Joni Mitchell nixed biopic - Taylor Swift was cast as the singer

That's exactly what it is, I'm afraid. Weller makes a compelling case for her three subjects having done an impressive job of overcoming the very real barriers facing women in music (as in most professions) back in the sixties, but she also tends to focus more on who was sleeping with whose husband and such than on the music - which, in a way, feeds into the sort of sexism she condemns elsewhere. There are also a couple of rather embarrassing mistakes, such as her claim that the Beatles' first album was entitled Introducing the Beatles and since reissued as Please Please Me (that's not an exact quote, but it is the essence of what she said, which as most of you know is just true by accident in the US market, and false anywhere else). She also claims the reason why Carole King had no hit singles for a decade after "It Might As Well Rain Until September" was because Gerry Goffin vetoed any further releases (in fact she had several; they just weren't hits).

 

We're talking about someone who has been chain-smoking since she was nine. It's difficult to find a picture of Joni without a cigarette. She insists on being flown in a private jet so she can smoke throughout the flight.

I can't see that working.

 

It would bother me. I'm as anti-smoking as anyone, having watched both of my grandfathers live with emphysema for years; but I hate politically correct revisionism even more than I hate smoking. You can't have a realistic biopic of JFK without the womanizing, or Hemingway without the drinking, or of Joni Mitchell without cigarettes. It just doesn't work.

 

The shame of it is there could be a whole generation of Taylor Swift fans who might discover Joni's art.

 

I agree that the book was somewhat poorly written, and not without flaws, but I was glad to read anything about these three artists, and I learned a lot about Carole King's life and career, in particular, that I didn't know before. A movie would require a whole new screenplay anyway, and I would just be happy to see the story of these three women on the big screen.

 

Yes, I mentioned that above: I'm sure there would be a soundtrack album, and it would be a good way to expose young people today to Joni, Carly, and Carole. Taylor does her bit already in that regard: she has had Carly and James Taylor guest at her concerts, and appeared at theirs, if I'm not mistaken, but this movie would be a whole different level of publicity for this music.

 

Lorde, perhaps.

 

Joni Mitchell (as far as I know) never wrote anything as childish as Taylor Swift constantly does.
I'm not being insulting, that's just my perception.
A lot of little girls are Taylor Swift fans. Joni Mitchell never had that little girl audience...

 

it bears noting that next December 13th Taylor will be the age Joni was on her first album

 

True, but from square one Joni Mitchell was aiming at an adult audience. Swift's audience is still teenyboppers. Which isn't to say she'll never move on to adult music, but she hasn't yet.

 

If you haven't already done so, read her memoir, A Natural Woman. Her own take on her early career is remarkably different from the way she is portrayed in Girls Like Us.

 

great move by joni, great move.

 

I don't know - I happen to think she would have done very well.

Have you actually seen her act or just saying it?

 

I'll try to check that out.

 

I think Jessie Mueller, who played her on Broadway, would be a good choice.

 

I really tired of so much media putting Taylor Twit on such high pedestal
It's just sad. One young singer said people who aspire to be like Taylor Swift
is trying live up image that does not exist.
Taylor is going suffer from breakdown some day soon
She's, here, there, everywhere.

 

I missed the massive demand for a Joni Mitchell biopic. When did it start?

 

Maybe Marlboro could come up with the financing?

 

As I understand it I think she prefers Sobranies.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobranie

 

Kind of like the people that come up with clever monikers like "Taylor Twit". That's brilliant. Keep up the good work.

 

She isn't. Stadiums have nothing to do with it.

 

She wrote a long piece about the song Carey recently which was really in depth. She is capable of doing it...if she wants to.

 

Don't forget that the reason Swift sells out stadiums is because a very large portion of her audience needs to be chaperoned there by their parents, which means more ticket sales.
Think about it.

 

Driver 8 will hate me for this, but I very much doubt that Ms. Swift will ever release anything as musically mindblowing as "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" (which IMO is a masterpiece)

 

Mitchell played stadiums in 76 77