Michelle Williams has signed on to play rock icon Janis Joplin in Sean Durkin's (Martha Marcy May Marlene) biopic, 'Janis'. The film will be based on the 1992 biography, 'Love, Janis', written by Janis’ sister, Laura, covering the 27 year old Joplin's troubled life, musical career and drug use. The script will be written by Clara Brennan (UK soap opera 'Hollyoaks') and Andrew Renzi (The Benefactor), with Bill Haney (The Price of Sugar), Greg Johnson (The Squid and The Whale), Michael Maher (Sanctum) and Peter Newman (The Game of Their Lives) producing.

Janis was a musical legend

Janis Joplin, born 1943, was to become the most famous female blues vocalist of the 1960s. Praised for her raw, powerful style of singing, she began as a lead singer for rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1966. With them, she made her first major appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, followed by her first album. In 1968 came her first major hit, the album 'Cheap Thrills'. Splitting from Big Brother in 1969, she went on to have a very short but potent solo career, appearing at Woodstock, and releasing another album, 'I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!'. Her final album, 1971's 'Pearl', was released posthumously as Joplin was found dead in her room at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood.

She had died from a heroin overdose.

Aside from Janis, Williams played other icons

She also portrayed Marilyn Monroe in the 2011 Simon Curtis drama 'My Week With Marilyn', co-starring Kenneth Branagh, Dominic West and Eddie Redmayne. Since debuting in an episode of 'Baywatch' in 1993, Williams has enjoyed an extensive career on stage and screen, appearing in films like 'Prozac Nation' (2001), 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005), 'Meek's Cutoff' (2010) and 'Oz The Great and Powerful' (2013).

She gained her first substantial role in TV drama 'Dawson's Creek' (1998-2003), portraying troubled teen Jen Lindley. Currently, she is appearing 'Manchester by the Sea', a drama film by Kenneth Lonergan (Analyze This), which debuted at Sundance in January, and will be released November 18.