Did Madonna's super-sized ego kill biopic starring Julia Garner? The inside story of DIVAGATE
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Madonna’s long-anticipated biopic, starring Julia Garner, is not moving ahead at Universal Pictures. This comes after her recent video announcement of the ‘Celebration Tour.’ The announcement was an amazing callback to her 1991 documentary ‘Truth or Dare'. In the video, Diplo, Eric Andre, and Jack Black look on as comedienne Amy Schumer dares Madonna to play her "greatest mother*****g hits." The singer enthusiastically agrees as she says, “So the answer is: F**k yeah!”
With the tour now becoming her primary focus, the Universal Pictures-produced biopic starring the ‘Ozark’ actress has been shelved. The ‘Hung Up’ singer was slated to get at the helm and direct the movie herself, but she had a disagreement with the makers about the script. It is said that the producers did not “like it” and were at loggerheads with Madonna about the direction which they hoped the film would take- the makers wanted something with “pop and light,” but Madonna wanted something a lot more ‘grittier’.
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“Madonna will someday make a film about her life. But this tour is the creative and professional focus for M right now.” The source added that “She’d rather go to another studio than change the script. She still wants to make the film, but will now look at it again after the tour…She’s keeping the same writers, but is aware that she might have to recast if the actors aren’t available.”
About the film, Madonna stated that it would cover “my struggle as an artist trying to survive in a man’s world as a woman.” Many shuffles have taken place in the making of this now-delayed movie. Diablo Cody of ‘Juno’ fame was first hired to write the screenplay but was swiftly replaced with Erin Wilson, who worked on movies such as ‘Girl on The Train’ and ‘Secretary'.
Last June, it was reported that Julia Garner was all set to play the ‘Like A Virgin’ singer in the movie, following the grueling ‘Madonna Boot Camp,’ where actors were said to work 11 hours a day- dancing singing, and table-reading. According to Page Six, some of the actors who vied to bag the role were Florence Pugh, Alexa Demie, Julia Garner, and Odessa Young- ultimately, Garner won out.
While the movie is now shelved, Garner still has many projects to get back to. The Emmy-winning actress is now signed on to be part of the movie ‘The Royal Hotel’ and the thriller, ‘Apartment 7A'.
