Sydney Sweeney snubbed lead role in Madonna's doomed biopic as she 'smelled dumpster fire from a mile away'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Sydney Sweeney has reportedly snubbed the lead role in Madonna’s doomed biopic because she “smelled the dumpster fire from a mile away”. The feature film about the 'Material Girl' hitmaker's life and career has been dropped by Universal and will be "dry-docked" until she finishes off her world tour that begins in the summer of 2023. It appears Sweeney was aware of the ill-fated project and steered clear from it before getting too involved.
The 25-year-old actress was apparently wooed by Madonna during the auditions of the movie in 2022 as she competed against the likes of Florence Pugh for the role. While she ultimately failed to grab the role over 'Ozark' star Julia Garner, 29, it looks like the loss was not much big of a deal for the 'Euphoria' actress. This comes after Madonna announced a major world tour which is likely to hinder the making of the movie. A Hollywood source told The Sun that Sweeney and her advisers “smelled the dumpster fire from a mile away” and managed to "not get caught in the quicksand of the Madonna movie over the last two years."
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Sweeney saw 'the outcome unlike Julia and Florence'
“She wasn't surprised by the recent revelation that the movie is being dropped by Universal and dry-docked until Madonna finishes her new tour at the very earliest. Sydney and her team saw this outcome from a long way away and unlike Julia and Florence, she did not clear her schedule to make room for training, auditioning and shooting the movie," the source dished to the outlet.
Secrets of Madonna's doomed project
The film was scheduled to be directed and co-written by Madonna herself after it was first green-lit in 2020. Moreover, the casting process was called a boot camp where the actresses were coached by the singer with grueling 11-hour choreography sessions. The auditioning stars also underwent readings with the 'Frozen on Fire' artist while also having to sing in front of her. According to The Sun, Oscar-winning 'Juno' screenwriter Diablo Cody was initially working on the script with the 64-year-old singer. However, she quit in April 2021 after finding it difficult to work with her. Playwright and author Erin Cressida Wilson was also called to write another draft of the script. However, the lack of the final copy of the script added up to the increasing issues around the film.
'They wasted a ton of time and effort and Sydney didn’t'
“Sydney wasn't opposed to playing Madonna per se, she just likes to work and especially with a hit TV series like Euphoria taking up eight months of the year for her, she has tried to cram as much movie work as possible into her breaks between seasons. Her reps would call that a 'scheduling conflict' but the bottom line here is that Sydney did not want to sit around waiting for Madonna and her writers to finish a script and get the movie green-lit. Instead, she made three movies last year while others were waiting around for Madonna to get the movie approved. Sydney smelled this dumpster fire from a mile away and made the right choice not to chase this role as hard as her competitors did. They wasted a ton of time and effort and Sydney didn’t," the insider explained to the outlet.