Joni Mitchell Says She Put the Brakes on Biopic Starring Taylor Swift

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All the major elements were lined up for a Joni Mitchell biopic back in 2012: a director (Katie Jacobs), a script (by John Sayles) and a star (Taylor Swift). Everything, that is, except for Joni Mitchell.

The folk legend told the Sunday Times this week why she put the kibosh on the project, an adaptation of Sheila Weller’s Girls Like Us, which examined the careers of Mitchell as well as contemporaries Carly Simon and Carole King. Though she insinuated that casting Swift to play her was little more than a physical choice (“All you’ve got is a girl with high cheekbones”), she criticized the screenplay, as well. “It’s just a lot of gossip,” she says she told the producer. “You don’t have the great scenes.”

Mitchell also remarked that books about her are full of “assumptions” and “nonsense.” It’s a shame for Swift, who certainly would have taken the role seriously, had she received the opportunity. “I used to cry about Joni Mitchell all the time after a few glasses of wine,” she once told Rolling Stone.

A biopic about the pioneering singer, should it ever happen, would certainly make for an interesting couple of hours at the movies. Perhaps this is why so many biopics are made posthumously — for better or for worse.

Biopic Actors and Their Real-Life Counterparts

Meryl Streep Suffragette
Meryl Streep plays Emmeline Pankhurst in SuffragetteFocus; Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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Michael Fassbender plays Steve Jobs in Steve JobsUniversal; Bob Riha Jr—Getty Images
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Ellen Page plays Stacie Andree in FreeheldLionsgate; Tom Spader—AP
joseph-gordon-levitt-the-walk-phillipe-petit
Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Philippe Petit in The WalkSony Pictures; Dave Pickoff—AP
Biopic Actors
Johnny Depp plays James 'Whitey' Bulger in Black MassWarner Brothers; AP
André Benjamin plays Jimi Hendrix in All Is By My SidePatrick Redmond—XLrator Media; Photoshot/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Adrien Brody plays Harry Houdini in Houdini. History Channel; Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Chadwick Boseman plays James Brown in Get On Up.Universal Pictures; Gilles Petard—Redferns/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Ashton Kutcher plays Steven Jobs in Jobs.Open Road Films; Tom Munnecke/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Cate Blanchett plays Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.Weinstein Co.; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
James Franco plays James Dean in James Dean.Getty Images (2)
Biopics Actors
Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.Weinstein Co.; Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate.Disney; Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Anthony Hopkins plays Alfred Hitchcock in Hitchcock.Fox Searchlight; NBC/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Salma Hayek plays Frida Kahlo in Frida.Miramax; Popperfoto/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Gary Oldman plays Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy.MGM; Richard E. Aaron—Redferns/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Denzel Washington plays Malcolm X in Malcolm X.Warner Bros.; Truman Moore—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Leonardo DiCaprio plays J. Edgar Hoover in J. Edgar.Warner Bros.; Bachrach/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Ben Kingsley plays Gandhi in Gandhi.Columbia; Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Michelle Williams plays Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn.Weinstein Co.; NBC/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.20th Century Fox; David Gahr/Getty Images
Biopics Actors
Daniel Day-Lewis plays President Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln.20th Century Fox; Culture Club/Getty Images
Don Cheadle plays Miles Davis in Miles Ahead.
Don Cheadle plays Miles Davis in Miles Ahead.Brian Douglas, Ton Pouw—AP
Demetrius Shipp Jr. plays Tupac Shakur in All Eyez on Me.
Demetrius Shipp Jr. plays Tupac Shakur in All Eyez on Me.Summit Entertainment; Raymond Boyd—Getty Images

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com