Britney Spears' autobiography The Woman in Me came out on Oct. 24 and sold over a million copies in its first week. Interest in Spears' story never completely waned in popular culture, with her first-person confessional reminding us why she's so compelling beyond her hit songs.
It's no wonder, then, that Hollywood heavyweights are reportedly duking it out for rights to adapt her story into a film or TV series. Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes was first rumored to have the inside track. After all, Rhimes wrote the 2002 Spears film Crossroads. However, Page Six has reported that per a source, Rhimes isn't interested.
Reports still link three major stars with successful production companies to the project: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Reese Witherspoon.
Pitt's Plan B Entertainment has a track record with celebrity biopics, such as the Marilyn Monroe-focused Blonde (2022) and the forthcoming film Bob Marley: One Love. Robbie's LuckyChap Entertainment had a hand in some of her more memorable movies, such as I, Tonya (2017) and Barbie (2023). Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine has produced Gone Girl (2014), Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) and other blockbusters.
Hollywood newsletter The Ankler reported that Spears recently cancelled a meeting with an unnamed producer "at the last minute" because she "didn't feel up to it."
One of The Ankler's sources added that Spears has been "overwhelmed by the response" to her book, so she's going to "hold off on making any major decisions about where the rights end up until she has time to catch her breath."
The Ankler also reported that Spears is in talks to appear in a documentary about herself that'll earn her an estimated $40 million.
Per its website, The Woman in Me is "a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith and hope."
