LOS ANGELES, May 24 — In This is Jane, the 37-year-old American actress will play the founder of the Jane Collective, an underground feminist abortion service operating in the 1960s and 1970s, before abortion was legalised in the USA.
Michelle Williams looks to have a busy 2018 in store, with a host of big-screen projects in the works. Now, Deadline reports that the actress is signed up to star in Amazon Studios’ historical drama This is Jane, based on the true story of an underground abortion service.
Williams will play Jane’s founder, known as Jenny, who set up this illegal service run by a group of women who learned how to perform safe abortions. The service reportedly helped more than 11,000 women access safe abortions between 1968 and 1973, when the procedure was still illegal in US medical establishments. The organisation also provided health education and counselling.
Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry, The L Word) is helming the project, based on Laura Kaplan’s 1995 book The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service. Williams joins John Lesher (Birdman) and Peter Heller on the movie’s production. This is Jane is currently in pre-production with no word yet on when filming will start.
This is Jane adds to an already busy schedule for Williams. The actress recently starred alongside Amy Schumer in I Feel Pretty, which opened in the US in April. She also joins Tom Hardy in the Spider-Man spinoff Venom, opening October 5. The Oscar-nominated actress is also expected to join Leos Carax and Adam Driver in Annette, as well as Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal in Let it Fall Back. She is also signed up for the title role in the eagerly awaited Janis Joplin biopic. — AFP-Relaxnews
