Why Joni Mitchell Wanted No Part Of Taylor Swift Playing Her

Everyone loves Taylor Swift. That’s something we can agree on, right? She’s a national treasure, and there’s nothing she can’t do – from co-hosting The Voice to guest starring on New Girl or collecting all of the trophies at every major music awards program. Well, there’s one thing Joni Mitchell thinks Taylor Swift can’t do, and that’s play Joni Mitchell in a planned biopic.

The iconic singer-songwriter addressed the news that Taylor Swift was lined up to play her in a big-screen biopic during an interview with The Sunday Times UK. Needless to say, the voice behind "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Free Man In Paris" wasn’t enthusiastic about the casting, or the way she would have been portrayed on screen. Joni Mitchell said:

"I squelched that! I said to the producer, 'All you've got is a girl with high cheekbones.' It's just a lot of gossip, you don't have the great scenes. … There's a lot of nonsense about me in books. Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions."

So it’s not necessarily about Taylor Swift’s pipes:

Or even her acting:

But more her overall look, and the material that the producers of the film want to use to make the movie happen. According to reports, the Joni Mitchell movie was going to base its approach off Sheila Weller’s book Girls Like Us, which examined the careers of Mitchell, Carole King and Carly Simon. At the time, it was being reported that Alison Pill was in contention to play King alongside Taylor Swift’s Mitchell. Now, however, those plans have been nixed, and Mitchell seems to reveal why.

The irony of this is that Taylor Swift ADORES Joni Mitchell. She likely would have been the best option to play her on screen. In fact, click on to hear Taylor talk about her adoration for the singer’s career in an exclusive Rhapsody interview. What could have been …

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.