Fans are excited that Zendaya will portray music legend Ronnie Spector in the biopic Be My Baby. Ronnie, born Veronica Bennett, died of cancer in January 2022. She was 78.
The biopic is based on Ronnie’s 1991 autobiography Be My Baby.
But rapper Cardi B’s fans say she should have been cast in the role.
One fan wrote: “Cardi B would actually make more sense if she could keep it together.”
Ronnie (left) is best known as lead singer of the ’60s girl group the Ronettes with her older sister, Estelle Bennett (right), and their cousin, Nedra Talley (center).
The Ronettes had a string of hits in the 1960s, including “Be My Baby” (1963), “Baby, I Love You” (1963), “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up” (1964), “Do I Love You?” (1964), and “Walking in the Rain” (1964).
Ronnie (2nd from left) is pictured with heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, Dionne Warwick, and Stevie Wonder backstage at the Apollo Theatre in 1964.
Barry Jenkins has signed on to direct the upcoming Ronnie Spector biopic. Jenkins won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Moonlight. He most recently directed Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King.
Ronnie was originally an executive producer of the biopic before her death. The film has been in development since 2020.
David Kajganich (Bones and All) will write the script for the A24 film.
According to Deadline who first reported the news, the biopic will focus on Ronnie’s six-year marriage to controversial music producer Phil Spector.
In her memoir, Ronnie recalls Phil kept a coffin with a glass top in the basement of his home, and he threatened to kill her if she ever left him.
Phil Spector died in Jan. 2021 at age 81 at a California state prison hospital, where he was serving a 19-years-to-life for murder.
