This section keeps track on Heart’s upcoming Biopic
March 19th 2025: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The film’s being co-written by Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, who had her own esteemed television writing career with “Portlandia,” and award-winning playwright and screenwriter Jessica Goldberg. Nancy Wilson is overseeing the script drafts. “We’re getting the ending right now … and we’re about to cast it,” Wilson said, adding that there’s also interest from different companies pursuing a Heart documentary.
November 27th 2024: UCR Podcast: Nancy revealed that “another writer is doing rewrite on Carrie Brownstein’s original script which is kinda bringin it more in focus. So gradually you know at some point our story will be told. One of these decades our story will be told on a big screen and it’ll be fun.”
May 15th 2024: Rolling Stone: The band’s legacy will be further cemented in an upcoming biopic that’s being written and directed by Carrie Brownstein; Ann says Florence Pugh has been considered to play her.
March 20th 2024: Nancy says in Alec Baldwin’s podcast: “You know, we’re getting a film together about our story, which is not easy. We’re trying to get a writer to it. But people say, you know, who would play you, you know, if you’re doing a movie about Heart? And right now, I mean, I know Elle Fanning can sing, and so I’m thinking Elle Fanning and Dakota for Ann would be so interesting of a pair up because they’re sisters too. [..] blood harmony right?”
January 22nd 2024: Writer Carrie Brownstein gives Stereogum an update: Now, speaking of rock royalty, Carrie, are you still working on the Heart biopic script? BROWNSTEIN: I have finished my version of the biopic, and we are probably going to do more rewrites. Here’s the thing that’s so frustrating about that world, is that things kind of languish in development for a long time, so I hope it happens. Honestly, doing the research for that script, getting to meet with Ann and Nancy Wilson, it’s a highlight for me. Both of those women are incredible. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with both of them in person and also have done so much deep diving into their catalog and their history. And it was a way of celebrating the Pacific Northwest, at a time that predates Sleater-Kinney, which I think was important to learn about and also predates a lot of what people know about Northwest music, because Heart was around well before Nirvana or Soundgarden. They were up in Vancouver, BC, that’s where they started. They are a Seattle band. They’re from the Bellevue. But the band really formed up in Vancouver, BC, so shout out to Vancouver, BC. They don’t get a lot of shout-outs music wise from the ’70s.
October 13th 2023: Ann on Blabbermouth: During an appearance on the first episode of the “Totally 80s” podcast with host Lyndsey Parker, Ann Wilson offered an update on the previously announced HEART biopic. The movie about the Seattle rock greats is being written and directed by Carrie Brownstein, of SLEATER-KINNEY and “Portlandia” fame, and is being produced for Amazon by Lynda Obst, who has produced more than 20 movies and TV shows, including “Interstellar”, “Contact”, “Sleepless In Seattle”, “The Fisher King”, “Flashdance”; Amazon’s “Good Girls Revolt”, TVLand’s “Hot In Cleveland”, SyFy’s “Helix” and NBC’s miniseries “The ’60s”. Ann stated about the status of the HEART biopic: “The pandemic kind of slowed them down a little bit, but it’s in the works still. Carrie Brownstein’s writing it. I’ve seen a couple of drafts of the script. It’s good. She’s a great writer. If anybody can capture the story of a couple of women in rock, it’s probably Carrie, ’cause she’s been there herself. And Lynda Obst is one of the producers.” Asked if she knows yet who is playing her and/or her sister Nancy, Ann said: “There’ve been a few things bandied about, but nothing solid yet.” Pressed about whom she would like to play her, and if she wants it be someone “who can sing,” Ann said: “I’d like somebody who could sing, and then they could sing some, I could sing some. I think that my preference would be somebody young and brand new and fresh — somebody who’s really got their shit together in terms of being into the script.”
April 3rd 2023: Nancy can be heard saying that they have a movie in development and are casting even!
July 21st 2022: Worcester Magazine: there is a biopic “in the works” that is being produced for Amazon, Wilson said. Wilson has been a consultant. “It kind of got shut down” during the pandemic, but is still a viable project. Sleater-Kinney’s vocalist-guitarist Carrie Brownstein has been tapped to write the script. Besides being a musician, Brownstein is an actor, writer, director and comedian. “It should be good,” Wilson said.
June 18th 2022: Boston.com: And fans everywhere can look forward to the in-the-works Heart biopic, of which Carrie Brownstein is the writer and director. “Of anyone I can think of,” Ann Wilson averred of the Sleater-Kinney singer/guitarist and “Portlandia” star, “she would probably get it right, because she’s in a band herself, and she’s a woman, and she knows exactly what the trip is there.”
April 24th 2022: Independent: It is very strange, just the idea of somebody portraying me,” Ann Wilson says. “But Carrie just really gets it. She’s the best – so smart and funny and talented. And she’s trying to make sure it doesn’t fall into so many of these rock movie cliches. She’s trying to get away from that and really tell the story of what it’s like for these two people, my sister and I. To make it real.”
April 12th 2022: Rock Cellar: I asked the last time we spoke about the upcoming Heart biopic. Anything new to report? Ann Wilson: No, they’re still keeping it pretty close to the vest. I think that Carrie Brownstein is still putting the finishing tweaks on the script. Of course, everything shut down for the pandemic, so that sort of set them back but they’re back in the office now and they’re working on it again. So it’s still comin’. Rock Cellar: Are they in touch with you on a regular basis? Ann Wilson: Right before the pandemic hit, Carrie came to my house and stayed here for a bunch of days and we sat for hours and just talked and chatted. She asked me questions and I told her stories. So she has lots of in-depth, direct access. And I think she’s gonna get it right.
January 24th 2022: LasVegasSun: On the horizon is perhaps the most exciting film project of Wilson’s musical career: a Heart biopic. Nancy: “There’s a movie about Heart in the works and we’re polishing it up right now. It’s a pretty great script and we’re pitching it to Amazon,” she says. “I’m just saying, if this film gets made, I’m definitely the scoring artist. It involves our lives in Heart as sisters and musicians and survivors. It’s about going through life, not just the big performance stuff, but all the personal stuff, the trials and tribulations and trying to stay afloat in the unruly world of rock and roll.”
May 4th 2021: Yahoo: Nancy thinks Florence Pugh or Brie Larson would be a good pick to play her.
February 18th 2021: ABCnews: Nancy says of Brownstein, “[S]he’s so good. Her writing is really perfect for our story.” Nancy also tells ABC Audio that the film will “be based mainly” on the 2012 memoir Kicking & Dreaming, which she and Ann co-wrote. As for the status of the project, Nancy notes that it’s “on hold” because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Nothing can really happen right now, because we can’t cast it or get a crew together,” she explains. “And the third act is still not finished even. So, you know, we’re whittling away.” Nancy, who’s worked on several film scores over the years, also tells ABC Audio that she “would insist on scoring the [Heart] movie.” Regarding who might be cast to star in the biopic, Nancy says, “It would be really cool to discover somebody. And…the obvious prerequisite would be somebody that could play guitar pretty well and actually sing somewhat well. And in the case of someone doing Ann…that’d have to be a really good singer, ’cause you can’t just rely on…lip-syncing all the time.”
February 10th 2021: Undertheradar: There’s a new movie in the works about Heart. Are you looking forward to it, are you involved in it?Ann: Well, yeah, I’m looking forward to it big time. It’s under development at Amazon, so I’m not really in on the ground floor of what’s going on with it at this moment. But it’s being written by Carrie Brownstein and I’m involved to the extent that I’ve sat with Carrie for many hours and she just interviewed me. We just talked and had discussions where she got a fix on who I am and who Nancy is. I’ve seen the original first draft of the script—there will be a few more drafts. But I saw the first one and I really liked it. But I don’t know who they’re casting or any of that stuff and I’ve been asked not to talk about it, too! So, that’s all I know, really, honestly.
January 23rd 2021: In her Washington Post interview on Insta, Ann said that she wasn’t supposed to disclose (more) information about the project. So let’s wait and see when we hear from Amazon.
November 29th 2020: Ann was interviewed by Lyndsey Parker on SiriusXM last week and soon after several outlets (Entertainment Weekly | Variety | RollingStone | UltimateClassicRock) reported about Ann’s announcement about a Heart Biopic, starting with Lyndsey’s own article on Yahoo.
And here are the highlights: Seattle-born Carrie Brownstein, also known as the star of IFC’s Portlandia, is writing the script, and will also direct. Lynda Obst, renowned for her work on Flashdance, Adventures in Babysitting, Sleepless in Seattle, and many other box-office smashes, will produce the project for Amazon. [..] Ann: “A few actresses have come forward, but no one that’s right,” Ann said. A certain Oscar-winner was actually passed over: “Anne Hathaway came forward, but I don’t think she’s exactly right for it,” Ann explained. [..] The movie, which is “definitely coming along” but is “still in development right now because of COVID slowed everything down,” will begin with the Wilsons’ childhood and end in the ‘90s.