed by Sarah Polley, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind Women Talking.
Focus Features will distribute it.
For anyone who has followed Eilish’s career, the casting makes instinctive sense. Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel follows Esther Greenwood, a young woman who slowly unravels under the pressure of expectations — creative, social, and personal.
Eilish has spoken openly about her own mental health struggles and has built an entire career on expressing what many young people feel but rarely say out loud. She does not feel like a stretch for this role. She feels like the role found her.
This is not Eilish’s first step toward acting. She appeared in the Prime Video series Swarm, earning a People’s Choice Award for her performance.
This summer, she is also co-directing her own concert documentary alongside James Cameron.
Polley, meanwhile, has not directed a feature since Women Talking earned her the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2023.
The Bell Jar marks her return — and a bold one at that.
The project was put together by producer Joy Gorman Wettels, who packaged it through her company Joy Coalition before bringing in Plan B Entertainment and StudioCanal as partners.
The Bell Jar has been quietly waiting for the right moment. That moment may finally be here.
