Key Points
Julia Garner recently discussed the intense audition process for Madonna’s planned biopic.
EW previously reported that Garner was still attached to star as Madonna after the film’s delay.
Garner said on the SmartLess podcast that the film is “supposed to still happen.”
Julia Garner had to tackle some difficult preparation material, girl, ahead of landing the role of Madonna in the pop icon’s long-gestating, self-directed biopic.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps actress and Ozark alum was a guest on Monday’s episode of the SmartLess podcast, during which she told cohosts Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman that the audition process for the movie was an intimidating one — and that the delayed film is, to her knowledge, still happening.
“I just remembered, were you supposed to play Madonna at some point? Is that going to still happen?” Hayes asked, with the 31-year-old responding, “Yeah, I mean, that’s supposed to still happen.”
She then fielded inquiries about landing the role, telling the trio that she’s “such a fan of Madonna’s” and “grew up listening” to the legendary pop star.
Michael Putland/Getty
Madonna in New York City in 1984
“It just came about. I knew they were doing a project, making a movie about it, and then I went out to audition,” Garner recalled. “I kind of just wanted to see if I could do it, because I wasn’t a trained dancer and I had to learn how to dance and then dance in front of her and convince her that I can dance, basically, and sing. And sing with her!”
To calm her nerves, the three-time Emmy winner said that she “just thought, ‘Okay, what would Madonna do?’ Which is convince you that she deserves, you know, to be in this room, and I owned it. I was kind of like, ‘You can take it or leave it, but if you leave it, if I leave, then that’s on you.'”
Garner again confirmed that the film is still in the works. “But I also feel like anything that’s great” indeed “takes a long time” to come to fruition.
EW has reached out to representatives for Madonna for more information.
Garner first landed the role in 2022, but the project was delayed and subsequently removed from Universal’s slate in early 2023 so Madonna could travel the world on her successful Celebration tour.
On the tour, Madonna regularly brought special guests on stage to perform with her, including Garner, who joined Madonna for a segment themed to the hit “Vogue” in New York City.
Madonna eventually returned to work on the film in 2024, and EW confirmed at the time that Garner was still attached to star.
20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios
Julia Garner as Silver Surfer in ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’
Last July, Madonna shared on Instagram a glimpse of herself revising the movie’s screenplay while seated behind a typewriter, with a photo showing that the previously untitled film was, at least then, titled Who’s That Girl — a nod to both Madonna’s 1987 comedy film and its accompanying No. 1-charting soundtrack single of the same name.
Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody and Madonna finished work on their version of the screenplay in 2021, with the Juno scribe departing the film to work on other projects after that.
Madonna then partnered with Erin Cressida Wilson on the story, which she previously indicated would follow her “struggle as an artist trying to survive in a man’s world as a woman, and really just the journey.” She went on to describe the time in her life as a “happy, sad, mad, crazy, good, bad, and ugly” tale of the making of a superstar, including such milestones as her rise through the entertainment industry, releasing “Like a Prayer,” starring in Evita, and her relationship with Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza and Luis Xtravaganza, two members of New York City’s Harlem ballroom scene who played an influential part in shaping the success “Vogue.”
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Earlier, in January 2022, EW additionally exclusively reported that Uncut Gems star Julia Fox met with Madonna to discuss boarding the project in the role of Madonna’s longtime friend, Debi Mazar, whom she first met inside an elevator at New York City’s iconic Danceteria club in the ’80s.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
