One of the most acclaimed on-screen talents of her generation is set to pay tribute to a Hollywood legend who made her name behind the scenes. Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence is leading a highly sought after biopic of Sue Mengers, a late agent who repped clients such as Barbra Streisand, Candice Bergen, and Faye Dunaway. “Bidding has reportedly eclipsed $80 million and there are some mutterings it has reached $95 million,” according to Variety. Apple and Netflix are among the streaming services vying for the project.
Lawrence is following in the footsteps of Bette Midler, who portrayed Menders in “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers,” a one-woman Broadway show. “Dyan Cannon also played a role of a barrier-breaking agent that was heavily inspired by Mengers in the 1973 mystery ‘The Last of Sheila,'” the source notes.
Mengers died in 2011. “Blonde, zaftig, and abrasive, always a great quote, she was a magnet for the media, a star in her own right, as famous as some of her clients, which eventually became a problem. There was nothing buttoned-down about Mengers. What you saw was what you got. She kvetched, she kvelled, she wheedled, flirted, and threatened like no one else, and she usually got her way,” Vanity Fair wrote. “Mengers was the first woman to breach the boys’ club that ran the town.”
A four-time Oscar nominee, Lawrence took home the honor for Best Actress in 2013 for “Silver Linings Playbook.” Her upcoming slate includes “Mob Girl,” the story of a mob wife turned police informant.
