Cat Power Discusses Role in New Janis Joplin Doc

Photo by Jenni Li

Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall, is the narrator of Janis, a forthcoming documentary about Janis Joplin. In the film, Marshall reads letters the late singer wrote her family, an experience she’s discussed in a new interview with NME.

“To be asked to read letters was intimate,” she said. “They were all to her family which makes it even more crushing. [Like Janis] I left the South – I’m the only person in my family to ever leave the South – and I have written letters to my family so I felt these pangs and feelings she had when she was hanging out with The Grateful Dead; I was on tour with Guided by Voices when I was around 25 or I met Patti Smith when I was 26.

She concluded: “I feel like her main goal in life was to feel loved, and so the last [letter] really fucked me up because she was again writing to her family to say ‘I fucking disappointed you guys and I love you’ and it was just heartbreaking… I hope that people see how much she loved and wanted to be loved.”

Read the full interview at NME.

Janis was made with the support of Joplin’s estate. The movie was directed by Oscar-nominated Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil), and premieres this month at the Venice Film Festival. 

Read our Cover Story on Cat Power.

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