Cameron Crowe Making Joni Mitchell Movie

Cameron Crowe Returning to Movies with New Project About Musician Joni Mitchell

The folk legend is involved in the movie, which will apparently explore her life through Crowe’s music-obsessed lens.

Joni Mitchell in Martin Scorsese's 'The Last Waltz.'

It’s been a quiet few years for Cameron Crowe in terms of narrative output on big or small screens. Though he had a great run from the time he wrote ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ (based on his own experiences going undercover at a high school), and created the hit movies ‘Say Anything’, ‘Singles’, ‘Jerry Maguire’, ‘Almost Famous’ and ‘Vanilla Sky’, he saw his most recent movie, ‘Aloha’ fail to connect with audiences and criticized for some dodgy racial elements (Emma Stone as a native Hawaiian just didn’t fly), and on TV, his Showtime series ‘Roadies’ (which trod similar ground to ‘Almost Famous’ but in the present day as opposed to the 1970s) was cancelled after one season.

Now, though, after a more recent fallow period (more on that below), it appears he’s back with a new planned movie that means a lot to him.

According to Above The Line’s Jeff Schneider, Crowe has been busy writing a film about legendary folk singer Joni Mitchell.

While little concrete is known about the movie yet, it apparently stretches further than a conventional biopic, driven by Crowe’s close friendship with Mitchell, who he has known since he was a young journalist working for Rolling Stone magazine, which published his profile of her in 1979.

Joni Mitchell in Martin Scorsese's 'The Last Waltz.'

Joni Mitchell’s story

The Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter was one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit and became known for her starkly personal lyrics and unconventional compositions which grew to incorporate pop and jazz elements. In her career, she has won 10 Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Her hits include ‘Both Sides Now’, ‘River’, ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ and ‘Woodstock’, while one of her albums, ‘Blue’, is considered among the greatest of all time.

Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 but recovered enough to make a rare public appearance at Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party, escorted by Crowe.

Writer, director and producer Cameron Crowe.

What has Cameron Crowe been up to since ‘Roadies’?

Crowe hasn’t exactly been sitting around since ‘Aloha’ and ‘Roadies’, though –– he’s produced a documentary about David Crosby called ‘Remember My Name’ and directed the short Stevie Nicks: Show Them the Way’.

And Crowe was also busy getting the stage musical based on ‘Almost Famous’, which is now playing on Broadway.

He’s reportedly been at work on the Mitchell movie during pandemic but has yet to reveal what form it’ll take or whether various actors will be playing her in the course of the film. At 79, Mitchell remains as vital as ever, and is involved with the movie, which means Crowe should enjoy full access to her back catalogue and real insight into her life and career.

With luck, this could bring Crowe back to make more movies, though as of right now, we don’t know where the new film is set up.