Madonna has opened up on the collapse of her planned biopic, claiming that she had a “falling out” with Universal Studios over budget constraints.
The film, said to be titled “Who’s That Girl”, went into development in 2020, with Julia Garner (Weapons) having been set to play Madonna and the musician writing and directing her own life story.
However, updates on the project eventually dried up, and now Madonna, 67, has spoken about it in a new interview.
“I was supposed to make a movie about my life,” she recalled to Interview Magazine. “I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgeting and casting.
“We had a falling out, me and Universal, regarding budget because I needed – I’ve had an extraordinary life. I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget. You know what I mean? It’s not going be an [indie film].”
According to the “Like a Virgin” hitmaker, she had engineered a way to produce the film for “less money” by shooting in Serbia, but didn’t think the studio were “into the idea”.
The Independent has contacted a representative of Universal Studios for comment.
“Maybe they just didn’t believe in me,” she continued. “One of their first reactions was, ‘We don’t believe you’d stay in Serbia more than four days.’ And I said, ‘Did you read the script?’ My whole life has been survival. I’m not going there for a holiday.
“But anyway, I was in limbo when that fell apart, and then Netflix reached out to make a series. That was a whole other long process, because I couldn’t use the script I had with Universal unless I bought it from them for an extortionist’s price, even though I wrote it. Don’t ask.”
According to Madonna, she then set about reworking the film into a bio-series for Netflix, but found the development to be a “very, very different process”.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
One of the problems, she explained, was finding the right creative team – and after nearly a year of trying, the project was shelved.
“That’s just the way it goes,” she said. “I started trying to understand how making a series would work. It’s a very, very different process. You have to meet a lot of writers and find the right showrunner, and I couldn’t find one.
“This went on for another eight or nine months. I was like, ‘Good thing I have another job because I need to work, I need to create. I need to do what I was put on this earth to do.’”
Madonna instead turned her attention back to music: her new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II, is set to be released on 3 July.
