Liza Minnelli reveals main requirement for actor playing her in new biopic

Star has previously hit out at retellings of her life story saying they ‘didn’t get it right’

Liza Minnelli says that anyone who plays her in a movie must meet one condition if they want her approval.

The 78-year-old Cabaret star has had her tell-all memoir picked up for publication in 2026, and although the book isn’t finished yet, a TV adaptation has already been optioned.

But before filming gets underway, Minnelli is adamant that the star must possess one talent if they want the role. The actor has previously been critical of retellings of her life, saying they “didn’t get it right”.

Asked who was going to play her in the new and approved version she said, “We don’t know! We’re very grateful that Academy Award, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy winners are so excited to talk with us,” in an interview with People.

“First, we need a great script and an actress who loves to move,” she explained.

“Honey, first, I’m a dancer... like the great line in [A Chorus Line]: God, I’m a dancer… a dancer dances… even with replaced hips and scoliosis!”

Minnelli has previously said that documentaries on her life and career “didn’t get it right” and a “series of unfortunate events”, like a “sabotaged appearance at the Oscars” and “a film with twisted half-truths”, changed her mind about writing her own memoir.

“Finally, I was mad as hell. Over dinner one night, I decided, it’s my own d*** story, I’m going to share it with you because of all the love you’ve given me,” she said.

Minnelli has previously been left unimpressed at retellings of her life (Getty Images)

She wrote the memoir with Pulitzer Prize winner Heidi Evans and Los Angeles Times alum Josh Getlin, and will offer a look through her childhood, career, love life, rise to fame, and struggles with substance abuse.

The star, who went into rehab for addiction in 2015, said she was excited about sharing her experience with substance misuse in a first for cinema, “The story of an SUD [substance use disorder] victor not victim, who happens to be closing in on age 80, is a first for the screen.”

She added she “wasn’t going to tell this story, until I realized, maybe I’m still alive because I have a responsibility to help people like me, whose brains are wired differently... I work on recovery every day,” she adds. “Let’s stop the shame.”