On November 18th, following her announcement in July to resume, Madonna once again spoke about the biopic she has been working on for over four years. In 2023, she put it on hold to focus on her latest tour, The Celebration Tour, which was postponed in the US due to a serious bacterial infection. It seems more likely that the works on the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona will end before filming even begins, as indicated by what she posted on Instagram. “After struggling for days in LA, listening to producers and agents tell me why I couldn’t make my film, I realized that everything in my life is going to be challenged. No easy rides for me. I guess I should be grateful. It forces me to think outside the box. I did not have a normal life. I cannot make this in the normal way,” she confessed to her nearly 20 million followers.

Uncertain State of the Project

To the surprise of her fans, Madonna posed a crucial question about the uncertain state of the project, which is currently named Who’s That Girl. “Should I make a series or a feature film?” The answers were diverse. Many support condensing her story into a two-hour film like Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman, which grossed $911 million and $195 million respectively at the box office. On the other hand, there are those in favor of a format that allows her to go into depth and expound over several seasons with a streaming platform's support.In the Instagram comments, others suggested writing her memoirs. Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, and Cher have all done so in recent years. But Madonna seems unwilling to follow in their footsteps or use a ghost writer. After all, as one of the pioneers of the music video art, she prefers to chronicle her career through images rather than just words.

Origins of the Future Film or Series

The idea for this future film or series actually dates back a long time. In 2017, Universal Pictures conceived an unauthorized biopic titled Blond Ambition, clearly referring to her iconic 1990 tour. Produced by Michael De Luca and with a script by Elyse Hollander, it was supposed to focus on her early years in New York in the early 1980s. However, just two days after The Hollywood Reporter broke the news on April 24, 2017, Madonna was blunt in expressing her opinion in a later-deleted Instagram post, saying, “Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story. Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool. Looking for instant gratification without doing the work. This is a disease in our society.” Since then, nothing has been heard about that project or any similar ones.Everything changed on August 8, 2020. On her favorite social network, the Queen of Pop shared a short video with Diablo Cody, the winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2008 for Juno. They revealed that they had been working for weeks on a “visual autobiography” for Universal that would expand on the themes of the failed Blond Ambition. In the broadcast, they omitted a crucial detail: Madonna not only planned to co-write but also direct it.“The reason I’m doing it is because a bunch of people have tried to write movies about me, but they’re always men. I read Universal was doing a script… they sent me the script because they wanted my blessing. And I read it, and it was the most hideous superficial crap I ever read. And then I found out that some — I found out — I’m not even going to say his name, but he’s a total misogynist, was directing. And I’m thinking, ‘Why would these people make a movie about my life? There’s nothing true in the script, the guy who is making it has no understanding of women, no appreciation of women, no respect for women,’” she said in 2021 on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show. “There is nobody on this planet who can write, direct and make a film about me better than I can.”

Risks and Challenges

The biopic subgenre has always been a fertile ground for unusual experiments. Morgan Neville’s animated documentary Piece by Piece used Lego figures to illustrate Pharrell Williams’ story, and on January 1, Michael Gracey will release Better Man with Robbie Williams played by a CGI monkey. But Madonna is different. By firmly controlling her own narrative without accepting external advice or guidance, she risks her film or series becoming a narcissistic and biased product, which could work against her.Early information about Universal’s feature film pointed to the Blond Ambition tour as the dramatic epicenter. Coming from her, no one expects her to replicate the arrogance and diva attitudes captured in the 1991 documentary In Bed with Madonna. Her brother, Christopher Ciccone, who died in October, said in the incendiary Living with My Sister Madonna that led the siblings not to talk for years, “When she lets go of that control and lets other people take it, she gets better results, as happened with Evita. Her bad choices and her excessive control have caused her acting career to be what it is.” Madonna is the recipient of nine Golden Raspberry Awards.With the exception of Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), A League of Their Own (1992), and the aforementioned Alan Parker musical, which won her the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical in 1997, setbacks on the big screen have marked her career. While Filth and Wisdom (2008) and W.E. (2011) were not severely criticized by critics, they did not achieve the expected commercial success. “I don’t think people like that I’m successful in areas other than music,” she told NBC News’ Matt Lauer about the failure of Swept Away (2002), a romantic comedy directed by her then-husband, Guy Ritchie, which was vilified by both the press and the public. Hollywood has never taken her seriously as an actress or director.

Auditions and Contenders

In 2021, The Sun reported that Diablo Cody ended their collaboration due to disagreements with the artist, but Entertainment Weekly denied it. Apparently, Cody delivered a first draft of the script, and Erin Cressida Wilson took over to polish it. What really got people talking was the scoop that The Hollywood Reporter released on March 2, 2022, about auditions worthy of the best survival reality show. Described as “a military boot camp” with marathon days lasting up to 11 hours, the candidates for the role of Madonna had to dance, sing, and ultimately “be able to do everything.”Singer-songwriter Lindsey Jordan, better known as Snail Mail, corroborated the rumors in an interview with Vulture. “I don’t know shit, but it was the audition Olympics. I had to watch her tour doc, which was dope, and there were specific interviews that I had to emulate. I guess I was being considered for the “Like a Virgin” part of her career, so they gave me a music video from that time and asked me to make my own four-minute dance sequence. That was what really kicked my ass; I don’t dance. There were like 400 takes in my Dropbox.”Ultimately, fan favourite Julia Garner beat out actresses such as Florence Pugh, Alexa Demie, Sydney Sweeney, Barbie Ferreira, and Odessa Young, as well as singers Bebe Rexha and Sky Ferreira. There is also speculation that Julia Fox could join the cast. Unlike Garner, she did not have to undergo marathons of intense auditions as she is slated to play Debi Mazar, one of Madonna’s best friends and confidants since they met in the elevator of the New York club Danceteria in the early 1980s.To talk about Madonna is to talk about instinct, audacity, and transgression. From the controversial video for Like a Prayer to the provocative book Sex, over four decades she has challenged conventions countless times, dodged what others will say, and followed her vision with unwavering determination. Awaiting a biopic that promises to be as polarizing as she is, the architect of modern pop is taking the plunge once again. After all, she has never needed anyone’s approval to shine: her true strength lies in challenging the rules that even the new generations of artists are afraid to question.