Ariana Grande Responds to Audrey Hepburn Biopic Speculation: ‘You’re Insane!’

Will Ariana Grande be stepping from Oz to a Roman holiday?

Speaking with Access Hollywood during the National Board of Review’s 2025 gala on Tuesday, Jan. 7, the actress and singer addressed whether she’d ever be open to playing screen icon Audrey Hepburn in a biopic.

“Oh my goodness, why is everyone asking me this? You’re insane!” joked the Wicked star, 31. “You’re insane, you’re insane, you’re insane. You’re insane. I love you.”

The question came after the interviewer told Grande she was “kind of channeling a little Audrey Hepburn” in her event fashion as of late, to which Grande replied, “I’ve always loved old-Hollywood glamour — like, Marilyn [Monroe] and Audrey have always been my references.”

“I’ve always gravitated toward ’50s, ’60s silhouettes, and retro vintage … I can’t even think of a time when that wasn’t my vision board. But it’s been more fun to have more places to really do that,” she told the outlet. “My stylist, Mimi [Cuttrell], and I have been leaning all the way in.”

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One way she has been leaning in is with the custom Loewe pastel pink backless satin gown she wore to Tuesday’s event, which featured a square-shaped bodice cinched at the waist. The structured sheath gown floated just above Grande’s white rounded-toe pumps and matching pink satin shawl. She wore her blonde hair in a sleek high ponytail, her baby bangs swooped to the side.

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Grande similarly spoke about her love for old-Hollywood style and said about potentially playing Hepburn, “That would have to be done so well and so perfectly … I don’t know,” adding when the reporter told her she could do it, “That’s very kind.”

Rumors about Grande potentially playing Hepburn have been buzzing amid some of her style choices as of late, including Tuesday’s pink number, the metallic tea-length ball gown she rocked at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Friday, Jan. 3 and the yellow dress she wore to the 2025 Golden Globe Awards two days later.

The latter ensemble was a Givenchy 1966 archive dress, which she and Cuttrell found, and was “yellow because follow the yellow brick road,” Grande told Variety during the preshow. She also noted yellow was one of her Wicked character Glinda’s “favorite colors.”

In a release about the look, an archivist at Givenchy shared, “The dress is pale-yellow silk with a hand-beaded bodice … from the epic Givenchy Haute Couture/Audrey Hepburn era … one of the most important unions between a designer and muse.”

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Meanwhile, back in January 2022, Rooney Mara was confirmed to be cast as Hepburn in a biopic about the iconic Oscar-winning actress, from Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Queer).

Though the film’s plot was under wraps at the time, it was being written by Michael Mitnick. Mara, who has received Academy Award nominations for her work in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Carol, was also set to produce the film alongside Apple Studios, per Deadline.

Mara, 39, gave an update on the project in an interview with Deadline in February 2024, saying that it was “not completely dead,” but had just been delayed.

“Luca is no longer going to be directing it, but the project is still very much alive,” she said at the time, adding, “I can’t say more than that right now.”