Apple among bidders for Sue Mengers biopic starring Jennifer Lawrence

Credit: Apple

Bidding for the film is said to have eclipsed $80 million, and could climb higher, Variety has reported. Apple Studios and Netflix are among the companies vying for the project.

The currently unnamed project is set to be directed by Paolo Sorrentino and based on a script penned by Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo, and John Logan.

No matter which studio ends up winning the project, the biopic would mark another collaboration between Lawrence and Sorrentino, who won an Oscar for "The Great Beauty" and is known for HBO projects like "The Young Pope" and "The New Pope."

In 2019, it was announced that Lawrence would star in and produce Sorrentino's "Mob Girl," an adaptation of the true crime novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Teresa Carpenter.

Apple has been steadily expanding its original film offerings for Apple TV+ since the launch of the service. The company acquired Tom Hanks war movie "Greyhound" in 2020, and landed Hanks film "Finch" in 2021. The company also reportedly spent a record-breaking $120 million to acquire "Emancipation," a star-studded movie starring Will Smith.

The company's film ambitions may also extend into acquiring current studios. Back in July, the company was reportedly in talks to acquire buzzy indie studio A24.