Billie Eilish Eyeing Film Acting Debut in ‘The Bell Jar’ Adaptation

Billie Eilish might be coming for her third Oscar — and this time, it could be for acting.

On Wednesday (March 11), The Insneider reported rumors of Eilish being in talks to make her acting debut in a film adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar with Oscar-winning actor and director Sarah Polley (Women Talking, Away From Her) set to direct. Deadline has since confirmed the report.

The film will be produced in partnership with Joy Gorman Wettels (13 Reasons Why), Plan B Entertainment, and StudioCanal. Focus Features is closing a deal to be the film’s U.S. distributor.

The novel — the only one ever written by Plath — is a semiautobiographical tale of a young woman’s descent into madness while working a magazine internship in 1950s New York City. Plath died by suicide a month after the book’s U.K. release.

Polley, who won the 2023 Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Women Talking, will adapt the story for the big screen. Eilish is in talks to play the lead character of Esther Greenwood.

Though this is Eilish’s first film role, she has tried her hand at acting before. In 2023, the “Bad Guy” singer made her acting debut in an episode of Donald Glover (a.k.a Childish Gambino) and Janine Nabers’ Amazon Prime limited series Swarm. In the episode, Eilish portrayed the leader of a women’s empowerment cult that lures the main character, Dre (Dominique Fishback), into her charming clutches. In a 2023 Variety interview, the singer shared that acting was one of her childhood dreams. However, as she began to make waves with her music, she put aside her acting dreams due to fear that she was not good at it.

“It’s always been a deep thing that I’ve been reluctant to talk about because I thought I was really bad,” she said in the interview.