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Britney Spears Biopic Rights Purchased: Details on the Movie Based on ‘The Woman in Me’
Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me, is coming to the silver screen. Rights to turn the book into a movie were secured by Universal Pictures. The studio made the announcement on August 1, 2024, but there has been no word on when the film will start production.
Who Is Directing the Britney Spears Biopic?
Jon M. Chu, whose resume includes 2024’s Wicked, has been tapped as the director for the movie. Marc Platt, who also produced Wicked, is set to produce. There haven’t been any cast announcements at the time of this article’s publication.
“I cannot talk much about the Britney story other than I have been a Britney fan for many years,” Jon gushed in a November 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I saw her when she was one of 12 acts at the Shrine Auditorium. I’ve gone to many of her shows, and she’s always someone that I’ve looked up to. She represents a generation of people growing up in the 2000s and late ‘90s, and she has a story that deserves to be told properly. There’s a lot about us in it.”
Britney Spears Biopic Rights Were Wanted by Several Studios
The rights to the movie were reportedly the subject of several high-profile bidders.
“Britney Spears is currently in the midst of a feeding frenzy among the industry’s top studios, streamers and producers, many of whom are vying for the rights to her book,” The Ankler reported on August 1, 2024. “I’ve learned that Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Shonda Rhimes and Reese Witherspoon are but a few of the names currently gunning for the film and TV option through their respective production companies.”
The publication also stated that Netflix, Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox and Sony also vied for the project.
Britney Spears Confirmed the News of the Biopic
The same day that Universal Pictures made the announcement that the company had acquired the rights to The Woman in Me, Britney also confirmed the news.
“Excited to share with my fans that I’ve been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt,” the Crossroads star wrote via X. “He’s always made my favorite movies … stay tuned.”
As of November 2024, the script for the film had not been written. “We haven’t hired a writer yet,” Jon told The Hollywood Reporter. “But in this initial conception, I think it’s a lot about how we treat people, young people, stars that we think we own, women, mothers. There’s a lot of things in there that I would love to explore.
Britney Spears Dropped Several Bombshells in ‘The Woman in Me’
Fans of Britney will likely be chomping at the bit to see the film after The Woman in Me became one of the bestselling books of 2023. In the memoir, the “Oops! … I Did It Again” singer revealed several bombshells, including details about her relationship with ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake as well as the ongoing feud with her family.
Britney opened up about the infamous 2007 moment when she shaved her head and said it was an act of reclaiming herself.
“I’d been eyeballed so much growing up. I’d been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager,” she recalled. “Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back.”
One of the biggest secrets Britney unveiled was that she had an abortion during her relationship with the ‘NSync alum.
“It wasn’t a tragedy,” the Grammy winner wrote. “I loved Justin so much. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.”
The mom of two explained that she “would never have” had the abortion if it weren’t for Justin.
She added, “To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.”
Britney also touched on the conservatorship she was under that wouldn’t allow her to make basic life decisions.
“I accomplished a lot during that time when I was supposedly incapable of taking care of myself,” Britney wrote in the memoir. “It was almost funny how I won those awards for the album I made while I was supposedly so incapacitated that I had to be controlled by my family.”
Britney’s conservatorship was eventually terminated in November 2021.
