Zendaya teams with Barry Jenkins for A24 music biopic about Ronnie Spector

Zendaya will showcase her musical prowess in a biopic about a Hall of Fame singer.

Per Deadline, Zendaya will star in a movie about the life of Ronnie Spector. Oscar winner Barry Jenkins will direct the Spector movie from a screenplay by Dave Kajganich. Instead of a traditional biopic, Zendaya will play Spector in a movie focusing on the singer’s life with troubled producer Phil Spector.

Zendaya will play Spector, the artist who co-founded The Ronettes in 1959. The original lineup included Spector, her sister Estelle Bennett, and cousin Nedra Talley. The Ronettes are best known for the hit songs Be My Baby, (The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up, Walking in the Rain, and Baby, I Love You. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

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Spector died in January 2022 at the age of 78 after a brief battle with cancer. Before her death, Spector reportedly hand-picked Zendaya to play her in a movie.

A24 will produce the biopic with Zendaya, Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, Mark Itkin, Tom Shelly, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak. Jonathan Greenfield will executive produce.

Zendaya is currently filming the long-awaited third season of Euphoria. She will then join the cast of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. A leaked character list has Zendaya playing Athena, a goddess and Odysseus’ mentor. Zendaya also stars alongside Robert Pattinson in The Drama, an A24 rom-com expected to premiere later this year.

Jenkins, who won an Oscar for Moonlight, is coming off the success of Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, which grossed $720 million worldwide.