Madonna‘s biopic is back on, and she’s got the
Of course, it wasn’t a vacation at all, but rather her massive, career-spanning, record-breaking Celebration Tour, which saw the icon performing 81 shows all over the world between October ’23 and May ’24, culminating in a free concert Rio de Janeiro that drew the largest audience ever for a standalone concert. Seemingly energized by the tour’s success and the chance to reconnect with fans worldwide, Madonna shared on Instagram Tuesday that she’s back to work on her biopic. And, lest you doubt her, look: She’s sitting right next to a typewriter! The movie’s not going to write itself! Honestly, the staged photoshoot of it all is pure camp, and we have to laugh at least a little. But the post does confirm a few details—and teases a few more! “I Need A-lot of Bandz to make this………..OKAY 🍸💵🤑,” Madonna writes in the caption, nodding to rapper JT’s (formerly of The City Girls) song “Okay,” which soundtracks the series of photos in her post. What this tells us is that, while Madonna is already excitedly back to work on the biopic, she’s going to need some serious money to actually make it happen. Universal Pictures was previously on board to produce the project, but it seems she parted ways with them when the film was indefinitely delayed last year. And, you know what? We suppose if you want to get new investors excited—to prove to people that this is a real movie you’re planning to make—it’s not a bad idea to snap some photographs with a script in hand. As the biggest-selling female recording artist of all time, Madonna more than earned a victory lap. Speaking of that script, eagle-eyed followers have noted the cover page has “M. UNTITLED” crossed out, with “WHO’S THAT GIRL” written atop it in red. Is Who’s That Girl the new official title of the Madonna biopic, which had the previous working title Little Sparrow? It would make a lot of sense, considering “Who’s That Girl?” is the name of the singer’s 1987 top-charting single and the name of the 1987 James Foley comedy she starred in opposite Griffin Dunne. For the record, we worry it might get a bit confusing to have two Madonna movies, decades apart, with the exact same name, but we’re not the ones calling the shots, now are we? Anyway, the script in the Instagram post bears the words “rewritten by Madonna and ECW,” which we can assume means she and the previously announced screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (who wrote 2002’s Secretary) re-worked Diablo Cody’s initial draft. Madonna fans have been given a ray of light that the music icon’s scrapped biopic may actually be happening! And Wilson’s not the only talent still on board: As confirmed by EW, Garner is still very much attached to play the lead role! So all of those long, hard hours that went into the Madonna Boot Camp weren’t for nothing after all! The busy actress has a few high profile projects already lined up—including a plum role in Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot—but we have to imagine she’ll be able to clear some time on her schedule for Madge. Madonna has previously said the biopic would follow her “struggle as an artist trying to survive in a man’s world as a woman” and her rise to superstardom, incorporating—as EW notes—”writing “Like A Prayer,” filming Evita, and her connection with Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza and Luis Xtravaganza, two members of New York City’s Harlem ballroom scene that played a monumental role in the success of her 1990 smash song “Vogue.” There’s no word yet on what other real-life people from Madonna’s life might play into the story of Who’s That Girl, though as recently as June, newly out actress/It Girl Julia Fox confirmed she did have meetings a few years back about potentially playing the artist’s longtime friend Debi Mazar. As for the men in Madonna’s life, well, we have some ideas! Anyway, that’s about all we know for sure so far, but considering we thought the movie was still “Hung Up” in development hell, we suppose any news is good news. In other words, the Madonna biopic is back on—living to “Die Another Die”—and you better believe we’ll be seated for it… no matter when it comes out! Now that we have our Madonna, let’s dream cast the men who will try to justify her love in the upcoming biopic, from Sean Penn to Guy Ritchie.
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