Rihanna nearly sang with a puppet in Adam Driver’s latest movie Annette, director Leos Carax revealed.
Carax told USA Today that Ron Mael and Russell Mael wrote Riri into the film with a small role, in which “she was supposed to play Rihanna.”
“When Baby Annette becomes famous, there was a duet between the puppet and Rihanna,” Carax told USA Today. “But then Rihanna feels upstaged by this baby.”
The baby in question is actually a Pinocchio-esque puppet in the film, parented by Driver and Marion Cotillard’s characters, who becomes a famous opera singer that seemingly threatens other singers—including billionaire Rihanna. Early on, it was reported that she would appear in the film, but the Hollywood Reporter shared that her reps said that was no longer the case. Riri’s role was ultimately scrapped instead of being replaced.
Annette premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and hit theaters on Friday. It will be available to stream via Amazon later this month.
In other Rihanna news, the singer teased her new Fenty Eau de Parfum fragrance online last week with a new ad, shortly after her billionaire status was announced. Now offering a sign-up for pre-launch early access, Rihanna’s video—which shows her rocking a white fit in tall grass—asks “You want me to tell you what a woman’s supposed to smell like? However the fuck they wanna feel.” It closes by revealing the scent’s sleek bottle design.
The fragrance is reported to retail for $120 when it’s released.
