Pop Culture

Zendaya Set to Star as Ronnie Spector in Barry Jenkins-Directed Film

Spector picked Zendaya to play her in the movie before she died in 2022.

Zendaya in an orange dress and Barry Jenkins in a suit at a formal event.
(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/WireImage), (Photo by Belinda Jiao/Getty Images)

Zendaya has joined forces with A24 and director Barry Jenkins to star in a film based on the life of singer Ronnie Spector.

According to Deadline, Zendaya will play Spector in the film, which will focus on her relationship with producer Phil Spector. Dave Kajganich will write an original screenplay, and Zendaya is set to produce it alongside Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, Mark Itkin, and Tom Shelly. Jonathan Greenfield will executive produce.

Before she passed away in 2022, Spector was an executive producer on the film and picked Zendaya to play her. This will be Zendaya's third collaboration with A24 after Euphoria, and the upcoming film The Drama with Robert Pattinson.

Spector was a star in the 1960s as a member of The Ronettes with her older sister, Estelle Bennett, and their cousin, Nedra Talley. They signed to Phil Spector's label Philles Records in 1963, and their hits include "Be My Baby," "Baby, I Love You," "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up," and more.

Shortly after signing with Spector in 1963, Ronnie got into a relationship with him and got married in 1968. However, by the early 1970s, their marriage had ran into its issues and they divorced by 1974. Spector embarked on a solo career in the 1980s and released four albums between 1987 and 2016.

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