The biopic of Madonna will no longer be a feature film, and instead is going to be a Netflix series. More here.
With music biopics being one of the few seemingly sure bets out there these days, you’d think a Madonna biopic would be a an obvious choice for any self-respecting Hollywood studio looking for an easy win.
Iconic star with a wild past? Check. Incredible back catalogue of music? Check. An inspiring, feminist story for marketing teams to get stuck into and audiences to rally around? Check.
Yet years into the process of trying to get a film of her life made, Madonna is reportedly giving up on the idea.
The problem? The star wants to retain full creative control over the project and that’s apparently made things rather tricky. When we say ‘full creative control’ we don’t mean as with 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody where the surviving members of Queen carefully managed the way the band were represented in the film to the point of sanitising frontman Freddie Mercury’s wildman image. Nope, we mean 'full creative control.’ Madonna reportedly wants to co-write and direct the film herself.
Despite the tempting prospect of landing a Madonna biopic, such a demand has proved to be a step too far for studios. In their defence, this is the same Madonna who directed 2008’s Filth And Wisdom and 2011’s W.E., two films not generally held in the highest regard. As such, Madonna’s demand was always going to make finding studio backing difficult, and according to the lady herself back in November of last year, that was proving to be the case.
Read more: Are music biopics Hollywood’s new hitmakers?
After years of development traction then, this project seemed to be at an impasse but it looks like things could once again be moving once more with Netflix stepping in to (presumably) give Madonna everything she’s asking for. There is a major change though, according to World Of Reel: the project has now been reformatted as a limited series.
The outlet also states that Shawn Levy is part of the project and speculates as to whether he’ll be directing, but that would be an odd cessation on the part of Madonna, given how hard she’s fought to retain full creative control.
Perhaps Levy is in place to produce or has the Queen of Pop agreed some sort of compromise with Netflix? Full control over writing the project but not directing? Either way. Levy has Star Wars: Starfighter with Ryan Gosling set to enter production later this year so he’s going to be busy for a while yet.
Given how generic most films in this genre have become, we’re hoping that Madonna retains full control over the project, because even if it ends up being rough around the edges, that’s still better than yet another anodyne story uninspiringly ticking off boxes as its runtime ticks down towards the oh-so predictable triumphant final song.
Julia Garner is said to be in place to play Madonna, which still feels like brilliant casting. That’s all we know for now, but we’ll bring you more as we hear it.
