Jun 13, 2007

Aniston Likes the Sound of Singing Inmates

by Sarah Hall

A movie about a group of singing prisoners is music to Jennifer Aniston's ears.

The former Friends star will executive produce and potentially star in the period musical Goree Girls, per the Hollywood Reporter. The film is based on the true story of eight women incarcerated at Texas' Goree State Farm penitentiary in the 1940s who formed one of the first all-female country and western acts in history.

The idea for the film was born out of a 2003 Texas Monthy feature by Skip Hollandsworth titled "O Sister, Where Art Thou?" which delved into the history of the little-remembered Goree All Girl String Band.

The group was made up of convicts serving time for crimes such as theft, cattle rustling and murder. Though few, if any, had any previous musical experience, they managed to become wildly popular for a brief period of time.

At their peak, the Goree Girls, as they were popularly known, drew a weekly audience of 7 million listeners to their live radio show broadcast every Wednesday evening on a Fort Worth station. The women were flooded with fan mail, flowers, candy and even marriage proposals from their male admirers.

Eventually, however, all of the group's members were pardoned, and the Goree Girls quickly faded into obscurity.

Aniston and her producing partner Kristin Hahn are developing the project through DreamWorks, with writer Margaret Nagle (HBO's Warm Springs) adapting the script. The studio is currently looking for a director.

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