Menendez to Direct Lifetime’s “The Brittany Murphy Story”

Joe Menendez is preparing to tell Brittany Murphy’s story…

The 45-year-old Cuban American filmmaker has been tapped to direct Lifetime’s two-hour biopic about the life and death of the late actress.

Joe Menendez

Titled The Brittany Murphy Story, it stars Amanda Fuller in the titular role and Sherilyn Fenn as her mother, Sharon Murphy. The script was penned by Peter Hunziker and Cynthia Riddle.

The biopic will cover her younger years when she was struggling to break into acting in the ’80s and ’90s until her death and the aftermath as there was speculation that her death was not accidental.

The film’s logline reads, “The relentless rumors and paparazzi coupled with Brittany’s insecurities about her appearance and desperation for approval wreaked havoc in her personal life. Through it all, Sharon remained her grounding force but her enduring love wasn’t enough to save Brittany from the dark side of life in Hollywood.”

Sharon, however, was not consulted for the movie and did not cooperate with production in any way, a spokesperson for Brittany’s mother says.

Brittany rose to fame through her role in 1995’s teen comedy Clueless. She died December 20, 2009 at 32 years old. The coroner ruled that she died from pneumonia with iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication as secondary factors. On May 23, 2010, her widower Simon Monjack died of acute pneumonia and severe anemia too.

The biopic is scheduled to debut on Saturday, September 6 at 8:00 pm.

Menendez previously directed the Spanish films Ladron que roba a ladron and Quiero ser fiel.