It’s perhaps not surprising that Madonna, who flaunted her love of the finer things in her hit single “Material Girl,” would have financial concerns surrounding a biopic that never came to fruition.
While sitting with interviewMadonna discussed the fact that the film she planned to direct about her life, which Julia Garner was attached to star in, never advanced at Universal Pictures. Madonna is a Grammy Award-winning music icon known for her multi-platinum-selling albums such as Like a virgin, True blue and Like prayerIn addition to his acting career, which includes: A league of their own and Evita.
“I was supposed to make a movie about my life,” Madonna told the publication. “I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the producers budgeting and casting. Universal and I had a falling out over the budget because I needed — I’ve lived an extraordinary life. I’ve lived a huge life, so I needed a big budget.”
Noting that the film could not have an independent production, she continued: “They couldn’t understand it. I found a way to make it for less money in Serbia, but I don’t think they were interested in the idea of - I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t believe in me. One of their first reactions was: ‘We don’t think you’ll be in Serbia more than four days.’ I said: ‘Have you read the script? My whole life has been survival. I’m not going there for vacation.'”
Madonna explained that Netflix later approached her to produce a series based on her life and career, but the matter was complicated because the star was unable to use the script from the Universal project. In May 2025, Hollywood Reporter It was reported that producer Shawn Levy was working with Madonna on developing the limited series.
“I was in limbo when that fell apart, and then Netflix reached out to do a series,” Madonna said. “That was another long process, because I couldn’t use the script I had with Universal unless I bought it from them for an extortionate price, even though I wrote it.”
She added: “I started trying to understand how a series works. It’s a completely different process. You have to meet a lot of writers and find the right showrunner, and I couldn’t find one. This went on for another eight or nine months.”
THR I previously reported that Universal’s Madonna film, which was first announced in 2020, is set to go live in late 2022. Madonna worked on drafts of the script with Diablo Cody and Cressida Wilson, and THR It was reported that no version had ever run less than 180 pages, leading to questions about the film’s potential length.
Garner said last year Smartless podcast that the biopic “was meant to happen,” with the Emmy Award-winning actress describing herself as a “Madonna fan.”
