The Madonna biopic, “Who’s That Girl,” which was set to star Julia Garner, has been cancelled following budget disputes with Universal Studios. The Queen of Pop was originally set to direct the film herself, with Emmy winner Garner playing her younger self, but she later had a “falling out” with Universal Studios over budget issues.
Madonna explains why her biopic has been delayed again
Speaking to Interview Magazine, the 67-year-old singer said, “I was supposed to make a movie about my life. 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?”
She then spoke about the financial issues of the film, which went into development in 2020. Madonna explained, “I found a way to make it for less money in Serbia, but I don’t think they were into the idea of—I don’t know. Maybe they just didn’t believe in me. 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,” she continued.
She said she began trying to understand how making a series would work, describing it as a very different process that required meeting multiple writers and finding the right showrunner, which she was unable to do. “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,” said the icon.
Insiders told Variety last month that the delayed project would have followed Madonna from her humble beginnings in Michigan to her artistic rise in New York City during the 1980s. Even though the biopic wasn’t made at Universal, it will live on in Season 2 of The Studio on Apple in a fictional version. Madonna is also set to release her new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II, on 3 July.
TELL US – WAS CANCELLING THE BIOPIC THE RIGHT DECISION?
