Emma Roberts is all game to play Britney Spears in an upcoming biopic based on her memoir, “The Woman In Me.”
The actress, known for her roles in Ryan Murphy‘s “Scream Queens” and the “American Horror Story” anthology, addressed the casting suggestion made earlier this month by the popstar’s former longtime assistant Felicia Culotta.
“I mean, it’s my true dream to play Britney Spears,” Roberts revealed to Cosmopolitan when asked if she’d heard that Culotta said she’d be the perfect fit for the role. “It’s a rumor, but I hope maybe it’ll come true.”
She even claimed to have been preparing for the gig for at least 20 years: “I remember I locked myself in my room and listened to [album] ‘In the Zone’ and said, ‘I cannot leave this room until I memorize every word.’”
The 33-year-old daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Oscar winner Julia Roberts confessed to being a huge fan of the “Toxic” singer, who became a bestselling author with her bombshell autobiography dropped last fall.
“I sing Britney to my son in the bath all the time,” she shared about her 3-year-old son, Rhodes. “I’m always like, ‘God, he must think I’m so weird.’ That’s some millennial parenting.”
Following the announcement that “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu would bring the memoir to the big screen, Culotta suggested Roberts was the best woman for the “Woman In Me.” She rationalized that the former child star had a lot in common with Spears, since they both were exposed to fame at a young age.
Roberts made her acting debut in 2001 at the age of 10, later gaining stardom as the lead of Nickelodeon teen sitcom “Unfabulous” from 2004 to 2007. Spears meanwhile got her own showbiz start at the age of 11 on the Disney Channel‘s “The All-New Mickey Mouse Club.”
As for some of the other significant characters in the film, Culotta — who was also featured prominently in the book — thinks Drew Barrymore should take on the role of her, while she believes Timothée Chalamet would make a great Justin Timberlake.
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