Pop sensation Billie Eilish is set to step into the world of feature film acting, with multiple outlets reporting on March 11 that the 24-year-old singer will star in director Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s 1963 classic novel The Bell Jar. While this marks Eilish’s first movie role, she already boasts two Academy Awards for co-writing original songs for Barbie (2023) and the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021) alongside her brother and producer, Finneas.
Polley, 47, who won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for 2022’s Women Talking, will both adapt and direct the upcoming film for Focus Features. The Bell Jar, Plath’s only novel published during her lifetime, tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a young artist navigating mental health struggles amid societal pressures and personal ambition. Eilish will portray Greenwood, chronicling her descent while working at a New York magazine.
Attempts to bring The Bell Jar to screen over the past two decades involved Julia Stiles, Kirsten Dunst, Dakota Fanning, and Frankie Shaw, but previous projects never materialised.
Fans won’t have to wait long to see Eilish on screen again, as her 3D concert documentary Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft—directed in collaboration with James Cameron—premieres in theatres on May 8, documenting the making of her 2024 album Hit Me Hard and Soft, which earned her Song of the Year at the 2026 Grammy Awards for “WILDFLOWER.”
Eilish previously made her television acting debut in an episode of Prime Video’s Swarm (2023), and Polley herself has also appeared on screen, playing a fictionalised version of herself in Seth Rogen’s Apple TV series The Studio.
This upcoming role marks a new chapter in Eilish’s career, merging her award-winning musical talent with a highly anticipated cinematic debut.
