The cover of ‘The Woman in Me.’ (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster)
The upcoming Britney Spears biopic has a screenwriter.
Liz Meriwether is set to write the film’s screenplay based on Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me, ABC Audio has learned.
Universal Pictures had no comment when reached by ABC Audio.
The biopic was announced in 2024 when Universal Pictures secured the rights to the project.
Jon M. Chu, known for Crazy Rich Asians and the Wicked films, is set to direct. Producer Marc Platt is developing the movie for his Universal-based Marc Platt Productions.
Spears first teased the project on social media in August 2024, writing on X at the time, “Excited to share with my fans that I’ve been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt. He’s always made my favorite movies … stay tuned.”
The Woman in Me was released in October 2023 and became an instant New York Times bestseller. It was the fastest-selling memoir in the history of Simon & Schuster, with over 6 million copies sold worldwide.
Meriwether is known for creating the sitcom New Girl. That series ran from 2011 to 2018 and starred Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone.
Barbara Sprouse and Dylan Sprouse attend the Grand Dîner du Louvre at Musee du Louvre on March 3, 2026 in Paris, France. (Aurore Marechal/Getty Images)
Dylan Sprouse and Barbara Palvin have entered their parent era.
The couple announced in an Instagram post on Monday that they welcomed their first baby together on Labor Day.
“We took Labor Day literally this year,” Palvin wrote in the caption of a joint post with Sprouse.
In the photo, the couple wears Dodgers jerseys and face a TV screen as a Dodger game plays. In Sprouse’s arms is their baby, who is also wearing a Dodgers shirt.
ABC News has reached out to a representative for Palvin and Sprouse for comment.
A rep for Palvin confirmed to ABC News in May that she and Sprouse were expecting.
The duo had shared an Instagram post about the news with a sonogram image showing a tiny hand making a rock ‘n’ roll hand gesture.
Sprouse and Palvin were married on July 15, 2023, in Palvin’s home country of Hungary.
In August, Sprouse appeared on Amanda Hirsch’s Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast and recalled how he met Palvin at a party where she had cut him in line for the red carpet.
He said the moment felt like a rom-com.
“I was like, ‘I don’t care how pretty you are, you’re not cutting me,'” Sprouse said. “And she turns around, and I’m wearing this red and white striped shirt, and she goes, ‘What, are you a hot dog vendor?'”
Last year, Palvin shared in an Instagram post that she’d had surgery for endometriosis.
“For some years now I’ve been dealing with the difficulties that can come with my periods. Fatigue, severe pain, heavy and irregular flow, sleepless nights on the bathroom floor. I thought this was just how it works for me,” she wrote at the time.
She continued, “[The surgery] helped me a lot, and I’m grateful I did it. Early diagnosis and treatment are very important to prevent long-term complications, and now I’m more mindful about my body to act fast if needed.”
Palvin ended the August post by saying she was “excited about this new chapter of my life and now ready to get back to work.”
The trailer for Chris Rock’s film Misty Green has arrived.
A24 has released the trailer for the upcoming drama film that was written and directed by Rock. Rosalind Eleazar stars as the titular actress Misty Green in the movie.
“Years after her Hollywood breakthrough, a talented actress whose career has stalled fights for her second act,” according to the film’s official description.
The movie also stars Rock, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick and Topher Grace.
Its trailer finds Misty in search of an acting job despite opportunities being few and far between.
“You’re not exactly an unknown, Misty,” Grace’s character tells her. He then says Hollywood is a little racist, it’s a little sexist, “But don’t act like you never had a shot.”
Rock most recently directed the film Top Five, which was released in 2014. He wrote and starred in the movie, which also starred J. B. Smoove, Kevin Hart, Sherri Shepherd, Michael Che, Tracy Morgan, Jay Pharoah, Leslie Jones, Cedric the Entertainer, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler and Whoopi Goldberg.
His other directorial efforts include 2007’s I Think I Love My Wife and 2003’s Head of State. He also starred in both of those films.
Misty Green will be released in theaters this October. It is set to debut at the 2026 Toronto Film Festival.
Blake Lively attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 4, 2026, in New York. Justin Baldoni speaks onstage at the Vital Voices 12th Annual Voices of Solidarity Award, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
A New York federal judge has ruled that Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, must pay his former It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively’s attorneys’ fees, after the parties reached a settlement last month in Lively’s lawsuit against the actor and production studio.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman denied Lively’s claim for punitive damages but wrote that the actress was entitled to attorneys’ fees under California Civil Code Section 47.1.
Section 47.1 states in part that a “prevailing defendant” in a defamation case is “entitled to their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for successfully defending themselves in the litigation,” as well as any additional damages permitted by a judge.
In a statement to ABC News following the ruling, Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb said the judge’s decision “makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant under Section 47.1.”
“Ms. Lively is gratified that her lawsuit shows how Section 47.1 and laws like it create a path for survivors to hold accountable those who weaponize online attacks and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors,” they added.
ABC News has reached out to representatives for Baldoni for comment.
Friday’s decision comes after the parties reached a settlement in early May in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, ending their nearly year-and-a-half legal dispute.
According to settlement documents filed May 7 in the Southern District of New York, Baldoni, via his Wayfarer production company, and Lively agreed to settle their ongoing dispute on terms that Lively could still seek to recover attorney’s fees and additional damages.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle kicked off in December 2024, when Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging “severe emotional distress” after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film — which Baldoni also directed — sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni followed up the action by filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy on Dec. 31 after it published the article about Lively’s California complaint.
Lively subsequently formalized her complaint into a lawsuit against Baldoni in New York, also on Dec. 31.
Baldoni responded by filing a civil lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and others for, among other things, extortion and defamation.
The suits were consolidated into one lawsuit in January 2025.
In June last year, Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as Baldoni’s defamation suit against the Times, was dismissed by Liman.
A federal judge in New York gutted much of Lively’s case against Baldoni in April of this year, including claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
The judge determined in a ruling at the time that Lively would be allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation.
In May, after reaching a settlement in their protracted legal dispute, the two actors issued a joint statement via their respective legal teams, saying, “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
