LOS ANGELES: Actor Jennifer Lawrence is set to play famous Hollywood talent agent Sue Mengers in a biopic that has "The Great Beauty" helmer Paolo Sorrentino attached as a director. The biopic has sparked a bidding war between streamers Apple and Netflix, Collider reported quoting Puck's Matt Belloni, who first broke the story.
The film's script has been written by Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo and John Logan, the latter of whom previously turned Mengers' colourful life into a stage play starring the great Bette Midler. Mengers, who died in 2011 at the age of 79, worked for ICM, MCA, and the famed William Morris Agency over the course of her distinguished career.
Her impressive list of clients included big stars such as Barbra Streisand, Cher, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, Cybill Shepherd, Brian De Palma, Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols, Peter Bogdanovich, Bob Fosse, Joan Collins, Ali McGraw, Anthony Perkins, Tatum O'Neal, Ryan O'Neal, Dyan Cannon, Tuesday Weld, Richard Benjamin, and Gore Vidal.
The talent agent was famous for helping her clients land some of the record-breaking deals in the '60s and early '70s. Mengers' biopic is being produced by Erik Feig under his Picturestart baner alongside Lawrence and her producing partner Justine Polsky.