Celebrities manifesting dream roles8 Images
In the past month, Millie Bobby Brown has transformed into Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, Gywneth Paltrow and Shania Twain. Sartorially, that is. The 21-year-old Stranger Things actress and her stylist, Bryan Young, have been paying tribute to the blonde bombshells with 90s and y2k-inspired looks, tagging their chosen muse of the day.
But could it be that this is all creating a distraction from the main blonde in Brown’s life right now, Britney Spears? “If it’s done basically with or without me, I’m so, so, so excited for it,” the actress said during an interview earlier this week (March 18), addressing rumours that she will play Spears in the upcoming biopic. “I think it’s going to be a brilliant story with a brilliant core, which is, you know, Britney.”
Since bleaching her hair honey blonde last month, Brown has been the fan favourite to play Britney in the movie, which is set to be directed by Wicked’s Jon M Chu. If not Brown, across social media, others are placing their bets on Addison Rae – who was famously photographed reading The Woman in Me memoir in 2023 – and is from Britney’s hometown of Louisiana. Meanwhile, other names such as Dove Cameron, Sydney Sweeney and even Natalie Portman are being thrown around. That said, no one else is channelling Britney’s nostalgic 00s looks quite like Brown. With every swish of those tousled blonde locks and each jangle of an oversized hoop earring, she may as well be saying, “Oops… I did it again”.
For years now, we’ve been aware that Brown is a Britney fan. In 2022, she told Drew Barrymore the singer would be her “dream role” – but could she be using her fashion choices as an audition? She certainly wouldn’t be the first to manifest a role. It’s pretty well known that Ariana Grande had wanted a role in Wicked since she was a child. At 10 years old, she met Kristen Chenoweth (Broadway’s original Glinda) for the first time, when Grande went backstage to meet the cast after the show. Flash forward two decades, and well, look what happened. “It’s wild to think that something I manifested as a kid has become real,” she said in an interview earlier this year.
Clearly, manifestation worked for Ariana. It worked so well in fact, that fans have been speculating that she might now be attempting it again. With Glinda already in the bag, has she now set her sights on Audrey Hepburn? Back in 2022, it was announced that Luca Guadagnino would be directing an Audrey Hepburn biopic starring Rooney Mara. Then, during a Q&A in 2023, Guadagnino revealed that he was no longer involved in the project and it seems to have gone quiet since. Either way, if Grande’s recent fashion choices are anything to go by, she appears to be throwing her hat in the ring.
At the 2025 Golden Globes in January, Grande and her stylist Mimi Cuttrell managed to unearth a pastel yellow couture gown from 1966, designed by Hubert de Givenchy himself and styled with a pair of white opera gloves. Famously, Givenchy was Hepburn’s friend, collaborator and go-to designer. “Givenchy’s clothes are the only ones I feel myself in,” Hepburn once said. During awards season, Grande also opted for 50s and 60s archive looks from the likes of Pierre Balmain, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, continuing her Old Hollywood streak.
Then, at the Oscars, a surprise third contestant entered the race. Giving us our first glimpse of Sarah Burton’s Givenchy, Elle Fanning debuted the new direction for the house by wearing a dress that took us back to 1952. It was the first time Fanning had attended the Academy Awards, and to mark the occasion, Burton designed a gown based on Hubert de Givenchy’s debut collection – a dress originally worn by Warhol Factory star Ivy Nicholson.
Adding fuel to fire, Fanning’s makeup artist Erin Ayanian Monroe wrote on Instagram: “I wanted to bring to mind the classic Hollywood beauty of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor et al.” It seems that Fanning could potentially be another Hepburn hopeful (that or Burton has been tapped as costume designer for the elusive biopic). But if the film really is going ahead, you can guarantee the Givenchy archive is being ransacked as we speak.
Of course, we have to also consider the possibility that these are simply narratives created by fans who want to see it happen. It may even be true that fans are manifesting even harder than the celebs. Since Emma D’Arcy first landed their breakout role in HBO’s House of the Dragon, the internet has made frequent comparisons between them and Hunter Schafer. Then, when both actors wore brooding leather ensembles last year, the internet erupted and pleaded for them to star in a vampire movie together. “That would be so cool. I think we could play siblings,” said Schafer in an interview. Sure, D’Arcy and Schafer as Cullen siblings would blow our minds, but, should it happen, it feels like the fandom should maybe take the credit for manifesting that one.
Similarly, perhaps more so than vampires, Schafer’s fans are desperate for her to play Zelda (as in, Nintendo’s warrior princess). Speculation began in 2022, at the Vanity Fair Oscars party, when Schafer wore a particularly elfin look by Rick Owens. Her long, white-blonde hair was gelled down, drawing attention to her slightly pointed ears.
Speaking of mythical realms, it was leaked last week that Charli xcx is reportedly in talks to play Jadis, The White Witch in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia movie. We already know that Charli is in her acting era, but the Turkish-delight-bearing witch was not on our bingo card. That said, looking back at her Grammy’s look from last month – a custom couture Jean Paul Gaultier by Ludovic de Saint Sernin design – there is a similarity to Tilda Swinton’s ragged, icy gown from the 2005 movie (which was inspired by McQueen’s AW99 collection, The Overlook).
Casting has long been a fraught and complicated process. Back in 2022, for example, the world learned of the Madonna bootcamp: a gruelling and exhaustive process in which actresses (who had been shortlisted by Madonna herself), battled it out to land the leading role in the pop legend’s biopic. Florence Pugh, Odessa Young and Sky Ferreira were all in the running, but it was Julia Garner who won the part. Despite the project being cancelled the following year, the young stars participated in 11-hour-long choreography sessions, readings with Madonna herself and a series of singing auditions.
Maybe the red carpet could be a new variation of the Madonna bootcamp? These months-long audition processes, which involve becoming the desired characters in real life, could help stars prove to the world that they’re the perfect fit. Is it a deliberate manifestation? Is it simply fans willing it into being? Or is it the sly third option: are celebrities choosing their outfits knowing that the internet will draw immediate comparisons and make a plea for them to get the roles they want? Maybe it’s none of the above. Maybe celebs are merely enjoying dressing up and doing song covers. Whatever the reason, I hope it continues – this is fun.
