Well, this is cool. Ronnie Spector had one of the wildest lives in pop music history. She led the Ronettes, the early-'60s girl group who made some of the all-time great pop songs with producer Phil Spector. But then Ronnie married Phil Spector, who was an erratic abuser who was later convicted of murder and died in prison. Ronnie stories about Spector, told in the 1990 memoir Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts And Madness. After she got away from Phil, Ronnie made a grand return, collaborating with fans like Eddie Money, Bruce Springsteen, and Joey Ramone. She passed away in 2022 at the age of 78. Now, her story will become a movie, and it'll have some very big names attached.
Five years ago, we learned that Zendaya, one of the most vital young stars in Hollywood, was in talks to play Ronnie Spector in a biopic. Now, it's happening. Deadline reports that the film is moving forward and that Barry Jenkins, director of Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk, is set to direct. It'll evidently mark his return to real movies after he did last year's Mufasa: The Lion King. Zendaya and Jenkins have reportedly wanted to work together for some time, and they landed on a story that'll focus on Ronnie Spector's turbulent time with Phil, rather than her full life story. That's a good thing; these movies generally turn out way better when they focus on defined parts of a person's life. But I hope we get to see someone play Eddie Money anyway.
The parties involved have secured Ronnie Spector's life rights and those for her memoir Be My Baby, and there's a screenplay in the works from David Kajganich, who previously wrote the Luca Guadagnino films A Bigger Splash, Suspiria, and Bones And All. Zendaya will produce the film alongside Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, Mark Itkin, and Tom Shelly. Ronnie Spector reportedly came on board as executive producer before she died, and she reportedly chose Zendaya to play her. Zendaya does look a lot like a young Spector, and she had her own run as a teenage pop singer. We don't yet have any word on when production will start or who else is in the cast, so we probably won't see this movie for a while. I bet it'll be good, though!
