From Mamma Mia to Joni Mitchell: Amanda Seyfried Sets Her Sights on a Legendary Role

Mamma Mia! beauty Amanda Seyfried has been coyly playing down her ambition to star in a biopic about music icon Joni Mitchell, but insiders says that the Mean Girls gal is fiercely chasing after the role she believes will rocket her to a new high.

Sources say that the 39-year-old blonde, who won her first Oscar nomination for the 2020 Netflix flick Mank, believes that playing the iconic folk singer of such legendary hits as All I Want, Both Sides Now and A Case of You is a career-changer and she’s “quite ambitious” about winning the role.

“Amanda wants another chance to play at that high level, and Joni Mitchell is absolutely a great fit for her,” says an insider.

But there’s a hitch — the 81-year-old singer-songwriter is reportedly NOT on board.

“The problem is, the real-life Joni is still around and still playing music and seems to have very little interest in making a movie about her life and career,” adds the insider.

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“That’s not stopping Amanda from planting a flag, and her youthful looks and singing prowess pretty much assure that she’ll stay in the conversation about a potential Joni Mitchell movie for the foreseeable future.”

Amanda, who also won raves for her role of jailed fraudster and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s 2022 flick The Dropout, got people buzzing about her singing talents during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, when she broke into a rendition of Joni’s 1971 classic hit California.

She later insisted, “It was not an audition. In fact, I didn’t even consider that, which is funny.”

But she added: “What I know about that project is that I’m very, very much aged out of [playing] young Joni.”

Meanwhile, every actress in Hollywood is reportedly aware that Almost Famous director Cameron Crowe is planning a film based on Joni.

Amanda’s Mamma Mia! costar Meryl Streep is rumored to be up for the older Joni part, but an actress for the younger Joni is still uncast.

“Amanda is a realist about all of this, including the fact that female-driven music biopics in recent years, including films about Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse, have been a much harder sell than movies about male artists,” explains the insider.

“That doesn’t change that Joni’s story is amazing and still hasn’t been fully told on the big screen. Amanda’s attitude is pretty simple and boils down to — somebody’s got to do it. Why not her?”