GLORIA ESTEFAN - ESTEFAN TO PLAY ROCK LEGEND

Veteran pop star GLORIA ESTEFAN has signed up to play CONNIE FRANCIS in a new biopic - despite worrying she might be too old to play the legendary singer. The Cuban-born 48-year-old has long felt she is the perfect choice to play Francis, who hit the charts in the 1950s and 1960s with songs such as WHERE THE BOYS ARE and WHO'S SORRY NOW. And Estefan is greatly looking forward to portraying the troubled star, now 67, who suffered a sexual assault in a hotel room in 1974. Estefan tells the New York Daily News, "There's a lot of similarities, especially in her voice and mine. We had a very similar upbringing. The Italian and the Cuban, all the Latin cultures have a lot of things in common. "If I don't hurry, I'm going to be playing her mother in the movie!"