‘Dance Moms’ Cast Update: Maddie Ziegler Leaving to Star in Sia-Directed Movie?

"Dance Moms" star Maddie Ziegler has landed her first major role in a screenplay. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Australian singer, Sia, has casted the 12-year-old dancer in her film project titled "Sister," which she wrote eight years ago. Sia has previously worked with Ziegler in two of her music videos - "Chandelier" and "Elastic Heart."

"I was too embarrassed to tell anyone I wanted to make a movie because I thought it would be seen as a vanity project because I was a singer," Sia said at Venice Days. "And then last year, after I made the 'Chandelier' video, I realized that I was pretty good at directing, so I felt a little bit braver."

Sia, who has no experience in screenwriting, first asked a "guy from a juice bar" for help. The guy, "who had gone to film school," did not work out, however. Sia then turned to her friend, Dallas Clayton, who is a children's book author. Together, they started to map out her ideas.

"He and I spent 3 1/2 weeks just on the sofa, mapping it out," she revealed. "For me, the process was basically, I work out the movie. I'll act it out, I'll have the dialogue already in my head. It's really the formatting...I can't be bothered to learn Final Draft. I'm not a technical person. Like, when I sing, I just want to sing the melody and write the lyrics. I don't want to have to do production, which is very technical. I don't enjoy that. What I do enjoy is the creative process."

Before Sia finalized her screenplay, she asked five of her friends, who included Whitney Cummings, Joel Edgerton and Erik Anders Lang, to read it.

"Erik, my husband, gave the best notes, actually," Sia said.

There are currently no details about the screenplay's plot line. The movie should be released sometime next year.

Aside from her venture into the film industry, Sia will be releasing her single, "Alive" as the lead track from her album, "This Is Acting," on Sep. 26, according to Idolator.