Jessica Gunning, who broke out in “Baby Reindeer,” has been cast as Cass Elliot in “My Mama Cass,” a biographical drama about the singer of the 1960s folk group Mamas and the Papas.
The film, based on the memoir of the same name by Elliott’s only child, Owen Elliott-Kugel, focuses on the life, legacy, and music of the influential artist. Emma Forrest is writing the screenplay. There are no directors. The press release emphasizes that My Mama Cass is “not a Mamas and the Papas biopic.”
Best known as the strongest singer of the 1960s pop group the Mamas and the Papas, Elliott was a staple of the Los Angeles music scene in the mid-to-late 1960s. Her Laurel Canyon home was the epicenter of the young and brilliant of the time. One photo album showed her with Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Eric Clapton, Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees, and several other celebrities hanging out, walking through a shopping street and eating lunch while the then-relative Mitchell played guitar and sang.
In 1967, the Mamas and the Papas were the closing act of the legendary Monterey Pop Festival. The festival was hosted by the group’s troubled leader, John Phillips, and effectively launched the careers of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, and others. Other acts on the three-day bill included Simon & Garfunkel, the Byrds, Otis Redding, the Grateful Dead, Lou Rawls and Ravi Shankar.
After the Mamas and the Papas disbanded in 1968, Elliott’s solo career was less stable. But she produced hits like “Make Your Own Kind of Music” (which recently became a big hit on TikTok and inspired a “Saturday Night Live” parody about its unexpected comeback) and “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” She was a familiar presence on television at the time, having her own variety show for one season in 1969, imaginatively titled “Mama Cass Television Show.” One highlight was her and Peter Paul & Mary’s Mitchell and Mary Travers singing Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” together.
The press release also states that “My Mama Cass” will detail Elliott-Kugel’s journey to dispel the longstanding and unfair rumor that her mother’s death, at just 32 years old, was caused by choking on a ham sandwich. Elliott’s cause of death was officially a heart attack.
Veritas Entertainment, which recently produced the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, is producing My Mama Cass. This project confirms Showbiz 411’s previous report and has been shared with buyers and investors.
Gunning appeared in several TV shows including “Law & Order UK” and “The Outlaws” before finding fame in Netflix’s hit mini-series “Baby Reindeer.” She won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Broadcast Film Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of Martha Scott, a lonely woman who becomes obsessed with and then begins stalking a bartender at a local London pub. Since then, Gunning has starred in the dark comedy The Christophers, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and joined the casts of the fantasy adventure The Magic Faraway Tree and the Angelina Jolie-starring comedy Anxious People. She is repped by UTA and Jonty Brook of Markham Froggatt & Irwin.
