\n<\/p>\n
\n\tRecently, A24 announced<\/a> that the highly-anticipated Ronnie Spector<\/a> biopic, starring Zendaya<\/a>, will be directed by Barry Jenkins. The film, titled Be My Baby <\/em>(of course), is based on Spector\u2019s 1990 memoir Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, or, My Life as a Fabulous Ronette<\/em>. The girl-group legend personally chose Zendaya to play her shortly before her death<\/a> in 2022. \u201cThank you for sharing your life with me, I could listen to your stories for hours and hours,\u201d Zendaya wrote<\/a> in a tribute back then. \u201cI hope I make you proud.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBe My Baby<\/em> is just one of the several highly buzzy biopics of female musicians that are currently in the works. There\u2019s also the long-promised Janis Joplin film<\/a> starring Shailene Woodley<\/a>, as well as a Linda Ronstadt movie<\/a> where the powerhouse vocalist will be played by Selena Gomez<\/a>, and another in which Lizzo<\/a> will play pioneering guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe<\/a>. And in February 2026, the Cass Elliot biopic My Mama, Cass<\/a><\/em>, was announced, starring Baby Reindeer\u2018<\/em>s\u00a0Jessica Gunning. The film is currently in development.<\/p>\n \n\tThese movies all follow a slew of successful male biopics \u2014 most obviously last year\u2019s Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown<\/em><\/a>, which garnered Oscar nominations for star Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and others, but also the Queen<\/a> movie, which Rami Malek actually won an Oscar for, and don\u2019t forget the recent films that dramatized the life stories of Elvis<\/a>, Elton John<\/a>, Bob Marley<\/a>, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a>, and Robbie Williams as a chimp for some reason<\/a>. It will be refreshing to see female musicians get the same Hollywood treatment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThese projects famously take years to make, and projects often fall apart due to entanglements with musicians\u2019 estates and music rights. In December 2024, Woodley knocked on the wood of Jimmy Fallon\u2019s desk so she didn\u2019t jinx the chances of the Joplin film happening. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on it for seven years now,\u201d she told the TV host. \u201cShe\u2019s such a groovy chick, man. She really brought the light to this planet in a really singular way.\u201d<\/p>\n