Selena Gomez cast as folk rock trailblazer Linda Ronstadt in new biopic

‘Only Murders in the Building’ star teased the casting announcement on Instagram with a photo of her reading the singer’s 2013 memoir ‘Simple Dreams’

Selena Gomez will star as folk rock trailblazer Linda Ronstadt in an upcoming biopic.

The former Disney Channel actor and singer, 31, teased the casting announcement on her Instagram Story on Tuesday (9 January) with a photo of her reading Ronstadt’s 2013 memoir, Simple Dreams.

The untitled project is said to be in pre-production, according to Variety, with the 77-year-old “Blue Bayou” singer’s manager, John Boylan, attached as a producer, along with James Keach, the producer of the 2019 documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.

No other casting has yet been revealed.

The news has been celebrated online by several Gomez fans, who have praised the casting as “perfect”. “I mean look at the material. She’s gonna kill it in this role, ahh,” one person tweeted.

“Phenomenal casting,” a second declared, while a third called Gomez’s resemblance to Rondstadt “uncanny”. The Wizards of Waverly Place alum has previously said that she used to always get told that she looked like the iconic singer.

Ronstadt is said to have given Gomez her stamp of approval, TMZ reported.

Selena Gomez and Linda Ronstadt (Getty Images)

The Latin artist Rondstadt rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as part of the folk rock and country rock scene. She became best known for her 1974 album Heart Like a Wheel and 1977 album Simple Dreams, with the former earning her an Album of the Year Grammy nomination.

Rondstadt went on to win 11 Grammy awards throughout her career before announcing her retirement from music in 2011. She later revealed that she is no longer able to sing due to supranuclear palsy, which was originally misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s disease.

Gomez, who is also of Mexican descent, can currently be seen in Hulu’s Emmy-nominated comedy Only Murders in the Building. She most recently landed a 2024 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Female Actor on Television in a Musical/Comedy Series for her role as Mabel. However, The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri won the category.

Earlier this week, the “Lose You To Love Me” singer announced that she would be going on another social media break following the Golden Globe gossip.

During the Sunday ceremony, Gomez was seen chatting with Taylor Swift. Several eagle-eyed viewers speculated that Gomez told Swift that Kylie Jenner said “no” when she asked Timotheé Chalamet for a photo. But according to the “Bad Liar” singer, she was whispering about two friends who had hooked up.

“I told Taylor about two of my friends who hooked up,” she commented on E! News’s Instagram post. “Not that that’s anyone’s business.”