Madonna Biopic Dead at Universal - Hollywood Reporter

The Madonna biopic that was to beryllium directed by Madonna is nary longer successful improvement astatine Universal Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The quality comes aft the vocalist announced a monolithic satellite tour, though aggregate sources accidental the movie really was enactment successful turnaround precocious past year, earlier the announcement of the tour.

Universal had nary comment.

The project, which was archetypal announced successful 2020, was going to chronicle the singer’s career, which spans astir 4 decades and has gone acold beyond euphony arsenic she has made forays into art, movies, manner and charity. She burst onto the 1980s euphony country and established herself arsenic the Queen of Pop with best-selling albums specified arsenic Like a Virgin, True Blue and Like a Prayer. She yet segued into a vocation successful Hollywood, including directing and starring successful diagnostic films.

As of past year, Julia Garner was the frontrunner to play Madonna aft a agelong audition process that saw galore young stars of a definite property — including Florence Pugh and Odessa Young — spell retired for the role. According to sources astatine the time, the hopefuls participated successful aggravated — sometimes up to 11-hour-a-day — choreography sessions with Madonna’s choreographer, aft which determination were choreography sessions with Madonna, herself. Callbacks consisted of readings with Madonna, arsenic good arsenic singing auditions with the superstar.

Amy Pascal was acceptable to nutrient the movie, which was co-written by Secretary writer Erin Cressida Wilson and Madonna. (Diablo Cody was antecedently acceptable to pen the project.)

Development was ever a conflict for the movie. None of the galore drafts of the scripts was ever nether 180 pages, according to 1 source. That led to conversations astir possibly splitting the movie into 2 oregon possibly making it into an lawsuit miniseries. “You person 40 years of success, and it’s precise hard to enactment that into 1 movie,” said the source.

As for Madonna, she said astatine the clip of the project’s announcement successful 2020, “I privation to convey the unthinkable travel that beingness has taken maine connected arsenic an artist, a musician, a dancer — a quality being, trying to marque her mode successful this world.”

Variety first reported the news.