Theory: Maybe Selena Gomez’s social-media break is actually a Method-acting exercise to get in the headspace of a singer who began performing in the late 1960s and thus didn’t have social media. Sure, we’re just spitballing — but Gomez is set to play vocal legend Linda Ronstadt in an upcoming biopic. Rolling Stone confirmed the news after the Only Murders in the Building star posted a photo of Ronstadt’s 2013 memoir, Simple Dreams, to her Instagram Story, just before she got into character and logged off. “I’m stepping into someone’s life, and that can be really intimidating,†she later said to Rolling Stone in a March 4 interview about her single “Love On.†“But I’m beyond inspired by [Ronstadt], and I know too much about her at this point.†According to Variety, David O. Russell has been chosen to direct the biopic — Russell has worked with Gomez’s close friend Taylor Swift recently in Amsterdam. The as-yet-untitled Rondstadt biopic is being co-produced by John Boylan, who is the singer’s manager, and James Keach, who previously produced Ronstadt’s 2019 documentary, The Sound of My Voice.
Ronstadt had a decades-long career singing everything from rock and country music to Mexican folk songs and opera, with everyone from her early band the Stone Poneys to her Trio sisters Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. She retired from performing in 2011 and later revealed she was unable to sing due to progressive supranuclear palsy. Since then, Ronstadt has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and was a subject of the Kennedy Center Honors. This was all covered in The Sound of My Voice, so it’s unclear whether the new biopic will trace a similar long arc or zoom in on part of Ronstadt’s career. Gomez, though, seems to be doing whatever she can to be so good, be so good, be so good in this role.
This post has been updated.