Selena Gomez will portray Linda Ronstadt in an upcoming biopic on Ronstadt’s life, multiple sources have confirmed.
Ronstadt, who lives in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights, shared the news on her social media accounts Wednesday with the caption “It all started with a simple dream.” Gomez had shared an Instagram story of Ronstadt’s 2014 memoir Simple Dreams the evening prior. Like Ronstadt, Gomez is of Mexican descent.
According to Variety, producers include John Boylan, Ronstadt’s manager, and James Keach, producer of the 2019 documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.
While no other casting has been announced, the sheer number of major figures in Ronstadt’s career and personal life could call for an extensive cast list.
Ronstadt performed with the Eagles, recorded with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, toured with Neil Young and Jackson Browne, resurrected Nelson Riddle’s career and released two albums of mariachi music with Mexican legends. In the 1970s and 1980s, she maintained multi-year romantic relationships with both Governor Jerry Brown and Star Wars director George Lucas.
Along the way, Ronstadt became a legend of country, rock, Latin music and the Great American Songbook, winning 11 Grammy Awards in an exceptionally male-dominated industry. Now 77, she is no longer able to sing due to progressive supranuclear palsy, and announced her retirement in 2011.
Gomez, the 31-year-old star of the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building and a Grammy-nominated pop singer in her own right, has been teasing a new album due to release in 2024. Her latest release is the Spanish-language EP Revelación.
