Β ZendayaΒ might have another big project to make room for on her calendar! According to Deadline, the 24-year-old Emmy award-winning actress is in talks to play Ronnie Spector in a movie about her life. Deals have just closed on her life rights and her memoir βBe My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts And Madnessβ that she wrote in 1990 with Vince Waldron.
The American independent entertainment company A24 is putting together a film package that will have Zendaya attached. Early conversations are also in motion for Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury to write the script. Spector reportedly hand-selected Zendaya as the actress she wished to portray her. Similarly to how Aretha Franklin chose Jennifer Hudson for her upcoming biopic Respect.Β The biopic will be produced by Marc Platt, executive produced by Jonathan Greenfield and Ronnie Spector. Zendaya will reportedly serve as a producer as well.
Spector was born Veronica Yvette Bennett on August 10, 1943, and is a famous singer from the 60βs girls group called βThe Ronnettes.β She fronted the band with her older sister Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley and they released catchy hits from the early to mid-1960s. They are famously known for their classic songs βBe My Baby,β βBaby, I Love Youβ and βWalking In the Rain.β Unfortunately, her career abruptly halted after her marriage to disgraced record producer Phil Spector. He subjected her to years of psychological abuse and sabotaged her career by forbidding her to perform. She detailed his abuse in her memoir how he would use adopted children to control her. βThe more kids I got, the further I was in that mansion and I never got out until I ran out and escaped,β she said in an interview with Vice.Β
© GettyImagesZendaya would certainly have her work cut out for her emotionally while shooting the film. Ronnie escaped the mansion she lived in with Phil barefoot with the help of her mother in 1972. She said she knew if she didnβt that she was going to die there. The house was surrounded with barbed wire and guard dogs and her shoes were confiscated to keep her from leaving. If she was allowed to leave alone Ronnie had to drive with a life-size dummy of Phil. According to Ronnie, Phil installed a gold coffin with a glass top in the basement as a promise that he would kill her and display her corpse if she ever left him so, he can keep my eye on her after she died. Phil is currently serving a maximum sentence in prison after murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.
