She’s an icon, a legend, she IS the moment, and she’s coming to the silver screen.
The as-yet-untitled Madonna biopic is underway, with actresses currently competing in what the Hollywood Reporter describes as a “Madonna bootcamp”.
The search has been on for a few months already, and one insider said that the audition process has been “gruelling”.
The Madonna hopefuls have been taking extensive choreography lessons with both Madonna’s own choreographer and Madonna herself, with sessions lasting as long as 11 hours a day. Intimidating!
Of course, Madonna is so much more than a dancer, so there are also singing auditions, as well as regular script reading auditions.
“You have to be able to do everything,” one source told The Hollywood Reporter.
Here’s everything we know about the upcoming Madonna biopic so far.
Is Madonna Involved?
Very much so! This isn’t a Britney Ever After situation, where the subject of the film has no involvement and doesn’t approve of the film.
Rather, Madonna will direct the feature herself, as well as co-writing it with Erin Cressida Wilson, who wrote Secretary and The Girl on the Train. Wilson is the second co-writer to sign on for the project.
Madge actually finished a draft of the script back in 2020 with Diablo Cody, who then exited the project. It’s unclear how much, if any, of this version of the script will be used in the final iteration of the film.
Who Will Play Her?
Still in the running are Midsommar‘s Florence Pugh and Inventing Anna‘s Julia Garner, as well as Euphoria‘s Alexa Demie.
Aussie actress Odessa Young and British actress Emma Laird are also still in the conversation.
They’ve also auditioned plenty of singers for the role, with Bebe Rexha and Sky Ferreira considered for the role.
What’s It About?
Although it’s early days into the film’s development — so it could end up going in a different direction — early reports state that the film will focus on Madonna’s early career and document the lead up to her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour.
In an Instagram live back in 2020, Madonna went live on IG with then-cowriter Diablo Cody.
During the live, she said the film would follow her “struggle as an artist trying to survive in a man’s world as a woman,” and her “happy, sad, mad, crazy, good, bad, and ugly” journey to becoming the queen of pop.
The duo said it would include her New York City rise to fame, the writing of “Like a Prayer”, the filming of Evita, and her connection to the New York City ballroom scene and how it shaped the song “Vogue”.
Does It Have a Release Date?
So far, no one knows what the timeline on this will be. The flick is currently in active development, with Universal Pictures signed on for distribution, but has yet to receive a green light to go ahead with filming.
In the meantime, check out all the biopics coming out in 2022 that we can’t wait for.
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