Madame Web star addresses Britney Spears biopic casting rumours as she calls role her ‘true dream’

Emma Roberts has addressed the whispers linking her to the upcoming Britney Spears biopic. Speaking to TMZ last month, the iconic popstar’s long-time assistant Felicia Culotta claimed Roberts would be the perfect choice to portray Spears in director Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of memoir The Woman in Me – pointing to the early years parallels between the duo; Roberts worked for Nickelodeon while Spears was employed at the Disney Channel. Culotta also namechecked Timothée Chalamet to play Justin Timberlake, who dated Spears for three years, and Drew Barrymore as the PA herself. “I was like, I love her assistant,” actress Roberts told Cosmo of the casting chatter. “I mean, it’s my true dream to play Britney Spears. It’s a rumour, but I hope maybe it’ll come true. I mean, I remember I locked myself in my room and listened to In the Zone and said, ‘I cannot leave this room until I memorise every word.’ “I sing Britney to my son in the bath all the time. I’m always like, ‘God, he must think I’m so weird.’ That’s some millennial parenting,” she continued. The Madame Web star faces stiff competition from Stranger Things breakout Millie Bobby Brown though, who previously revealed she’d opt for the ‘Toxic’ singer if she was to bring a real person to life on screen. “Her story resonates with me. Just growing up in the public eye, watching her videos, watching interviews of her when she was younger… I don’t know her, but when I look at pictures of her, I feel like I could tell her story in the right way,” she said. Meanwhile, back when news of a Spears film was first doing the rounds, a source exclusively told The Mirror: “Britney’s book was a ground-breaking bestseller and raised the public’s consciousness with regards to how the entertainment industry and conservatorships work. She’s in advanced talks to turn it into a cinematic release and her songwriters have been informed that some of her songs will be used once it is greenlit. If necessary, the project could become a mini-series in the style of Genius: Aretha. “Female writers are being approached to turn the book into a script because only a woman can understand the nuances that made Britney’s role in her family, and position in pop culture, so complicated.”