Michelle Williams becomes latest actress to front Janis Joplin project

Brokeback Mountain star Michelle Williams is in talks to portray rocker Janis Joplin in a new movie.

The actress is the latest name linked to director Sean Durkin's biopic, based on Love, Janis - the book written by Joplin's sister Laura, which chronicles the letters the singer sent to family and friends throughout her career.

The film is one of many which Hollywood studio bosses have been trying to make about the Piece of My Heart singer for years, and Williams joins a list of actresses, including Renee Zellweger and Zooey Deschanel, who have been linked to the role of Janis.

Joplin died from a heroin overdose in 1970, aged 27.

If Williams signs on to play the rocker in the film, Janis won't be the first tragic star she has portrayed on the big screen - she played Marilyn Monroe in 2011's My Week With Marilyn.