Barry Jenkins to Direct A24’s Ronnie Spector Biopic Starring Zendaya

This is an interesting development. A24 is reteaming with “Moonlight” helmer Barry Jenkins on the Ronnie Spector biopic “Be My Baby.” Zendaya is set to play the lead role (via Deadline).

Dave Kajganich has been hired to write the screenplay. Zendaya will be playing the legendary singer, iconic lead singer of the 1960s girl group The Ronettes, whose “Be My Baby” is one of the greatest songs ever recorded.

Sources say that Jenkins is trying to avoid making a traditional biopic, and will attempt to tackle a specific part of Spector’s life — potentially her batsh*t crazy marriage with loony-producing genius (and convicted murderer) Phil Spector.

No word yet on whether this will be Jenkins’ next film, but he recently signed on to direct Universal’s sci-fi film, “The Natural Order,” starring Glen Powell which I believe is currently being written.

After getting his Disney paycheck for “Mufasa,” Jenkins has now lined up two interesting projects. We’ll see where he goes from there, and which one comes first out of the gate.

Mufasa,” a peculiar big studio venture for him. Jenkins was accused of “selling out” after hopping onboard the Disney-backed prequel, and he shot back at his critics, a few times, including on social media (“Bruh, What Kind of Logic is That?"). A few months later, he would admit that his experience shooting the VFX-heavy movie was “not my thing.”