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After speaking out about her desire for Hollywood to support female filmmakers in making more original content, Margot Robbie is continuing to dispel myths around her upcoming work.
The 33-year-old actress was previously reported to be one of many film industry heavyweights who were interested in adapting Britney Spears’ best-selling memoir, The Woman In Me, into a live-action biopic.
Robbie, who served as executive producer on Barbie and Saltburn (among others), was alleged to have contented with the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Brad Pitt in an “eight-figure” bidding war for the theatrical rites of Spears’ novel.
Through her production company LuckyChap Entertainment, which she co-founded with husband Tom Ackerley, Robbie focuses on empowering female narratives and telling the stories of unsung heroines, such as the riveting Netflix series Maid or reframing the story of disgraced ice skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya.
It’s not outside of Robbie’s wheelhouse to adapt source material as profound and pertinent as Spears’ work. But according to the actress and executive producer herself, Spears’ truth won’t be told under her helm.
When asked earlier in the year about the reports, Robbie revealed that she was only just hearing of the murmurs and that it’s “not true”. Then again at the 2023 Gotham Awards, Robbie doubled down to reject the notion by denying claims that she was looking to play Spears in the film adaptation of her life. “Not true,” Robbie said through a stifled laugh before adding, “Love Britney, though, love Britney!”
Spears, who sold over a million copies of the book in the first week of publishing, hasn’t publicly touched on the possibilities of adapting her life and legacy into a movie. The memoir served as a medium for Spears to finally share her side of the story, so it’s possible that the reported “bidding war” will be futile.
Michelle Williams, who was praised for her narration of the audiobook version of the memoir, helped breathe life into the dark tale of tortured romances, a forced abortion and a fatal 13-year conservatorship. Based on Spears’ reaction to a potential biopic in November 2022, it appears this sonic version may be the closest we get to a theatrical release. “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life…dude I’m not dead !!!” Spears wrote at the time.
