Cameron Crowe Is Making A Joni Mitchell Movie And Rarely Has Something Sounded So Perfect

Oscar-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe has had a fascinating career trajectory and is responsible for some of the most beloved coming-of-age stories ever put to screen. His feature screenwriting debut came with the groundbreaking teen film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," shortly followed by the massively influential "Say Anything..." and "Singles." Crowe has a knack for capturing the human condition with so much reverence for people doing their best to make it through life and making audiences feel validated in ways they never thought possible.

For many folks, Crowe had finally "made it" after the success of "Jerry Maguire," the endlessly quotable romantic sports dramedy now better known for its VHS copies dominating every thrift store in America. However, real ones know that Crowe's masterpiece would come many years later with "We Bought A Zoo." Just kidding, it's obviously "Almost Famous," a near-perfect film (just edit out the non-consensual post-OD kiss!) based on his own experiences as a teenage music reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine.

For a solid two decades, Crowe seemed unstoppable, but despite the cult following and box office success of "Vanilla Sky," his projects haven't quite "hit" since "Almost Famous." His last venture into a narrative feature was the massive misfire "Aloha," the movie that tried to convince us all that Emma Stone was an Asian woman. While he's undoubtedly missed the mark (death to "Elizabethtown" for helping to popularize the manic pixie dream girl) in the past, when Cameron is good, he's undeniably great. And now, thanks to a report first made by Above the Line, it sounds like Cameron is working on a project that plays to all of his strengths — a movie centering on, and written with the incomparable Joni Mitchell.

Cameron Crowe writing about Joni Mitchell is a match made in music heaven. For the somehow uninitiated (seriously, go stream if you're unfamiliar), Joni Mitchell is one of the most influential singer-songwriters in music history. Her songs are deeply personal and incorporate a variety of musical styles into her folk sensibilities, later inspiring everyone from Bob Dylan to Alanis Morissette and even Prince. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and her transcendent, poetic lyrics remain unmatched. With no exaggeration, "A Case of You" is quite honestly the most romantic song ever written, and it's not even close. 

As Above the Line also pointed out, Cameron Crowe has been writing about Joni Mitchell for decades. "Every journalist has their dream list of interview subjects. Mine was Marvin Gaye, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell. I never got to Marvin Gaye, but Joni Mitchell more than made up for it," Crowe said as an introduction to the reprint of his 1979 interview with her. "My last cover story for the magazine, and still my favorite." 

Crowe's work is at its best when it's semi-autobiographical, and while he is certainly not Joni Mitchell, he feels exquisitely qualified to help tell her story. After all, he's already been doing it for a very long time. Crowe will be writing and directing the film of her life and has been reportedly developing it with Mitchell for over two years. The film is being described as an unconventional biopic, instead "akin to an autobiography." It's clear that Mitchell is going to be in control of her own narrative, a blessing often not provided to the music greats ... usually because they've passed away before they had the chance to tell their own story in their own words.

Above the Line reports that Crowe began working on this project in secret during the pandemic, and it will be his most personal film since "Almost Famous." It sounds like the film will cover the span of Mitchell's life, with the outlet speculating that multiple actors could be tapped to play the 10-time Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter. This is great news because it means my dream of seeing Sissy Spacek playing Mitchell, still performing well into her 70s, can finally become a reality.

Joni Mitchell is a bit of an enigma, the type of artist whose brilliance is difficult to encapsulate because she's consistently been operating on an entirely different wavelength than the rest of us. Her understanding of the human condition and the way she captures those experiences with her music, art, and poetry is wholly unique to her own creativity. She also, wisely, owns the publishing rights to all of her music, so her direct involvement with Crowe's project ensures that this will be the definitive cinematic look at her life. It's highly unlikely that she, a woman who staunchly fought to maintain her creative freedom throughout her entire career, would ever allow the use of her music in any other biopic about her life. It's Crowe, or it's nobody.

In a lot of ways, Crowe feels like a kindred spirit to Mitchell. He is at his best when he is working from the deeply personal, and it's clear through their continued friendship that they understand one another in ways many of us could only hope to understand another person. I have the utmost faith in this film, and eagerly await what comes next.