Madonna has revisited the cancellation of the biopic she was set to write and direct herself, but the project’s budget apparently scared everyone off.
Landing a big-screen biopic is almost a rite of passage for the biggest names in the music industry. Sometimes it pays off, as with Cher who took home the Best Actress Oscar in 1988 for Moonstruck or Lady Gaga who earned a nomination from the Academy for A Star Is Born. Other times, it’s a bit more of a gamble, as with the Queen of Pop, Madonna. While she’s no longer billed simply as a singer, her forays into cinema are still relatively modest. She starred in Desperately Seeking Susan and Evita, but also drew a Razzie nomination for Swept Away by Guy Ritchie (her ex-husband) and endured failed directing attempts with Filth and Wisdom in 2008 and W.E. in 2011, which critics ripped apart.
Perhaps her filmmaking talents could have blossomed with the massive project she spent years preparing: a biopic about her life, which she planned to write and direct, with Julia Garner (Euphoria, Ozark) set to star. The project started at Universal, but fell apart in early 2023, with no clear reason given at the time. Madonna has recently revisited that abandonment, and it’s clearly a money issue that scuttled the plans, as she puts it.
MADONNA, NO
In an interview with the outlet Interview, the part-time filmmaker explained that the project was first scrapped for budgetary reasons:
“I was going to make a film about my life. I worked on my screenplay for two years and I spent two years at the Universal Studios with the executive producers to manage the budget and the cast. We clashed with Universal over the budget, because I needed a big budget. I’ve had an extraordinary life, an amazing life. […]
They couldn’t wrap their heads around it. I found a way to do it on a lower budget in Serbia, but I don’t think they were excited about the idea. Maybe they simply didn’t believe in me. One of their first reactions was: ‘We don’t think you’ll be able to stay in Serbia for more than four days.’ And I replied: ‘Have you read the screenplay?’ My life has always been a story of survival, I’m not in it for a vacation.”
After Universal’s rejection, the project could have been saved by Netflix, as there was talk at one point of turning it into a miniseries produced by Shawn Levy. Yet again, that didn’t happen, and this time it was also a matter of rights:
“I was in limbo when everything fell apart and then Netflix came calling to do a series. It was a completely different process, because I couldn’t use the script I had with Universal unless I bought it back from them at a prohibitive price, even though I’d written it. Don’t ask me why.”
That’s just how it went. I started trying to figure out how a series is produced. It’s a completely different process. You have to meet lots of writers and find the right showrunner, and I couldn’t find one. It lasted eight or nine more months. I kept telling myself that, luckily, I had another job, because I need to work and create. I need to do what I’m meant to do.“
In lieu of stepping behind the camera, Madonna is set to step in front of it, for season 2 of the series The Studio, in which she will also reunite with Julia Garner.
