Coin Press - Britney biopic in works as Universal buys memoir rights

"Crazy Rich Asians" director Jon Chu is attached to develop and direct the film, based on Spears's recent autobiographical book "The Woman In Me," the company said in a statement to AFP.

Universal won a "highly competitive auction" for the film adaptation rights, with "La La Land" producer Marc Platt due to oversee the project, it said.

"Excited to share with my fans that I've been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt. He's always made my favorite movies," Spears herself posted on social media Thursday.

"Stay tuned," she told fans.

"The Woman In Me" laid bare the troubled singer's journey from child star to global pop phenomenon, as well as her subsequent high-profile public breakdown and legal battles with her father.

Full of criticism of her controlling family and an industry that mercilessly devours its talent, the book sold over 2.5 million copies in the United States alone following its publication last October.

Spears's phenomenal early music success with late 1990s hits like "...Baby One More Time" coincided with an aggressive paparazzi culture that delighted in capturing her partying alongside hell-raisers like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

In the book, Spears revealed that Justin Timberlake urged her to have an abortion after she became pregnant during their relationship.

And she shared details of her brief but intense affair with Irish actor and Oscar nominee Colin Farrell, which she called "a two-week brawl."

Following Spears's public breakdown, she was placed under the conservatorship of her father Jamie Spears, who controlled her money and her personal life, even as she continued to perform high-profile concerts.

The conservatorship was dissolved by a Los Angeles court in 2021, after a groundswell of public support to "Free Britney."

Her father has always insisted that he had the best interests of his daughter at heart and was seeking to protect her from exploitation.

No release date has been set for the Britney film.

Universal has previously released musical biopics about hip-hop group N.W.A ("Straight Outta Compton") and rapper Eminem ("8 Mile.")

Chu is also directing Universal's big-budget, two-part movie adaptation of the musical "Wicked," with the first film out in November.

J.Bondarev--CPN