Billie Eilish Steps Into Her First Feature Film Role With The Bell Jar*

Oscar-winning director Sarah Polley will adapt the screenplay and helm the forthcoming psychological drama.

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Billie Eilish is confirmed to make her feature acting debut in Focus Features' adaptation of Sylvia Plath's 1963 classic, The Bell Jar. The GRAMMY winner is assuming the intricate main role of Esther Greenwood, directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Sarah Polley.

After her praised guest appearance in the Prime Video series Swarm, Eilish is broadening her Hollywood presence by portraying one of literature's most complex heroines. The novel depicts a young woman's decline into mental illness while contending with the oppressive cultural expectations imposed on women in the 1950s. The Bell Jar mirrored numerous aspects of Plath's personal experiences and mental health, with the novel being published under her pseudonym Victoria Lucas merely one month before to the author's death.

Polley, who won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking, is both writing and directing the adaptation. The idea was initially developed by producer Joy Gorman Wettels before incorporating the production companies Plan B Entertainment and StudioCanal. Variety reports that although Eilish possesses two Academy Awards for her original compositions, it remains unconfirmed whether she will participate in the film's soundtrack.