Amanda Seyfried has some Joni Mitchell fans clamoring for her to play the music legend in a biopic after she performed a stunning rendition of “California” on “The Tonight Show.”
Seyfried sang the song’s first verse and its chorus while strumming a dulcimer on the late night show’s March 4 episode.
“Sitting in a park in Paris, France/ Reading the news and it sure looks bad/ They won’t give peace a chance/ It was just a dream some of us had,” Seyfried sang, sounding almost like Mitchell’s vocal twin.
“California, I’m coming home,” she belted out in the chorus.
The “Mamma Mia!” franchise star’s performance of the track, off Mitchell’s 1971 masterpiece “Blue,” wowed host Jimmy Fallon, who leapt to his feet afterward.
“What are you talking about? Playing the dulcimer? Are you kidding me?” Fallon shouted over the applause of his studio audience.
In the ultimate seal of approval, Mitchell’s official Instagram account reshared a video of Seyfried’s performance on Instagram.
Music lovers on social media were just as knocked out, with many suggesting Seyfried play Mitchell onscreen.
“Omg. THIS is what her voice is made for. Would love to see her play a young Joni Mitchell,” one fan commented on the official “Tonight Show” Instagram.
“Bio Pic casting ….. hired,” added another.
“she is gunning for that biopic and i’m for it,” a third Instagram user said.
Actor Jameela Jamil added, “Get. That. Biopic. Girl.”
Chatter about a potential Mitchell biopic began in 2023 after the entertainment site Above the Line reported that Cameron Crowe was attached to a project about the singer.
Crowe, the Oscar-winning director of “Jerry Maguire” and “Almost Famous,” confirmed the news during an October 2024 interview on the “Q with Tom Power” show from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
“We’ve been working on it for about two and a half years,” Crowe said. “We haven’t talked about it much, but it’s starting to come to fruition and hopefully we’ll get it out for a year from now.”
The same month, Crowe told Ultimate Classic Rock that he was “super-excited” about the film, which he said he hoped would be in theaters by Christmas 2025.
Crowe added that the movie tells the story of Mitchell’s life “through her prism.”
“It’s the characters who impacted her life that you know and a lot that you don’t know,” he said. “And the music is so cinematic.”