Billie Eilish Begins Filming in Toronto for 'The Bell Jar' Adaptation

Billie Eilish is trading the recording studio for a Toronto film set as production begins on The Bell Jar, Sarah Polley’s upcoming adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s landmark novel. The first images of the singer in character have now surfaced online, offering the first glimpse of Eilish as Esther Greenwood, the young writer at the centre of Plath’s acclaimed 1963 story.

Shot in and around Toronto, the production has transformed parts of the city and surrounding region into a 1950s American landscape. Reports on Reddit and elsewhere have placed filming at locations including Kensington Market, where streets were redesigned with vintage vehicles and period details, as well as downtown Toronto and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

The newly released set photos show Eilish's dramatic visual transformation, replacing her usual baggy clothes with the clothing, hairstyle and aesthetic of mid-century America. It is the Grammy and Oscar-winning artist’s first major feature film performance, after her appearance in Donald Glover’s 2023 series Swarm.

Adapted and directed by Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley, The Bell Jar follows young reporter Esther Greenwood as she navigates ambition, identity and the expectations placed on women in the 1950s. Polley, who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking, brings her focus on complex female characters to one of the most celebrated works of 20th-century literature. While a release date for The Bell Jar has not yet been announced, the first images have already generated significant attention.