Universal Wouldn't Give Madonna Enough Money To Make Biopic
Interview has a fun chat with Madonna about the new album, her rise to fame in the 80’s, what she thinks of Instagram (it’s “soul-destroying”), and what happened to her beleaguered biopic. Excerpt:
MADONNA: I was supposed to make a movie about my life. I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgeting and casting. We had a falling out, me and Universal, regarding budget because I needed—I’ve had an extraordinary life. I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget. You know what I mean? It’s not going be a—
OTTENBERG: An indie film.
MADONNA: No. They couldn’t get their heads around it. I found a way to make it for less money in Serbia, but I don’t think they were into the idea of—I don’t know. Maybe they just didn’t believe in me. One of their first reactions was, “We don’t believe you’d stay in Serbia more than four days.” And I said, “Did you read the script?” My whole life has been survival. I’m not going there for a holiday. But anyway, I was in limbo when that fell apart, and then Netflix reached out to make a series. That was a whole other long process, because I couldn’t use the script I had with Universal unless I bought it from them for an extortionist’s price, even though I wrote it. Don’t ask.
All the worthless and most pointless crap that Universal has spent billions on over the last decade (The Fall Guy, M3GAN 2.0, Death Of A Unicorn, House Of Gucci, Wicked, Jurassic Park Rebirth, Super Mario Bros.), and they wouldn’t pay to have a movie about the most successful and well-known pop star in the world? There’s undoubtedly more to the story, and misogyny probably played a role, as it always has in Madonna’s career. It’s quite telling that we got a horrifically awful biopic about a dead pedophile before we got a Madonna biopic. That’s showbiz! Universal is apparently still holding the script hostage, but the interviewer doesn’t ask any more questions about it, oddly. Then again, she asked him not to. (“Don’t ask.”)
I did enjoy the full conversation, and here’s the part about IG and social media:
OTTENBERG: It’s easy to forget to go out and be with people now because most of us are addicted to our phones.
MADONNA: Because we think if we look at Instagram for two hours, we’ve actually been with somebody. It’s a deeply disturbing activity.
OTTENBERG: Yes.
MADONNA: It’s mesmerizing and also soul-destroying.
OTTENBERG: Do you doomscroll?
MADONNA: Occasionally I open Instagram and something pops up that makes me go to the next visual. And then I go, “What am I doing? I have 5,000 things to do. Get off the phone.” I have a lot of discipline when it comes to social media, simply because I grew up without it. I didn’t have Instagram until 2018 or something. I grew up without TV. I’m not a person who gravitates toward distraction. Oh my god, I make lists every night, put Post-its everywhere, and then my day is filled with sometimes boring but also very exciting activities. And I do see, if I go on Instagram for more than 10 minutes, I get depressed, and I don’t want to go there. Why am I giving this nonexistent entity power over my soul, my brain, my vision of myself, my vision of the world? Time is precious, and that’s something I’ve known all my life. Time’s precious. What can I get done? What can I do?
