Zendaya, ‘Spider-Man’, Music And Social Media Star, Joining ‘The Greatest Showman On Earth’
EXCLUSIVE: Zendaya, the recording artist who nabbed a role in Spider-Man: Homecoming after years of being a Disney star, is landing another big-screen role opposite Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman in Fox’s musical The Greatest Showman On Earth. Zendaya is in negotiations to play Efron’s girlfriend in the movie. Michelle Williams is also in talks to star. The addition of Zendaya would be a welcome one as the film is a musical about P.T. Barnum, founder of what became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Michael Gracey is set to direct from a script by Michael Arndt, with Jenny Bicks, Bill Condon and Jonathan Tropper having worked on previous drafts. Laurence Mark, Jackman and Chernin Entertainment are producing the pic. Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, who were Tony-nominated for The Christmas Story, are writing original songs for the film.
Zendaya burst onto the scene years ago in Disney’s Shake it Up! and has been making the transition to the big screen. Now she will have two big studio roles under her belt — and one that can showcase her musical talent.
In terms of social media, Zendaya is one of the biggest stars with 28.8 million Instagram followers, 11.1M Facebook fans and 6.6M Twitter. Uh, yeah, that doesn’t hurt one bit.
She is repped by CAA, Monster Talent Management and attorney Bill Skrzyniarz at Skrzyniarz & Mallean.
Related stories
Michelle Williams In Talks To Join 'The Greatest Showman' With Hugh Jackman
WME Signs Filmmaker Ramin Bahrani
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
