Netflix, Apple In Bidding War Over Jennifer Lawrence Oscar-Bait Film

Streaming giants, Netflix and Apple are among the wealthiest streaming services willing to give out huge amounts of money to secure an Oscar-bait film.

The bidding war is for the chance to see Jennifer Lawrence playing Sue Mengers, a legendary super-agent who donned a caftan-like suit of armour and wielded a joint like a mace while trying to get the best deal possible for her A-list clients.

Paolo Sorrentino, an Oscar winner for “The Great Beauty,” is attached to direct from a script by Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo and John Logan.

The bidding has reportedly eclipsed $80 million and could climb higher, this could mean a big payday for Lawrence, Sorrentino and company, one that they likely would not receive from studios interested in pesky things like, say, ticket sales

But Netflix and Apple are concerned with subscriptions and nothing supercharges those like buzz. Mengers is a juicy role for Lawrence, who will next be seen in Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Sorrentino’s next project, coming-of-age drama “The Hand of God,” is also set up at the streamer and will be getting an awards season push.

Bette Midler memorably played Mengers on Broadway in the one-woman show “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers,” which was also written by Logan (he just can’t quit this 10-percenter). Dyan Cannon also played a role of a barrier-breaking agent that was heavily inspired by Mengers in the 1973 mystery “The Last of Sheila.”