Now that Reese Witherspoon is back in Hollywood’s good graces, it’ll be interesting to see what sort of role choices the Oscar-winning actress will make in the future. On the very near horizon, her fans will be able to watch Reese in her very first action movie, This Means War, opposite Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. Beyond that, she’s got her eye on playing Peggy Lee in an upcoming biopic. Presumably, the singer’s camp approves this nearly-finalized casting decision, for Lee’s official homepage links to a Variety article from August 2010 that described Witherspoon as “the driving force behind the project” and in negotiations to star as well. Now, Page Six provides a few more details:

It looks like Reese Witherspoon could be moving closer to playing Peggy Lee in a biopic of the “Fever” songstress. The Water for Elephants star was spotted meeting with Nora Ephron and producer Marc Platt on Thursday at Barneys eatery Fred’s.

The trio made a deal last summer for Ephron to write and direct the feature, with Witherspoon starring. Witherspoon’s also producing with Platt, whose credits include Legally Blonde. The last time she sang on screen, Witherspoon won an Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash. Reps did not return calls.

[From Page Six]

Since Reese has been busily attempting to put her box-office star back where it once gloriously hung, this project has obviously languished a bit in production hell, but now that Water for Elephants has boosted her audience appeal once more (and also proved that she can still pull off more than a romcom heroine role), this Peggy Lee movie might just happen sooner than originally thought. While I’m not entirely sure that Reese is the best choice to play Peggy Lee, there’s no question that she has the singing voice to pull off at least that aspect of the role. Still, is Reese too perky for the role, or can she dial it down a notch or two?

CB was originally going to write this post because she’s a big Peggy Lee fan, and she dug up a few YouTube clips. Here’s Peggy Lee doing “Fever” in the late 1960s:

And performing “Why Don’t You Do Right” as well:

And singing “What are You Doing The Rest of Your Life,” 1970:

As well as “Is That All There Is?” circa 1970:

And just to remind everyone that Reese indeed has a serviceable singing voice, here she is playing June Carter Cash in Walk the Line:

Photos courtesy of WENN