Vanessa Hudgens
Photo: MTV News

After "High School Musical" and "Bandslam," Vanessa Hudgens had planned to leave musical movies behind to concentrate on darker fare like Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch." But the singer/actress caught the musical-biopic bug while filming her upcoming teen flick "Beastly."

So what musician does Hudgens want to bring to life on the big screen? "Janis Joplin," she told MTV News. "I don't know [why]. In 'Beastly,' there's a Halloween party, and it's kind of a high school Halloween party. All the girls are dressed up as sl--s, and my character comes in as Janis Joplin."

From that point on, Hudgens couldn't help but become a little obsessed with the legendary performer. "I would not stop listening to her music [after that], and I think she's so incredible," she said. "I know I don't look much like her, but you can always hope, right?"

Hudgens isn't the first person to pursue a Joplin biopic. Back in 2004, it was announced that Pink had signed on to "The Gospel According to Janis," a movie that director Penelope Spheeris has been developing for two decades. Another singer/actress, Zooey Deschanel, is now attached to the project, but she told MTV News in 2007 that the film was "on hold." "It's one of these things [that] seems like it's been hard to get all the money and the rights in place," Deschanel said.

Renée Zellweger was also signed on to play Joplin in a movie set to be titled "Piece of My Heart" or simply "Janis."

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• MTV Rough Cut: 'Bandslam'

• Vanessa Hudgens
• Janis Joplin

Johnny Depp
Photo: Peter Kramer/ Getty Images

A popular T-shirt proclaims, "Music is what feelings sound like." But if you really want to know what feelings sound like, you may be just as well off asking an actor, not a musician.

After the monumental successes of "Walk the Line" and "Ray," stars from Johnny Depp to Mike Myers are lining up for roles in musical biopics. For actors, starring in one of these films is like a four-part symphony: part critical acclaim, part instant credibility, part box-office bang and part awards-season appeal. The chance for an Oscar winner and a #1 film all in one is music to Hollywood's ears, so it comes as no surprise that we're in for a lot more musical biopics.

Crank your stereo and sing your favorite tune — films based on the lives of these legendary singers are coming your way:

Freddie Mercury
"Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp is in early talks to play the late Queen frontman in a biopic being produced by Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions. He is the "perfect choice," said Jeffrey Shapiro, drummer for Queen tribute band Under Pressure.

"I always had [in mind] somebody with a theatrical background. Not just to wear the costumes, but to wear the actual vibe of Freddie Mercury," Shapiro said. "Depp's such a likable guy. The fact that he used Keith Richards [as inspiration] for 'Pirates' — you can't go wrong."

Shapiro believes Depp and Mercury have a lot in common. "They are unique in a way. They carry themselves regally but always deliver," he said. "A bit foppish at times, but you never have any question that they are good."

Joey Ramone
Variety has reported that "I Slept With Joey Ramone," an authorized biography of the late Ramones frontman written by his brother, Mickey Leigh, was recently optioned by Rory Rosegarten, a producer best known for his work on "Everybody Loves Raymond." The option gives Rosegarten complete access to the singer's estate and to the band's punk-rock catalog.

Celebrated as one of the greatest rock bands of all time (in a recent Rolling Stone poll they came in second only to the Beatles), the Ramones' popularity has continued to grow in recent years, a fact that Lauren Faccidomo of the all-girl tribute band the Ramonas attributes to their universal appeal. "They weren't bigger than life, they were average guys from New York," said the Los Angeles musician. "Their music was so catchy and simple and fun — it really crossed genres."

Life imitated art imitating life for Adrian Grenier when a ploy by his "Entourage" character, Vincent Chase, to star in a Joey Ramone biopic led to rumors that the actor was being considered for an actual film biography of the seminal rocker. While no one would confirm or deny Grenier's involvement, Faccidomo thinks Hollywood should look elsewhere.

"People know Joey by the way he looks. He's a weird-looking guy," she laughed. "Honestly, in body type and looks, Howard Stern is hands down Joey Ramone."

Keith Moon
Mike Myers hasn't starred in a live-action movie since 2003's "The Cat in the Hat," but the "Austin Powers" comic has three slated for 2008, including a Donald Margulies-scripted biopic of Who drummer Keith Moon, produced by Moon's bandmate Roger Daltrey. "Roger's dream has always been to have Mike do the role," Nigel Sinclair, co-producer of the flick, told The New York Times. "He saw Mike as the creative force for pulling the project together, with help from us."

Janis Joplin
Director Penelope Spheeris and star Zooey Deschanel will bring the tragic story of the famous rock chanteuse to the big screen in 2008 with The film was originally slated to star Pink and come out in 2005, to coincide with the 35th anniversary of Joplin's death (see "Both Janis Joplin Biopics Still In The Works — Sorta").

Lauren Bernal, lead singer of the tribute band the Kozmic Blues Band, says she hopes filmmakers portray all sides of the singer's life. "They need to do the whole story, not just all the negative stuff," Bernal said, referencing Joplin's infamous battle with heroin addiction. "She wanted a family life, the white picket fence, the kids. Things didn't go well, and she [eventually] said to hell with it."

In a further challenge to the filmmakers, Bernal argued that you can't act your way to being Janis. "It takes a lot out of you — doing Janis is high-energy," she said. "It's all about who you are. That voice of hers, that raspiness — it's natural. There's nothing fake about it."

Dusty Springfield
Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, best known for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in the Tony Award-winning "Wicked," will star as Dusty Springfield in a biopic currently in development for Universal Pictures. The film is being scripted and helmed by Jessica Sharzer, a director whose work includes episodes of "The L Word." Springfield's career spanned four decades and peaked with 1969's "Son of a Preacher Man." The British soul singer succumbed to cancer in 1999, 10 days before she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bob Dylan
The times, they are a-changin' — but not as quickly as the actors. The Weinstein Company recently announced that it has acquired the rights to Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There," a Bob Dylan biopic in which six different actors — including Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett — portray the legendary singer.

"[It] has been an extraordinary opportunity, bringing Bob Dylan's life and work to the screen," Haynes said. "It has attracted the best talent in film and music."

Haynes isn't kidding. Other actors in the movie include Julianne Moore, David Cross and Michelle Williams. The film also boasts an eagerly awaited soundtrack, which will include more than 40 cover versions of Dylan's most famous work.

"Bob Dylan has lived an unbelievable and at times elusive life," Company Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein said. "He has countless fans who will now be able to really gain insight into his fascinating life."

The Parody
With so many musical biopics in the pipeline, it shouldn't surprise anyone that a spoof is on the way. The salvos, however, are coming not from the usual suspects but from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" director Judd Apatow and John C. Reilly. Directed by Jake Kasdan, "Walk Hard" follows Dewey Cox, a character Reilly describes as "an amalgamation of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Waylon Jennings." "[The film is a] goof on movies like 'Beyond the Sea,' 'Walk the Line,' 'Ray,' 'The Commitments' and 'Great Balls of Fire,' the actor said. "We're having some fun with the musical biopics. We've been recording music for it, and it's quite an ambitious, crazy project."

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• Flick'd: Pitch-Perfect Movie Music

• Queen
• The Who
• Bob Dylan
• Janis Joplin
• The Ramones

Blink-182's Travis Barker
Photo: MTV News & Docs

Since 1769 when a British sea captain stumbled across the art form in the Polynesian islands, tattooing has gone from being a mark of the upper class to the lower class to the mainstream.

With the advent of the electric needle in New York City in 1891, tattooing lost its exclusivity and cachet, making way for tough guys and outlaws to typify the type of person to get inked. Their favorite markings? Eagles, anchors, hawks and hearts.

It wasn't until quintessential "tough guy" and music legend Janis Joplin, the first musician said to have combined rock and tattoos, adopted and effusively praised the practice that the phenomenon really took off. (Click for photos of celebrities and their tattoos.)

At the time she appeared on "The Dick Cavett Show" in 1970 she had two: a Florentine bracelet on her left wrist and a girly red heart over her left breast done by Lyle Tuttle, a San Francisco artist. "I wanted some decoration," Joplin once said. "See, the one on my wrist is for everybody and the one on my t-- is for me and my friends. Just a little treat for the boys, like the icing on the cake."

Joplin died only two months after that television appearance, but Tuttle (and no doubt countless other tattoo artists) has given hundreds of female fans the heart that Janis popularized. And just last season on "The Osbournes" Kelly got her very own version of the heart on her hip.

Since Joplin broke the seal, it's hard to think of an artist who is not tattooed or dabbled in the art form. The activity that has officially been illegal in most states for the better half of the last 40 years as a result of a hepatitis outbreak has been seen on everyone from the wholesome likes of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake to the grittier acts like Kid Rock and Method Man and just about everyone in between: the music business has ink on lock. Even unmarked artist Mick Jagger has added to the idealization, as depicted on the cover of the Rolling Stones' Tattoo You LP.

For Travis Barker of Blink-182, altering his appearance was his way of making playing music for a living an inevitability. "I purposely tattooed my whole body so I wouldn't have to be a perfect person in a perfect world working at a perfect job," he said. "I made it so I had to play music. I had no other choice."

While that may be true on some level, Barker and everyone else who ventures into the world of tattoo art has many choices to make: specifically, what type of body modification they'll be stuck with for the rest of their lives.

Whether it's to get a prison-style black and gray gangster tattoo made famous by East Los Angeles artist Mr. Cartoon, or the ubiquitous barbed tribal armband pioneered by Leo Zulueta; from the impulse tattooist's worst enemy (the significant other's name) to their best friend (the cover-up), deciding what to put on your body — and then, of course, where to put it — is crucial for the most effective non-verbal self-expression.

But for those with a commitment problem or a low threshold for pain, who still have something to get off — or put on — their chests, there's always henna.

• Britney Spears
• blink-182
• Box Car Racer
• Janis Joplin
• Kelly Osbourne

After breaking in his acting chops with a few TV appearances, wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is in final negotiations to try his talents on the big screen with a supporting role in a Janis Joplin biopic, titled "Joplin - The Movie."

The WWF superstar, who recently returned to the ring in April after being sidelined with an injury since November 1999, has been offered a part as a Hell's Angel opposite Laura Theodore, who will portray Joplin, according to "The Hollywood Reporter."

If Austin signs on to the project, one of several films about the late singer currently in development (see "Another Janis Joplin Biopic In The Works"), "Joplin - The Movie" would mark the feature film debut for Austin, who has made several appearances as Det. Jake Cage in the CBS series "Nash Bridges."

Directed and produced by Joel Freedman, "Joplin - The Movie" is expected to begin filming as early as this summer.

• Janis Joplin

TV and film star Ron Silver has signed on to portray legendary concert promoter Bill Graham in a one-man play, "Bill Graham Presents," scheduled to premiere at the Canon Theater in Beverly Hills on April 30.

• The Grateful Dead
• Janis Joplin
• The Doors

After helping director Tim Burton make his "Sleepy Hollow" characters smaller than life, "Spawn" creator and toy magnate Todd McFarlane is turning his attention to the world of music with collectible figures of Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, and Janis Joplin in the works.

While in New York with Burton last week to mark the arrival of "Sleepy Hollow," McFarlane said that his McFarlane Toys has collectible versions of Zombie, Cooper, and Joplin in the works and is trying to secure the rights to do a Jimi Hendrix figure.

McFarlane should be no stranger to rock fans after bringing his animation to videos from Korn and Pearl Jam and supplying the cover art for Korn's "Follow The Leader" album. He has also cranked out collectible figures of Ozzy Osbourne as well as several lines of Kiss figures.

As we first reported in September, McFarlane's next music-related project will be a collectible Rob Zombie figure that is expected to surface next year (see ). McFarlane said that his association with Zombie actually grew out of his work with Korn, and a prototype of the figure has already been completed.

"What we're trying to convey with him, just like we did with Ozzy, is just to sort of go, 'Who is Rob Zombie?' He's a freak too, right? And you've just got to capture the freak part of it," McFarlane recently told MTV News. "He's got his costume with the big, long tentacles on it, and he has the prosthetics on there, and then the backdrop is part of the stage, and there's the dreadlocks, and he's sort of hunched over. He's not standing up sort of regal, like some of the covers I've seen on some of the magazines where he's sort of tall and imposing. [RealAudio]

For McFarlane and his in-house artists, the fact that Zombie himself is a strong visual artist presents a unique new challenge after dealing with subjects who are strictly musicians.

"Either we're going to butt heads a lot, we're going to have a difference of opinion, or we're going to actually get, hopefully, a better product out of it, because he'll be sort of pushing me and go[ing], 'Todd, you're missing this and this and this.' Those are things that only someone close to the inner circle can do," McFarlane noted.

The Zombie figure should hit stores in the first quarter of next year, while Cooper and Joplin are expected to follow later in 2000.

-- Robert Mancini

• Alice Cooper
• Famous Monsters
• Janis Joplin
• White Zombie
• Rob Zombie

Add another contestant to the Janis Joplin biopic sweepstakes.

• Janis Joplin

The long-discussed movie of the life story of 60s blues-rock legend Janis Joplin might finally make it to the big screen.

• Janis Joplin

The Janis Joplin film, "Piece of My Heart," got a new director recently, but singer Melissa Etheridge is still out of the picture. Gary Fleder of "Kiss the Girls" fame is picking up the twice-dropped directorial torch, and has signed on to direct the biopic, budgeted at $35 million to $40 million.

Etheridge's agent at CAA says that even though there have been new developments in the project, the singer is not currently attached to it. Etheridge had been previously cast as the legendary blues singer who died at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose.

Her life partner, Julie Cypher, is still on board as the movie's producer, in conjunction with Lakeshore Entertainment's Tom Rosenberg. The musician was previously thought to be a lock for the pic, in light of her confessed love of Joplin's music, as well as Cypher's involvement in the "Piece of My Heart" script, which she helped co-write.

The film, which is titled after the Big Brother & the Holding Company song of the same name, is scheduled to start shooting sometime next year, with casting decisions expected to be finalized in the next two months.

• Melissa Etheridge
• Janis Joplin

The legends of two 60s rock figures who passed before their time, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, live on in two new releases that capture the rock icons in concert.

The late great Jimi Hendrix recently returned to record racks with "The BBC Sessions," a two-CD set of live and studio recordings laid down between 1967 and 1969 by his first band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Thirteen of the tracks on the collection have never been released before, and the album's live tracks include a now legendary performance Hendrix turned in on a show hosted by 60s pop singer Lulu, in which they performed "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream.

Meanwhile, Joplin returns to record stores with "Live At Winterland '68" which features her original backing band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. The release offers a digitally mastered version of the previously unreleased concert material.

• Jimi Hendrix
• Janis Joplin