2024-08-07 04:04:40
The rise and fall of American pop singer Britney Spears will be told in a feature-length feature film. It was announced by the studio Universal Pictures, which bought the rights to her best-selling autobiography. The book, called The Woman in Me, has sold over 2.5 million copies in the US alone since it was published last October.
According to the AP agency, the film is to be produced by Marc Platt, signed under the musical La La Land. Jon M. Chu, who drew attention to himself with the films Let’s Dance 2 or Crazy Rich Asians, will direct. The pair have already worked together on the musical The Witch, the first part of which will be shown in cinemas this December.
“I’m excited to share with fans the news that we’re working on a secret project with Marc Platt. His movies have always been one of my favorites,” the singer said on the X social network.
Excited to share with my fans that I’ve been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt. He’s always made my favorite movies … stay tuned 🌹🎥
— Britney Spears 🌹🚀 (@britneyspears) August 1, 2024
In the book, 42-year-old Britney Spears recounts her fate from a modest upbringing in a Christian family in the state of Louisiana and acceptance into the entertainment television show The Mickey Mouse Club, through worldwide success with hits such as Toxic, Oops!… I Did It Again or …Baby One More Time to a subsequent mental breakdown, when she lived for several years under the constant attention of the tabloids. The story culminates in 2021, when the singer was freed from her father’s guardianship for more than fourteen years in court.
“It used to be one party after another. Suddenly it was like I was living in a monastery. Security would hand me wrapped envelopes with medicine and make sure I actually took them. They turned on parental controls on my iPhone. They controlled everything. Everything,” she writes. in the book.
The star went into guardianship in 2008 after suffering a mental breakdown. In practice, this meant that the father made decisions about her property and private affairs. In the book, the daughter accuses him of abusing her status, forcing her to perform against her will, take lithium or not allowing her to marry and have children.
Britney Spears fans outside a Los Angeles court in 2021. | Photo: Reuters
During the trial, fans supported her with a #FreeBritney hashtag campaign. When the court in Los Angeles terminated the guardianship in November 2021, people waiting in front of the building greeted the decision with cheers, the ČTK agency reported.
According to the British newspaper Guardian, the whole story still arouses extraordinary curiosity, as evidenced by the fact that the autobiography sold more than a million copies in the first week of its release in the US last year.
Its popularity was boosted by the fact that the audiobook was read by Hollywood actress Michelle Williams, as well as Britney Spears’ admission that she miscarried the child she was expecting with singer Justin Timberlake at the turn of the millennium. “I didn’t see it as a tragedy. I loved Justin very much. I assumed that one day we would start a family. It just would have been much earlier,” commented the celebrity, who dated the singer from 1999 to 2002, for the British BBC.
The musician, who has two teenage sons from her subsequent marriage to dancer Kevin Federline, had a second miscarriage last year. This happened shortly after she announced that she was expecting a child with her current husband of 12 years her junior and former personal trainer Sam Asghari. They were married in the summer of 2022.
According to the AP agency, the book also temporarily revived interest in the music of Britney Spears, whose audience on streaming platforms increased by tens of percent. Singer Mariah Carey experienced a similar effect when she published her autobiography The Meaning of Mariah Carey in 2020.
Music biographies have been a popular Hollywood genre in recent years. After the success of the films Bohemian Rhapsody about the singer Freddie Mercury and Elton about the pianist Elton John, films about Elvis and Priscilla, the conductor Leonard Bernstein or this year the reggae star Bob Marley and the singer Amy Winehouse hit the cinemas.
Timothée Chalamet recently completed a film about Bob Dylan, director Sam Mendes has announced four films about the Beatles, and actor Jeremy Allen White, known from the series about the cook Bear, will probably portray Bruce Springsteen.
Film biopics of Michael Jackson and Madonna are in the works, while according to Variety.com, the Universal studio is also thinking about movies about the rapper Snoop Dogg and the musician Prince.
Video: The New York Times made a documentary about the life of Britney Spears (April 1, 2021)
The singer’s story was told in 2021 by the documentary Free Britney Spears, which was filmed by the New York Times with the Hulu video library. | Video: Sky TV