Reese Witherspoon to play Peggy Lee

Reese Witherspoon will headline a biopic about late jazz star Peggy Lee, reports Variety.

Witherspoon, who won an Oscar for playing singer June Carter in Walk The Line, is producing the untitled Fox 2000 project with Marc Platt and has hired Nora Ephron (Julie & Julia) to write and direct.

Lee's hits as a vocalist include 'Fever' and 'Is That All There Is?'. She was also a prolific songwriter and voiced characters in Disney's 1955 animated film Lady And The Tramp. In the same year, she won a 'Supporting Actress' Oscar nomination for Pete Kelly's Blues.

Her other big screen credits include Mr. Music and The Jazz Singer.

Witherspoon's upcoming films include James L. Brooks's How Do You Know? with Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson and Water For Elephants opposite Robert Pattinson.