The musical biopic about Madonna has been a restless quest for years, oscillating between the idea of a film and a potential TV series, because the figure at its center has always been exceptionally demanding and has clashed repeatedly with production constraints. Yet she has never doubted the actress who would portray her on the big screen: Julia Garner, the Ozark star. It feels natural to ask Garner how progress on this musical story is going, taking advantage of her appearance on CBS Sunday Morning. Is it a dead end or a gray area? Neither, it seems.
Madonna, the state of the biopic according to Julia Garner, the designated actress
As her career grows, helped by convincing turns in Weapons or Wolf Man, Julia Garner has never stopped waiting for the moment when she will bring Madonna to life on the big screen. A good relationship has developed between the singer and the actress, as Garner herself confirms, but at the moment it doesn’t seem they have moved much beyond that stage: “I know nothing, you could say it changes every hour. […] It doesn’t depend on me; obviously it would be wonderful if the film were made. But I also feel that, whatever happens, I have made a great friend. I adore Madonna, I think she’s incredible. […] She works. She taught me how to work properly. Now, for me, working means that.”
The Madonna biopic was in preproduction from 2020 to 2023, until Universal Pictures threw in the towel, unable to reach an agreement with the singer on the project’s budget. The cinematic genre couldn’t be stronger at the box office: it even proves it with the Italian box-office success of Je So’ Pazzo about Pino Daniele (4 million euros, source Cinetel), while a phenomenon like the $1,028,000,000 grossed by the Michael biopic with Jaafar Jackson demonstrates the market’s appetite (source Box Office Mojo). In the realm of TV series, there’s no need to even mention Nord Sud Ovest Est – La leggendaria storia degli 883.
Garner has won four Primetime Emmy Awards, three for Ozark and one for the miniseries Inventing Anna. Lately she has even popped up in blockbuster fare, such as the much-discussed Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer for Marvel Studios. She will soon appear in the culinary project Tryant with Charlize Theron and Demi Moore, as well as in the series Guilty Creatures and The Altruists.
Here below a curiosity: the trailer for Madonna’s latest directorial effort, W.E. – Edward and Wallis.
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