Days after it was announced that Lizzo would be portraying rock icon Sister Rosetta Tharpe in an upcoming biopic, another legendary Black woman in music is also getting the Hollywood treatment, with Zendaya to play Ronnie Spector in an upcoming A24 film.
Barry Jenkins (Mufasa: The Lion King) is on board to direct the feature about the Ronettes star, who made early-'60s pop hits with the infamous "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector. He also happened to be an abuser who was later convicted of murder before dying in prison, but Ronnie was married to him for a while there (after the Ronettes broke up in 1967), which she detailed in her 1990 memoir, Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts and Madness.
After the couple separated in 1972, Ronnie reformed the Ronettes and launched a solo career — and went on to successfully sue Spector for unpaid royalties — that brought collaborations with the likes of Eddie Money, Bruce Springsteen and the Misfits. She released English Heart, her first new material in more than a decade, before her death in 2022.
Zendaya and Jenkins had reportedly been looking to work together for some time, and have agreed to present a more true-to-form version of Ronnie's life with the troubled producer rather than a shiny cradle-to-grave style biopic, as Deadline reports. Ronnie's life rights and the rights to the memoir will reportedly remain intact. The yet-untitled film is in development with Luca Guadagnino collaborator David Kajganich.