Filmmaker Jon M Chu has spoken out amid rumours about who will play Britney Spears in a new biopic based on her life.
Back in January, the director confirmed that he was set to helm a new film adaptation of Britney’s 2023 memoir The Woman In Me, with Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown making no secret of her hopes to land the lead role.
However, in an article published last week, Life & Style claimed that there were several other A-listers “clamouring” for the role besides Millie.
Citing an undisclosed “insider”, the magazine claimed that Sabrina Carpenter had her eye on the role, while also mentioning Ariana Grande, who recently landed her first Oscar nomination for her work on another of Jon’s films, Wicked.
Posting on X on Sunday morning, though, Jon insisted that these rumours were unfounded.
“None of this is true,” he wrote. “Sounds exciting but have not had one conversation about casting this movie yet.
“We are way too early in development. Sorry.”
Jon claimed at the Golden Globes in January that the Britney movie was in its “very early” stages, but that Britney would be “very involved” in the process when production gets underway.
“I’ve seen all the fan casting, I’ve seen all that stuff,” he added. “And I always take that into consideration because maybe there’s a good idea there. But we’ll have to see.
“We’ll have to see what the approach of the movie is before we know who’s right for it. But I’m open for anything.”