Emma Roberts is eager to take on a role that could be a career-defining moment. After receiving a major endorsement, Roberts is campaigning to portray Britney Spears in a potential biopic based on Spears’ memoir, The Woman In Me.
The buzz started when Britney Spears’ longtime assistant suggested that Roberts would be the perfect fit to play the pop icon. In response, Roberts shared her enthusiasm, revealing that she’s been preparing for such an opportunity for over two decades.
“I was thrilled when I heard her assistant’s suggestion,” Roberts told Cosmopolitan. “It’s honestly my dream role. I know it’s just a rumor right now, but I really hope it comes true. I remember locking myself in my room as a kid, listening to In the Zone, and telling myself, ‘I’m not leaving until I know every word.’”
Roberts also expressed her deep admiration for Spears, saying, “I sing Britney’s songs to my son during bath time. I’m sure he thinks I’m a little strange, but that’s just millennial parenting for you.”
The idea of Roberts playing Spears was first floated by Felicia Culotta, Spears’ longtime assistant, who pointed out the parallels between Roberts’ early stardom on Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous and Spears’ own rise to fame on Disney Channel’s The All-New Mickey Mouse Club. Culotta even suggested that Timothée Chalamet could play Justin Timberlake, Spears’ famous ex, and Drew Barrymore could portray Culotta herself.
Following the release of Spears’ memoir, which quickly topped the New York Times best-seller list, a bidding war erupted among studios. Universal eventually secured the rights, with Wicked director Jon M. Chu set to direct the adaptation.
The memoir chronicles Spears’ journey from her childhood in Mississippi and Louisiana to her meteoric rise with the 1999 hit album …Baby One More Time, her 2008 conservatorship, and her eventual fight for freedom.