In January 2023, Madonna reportedly scrapped the biopic about her life starring Julia Garner to focus on her world tour. According to Variety, insiders say Madonna remains committed to making a film about her life one day. That day is possibly soon: As of July 2024, Madonna’s biopic is reportedly back on—the singer shared on Instagram that she’s working on a script titled Who’s That Girl, a reference to her 1987 film and single of the same name.
The pop icon is directing the film about her own life and career, and has been extremely involved in the process. “The reason I’m doing it is because a bunch of people have tried to write movies about me, but they’re always men,” Madonna told Jimmy Fallon in October 2021. “I read that Universal was doing a script… they wanted my blessing, and I read it. It was the most hideous, superficial crap I’ve ever read. This [has] happened a couple of times. So, finally, I just threw down the gauntlet.”
In July 2025, Garner said the film was still happening, saying, “anything that’s great…takes a long time.”
Here’s everything we know about the Madonna biopic.
Julia Garner is reportedly set to play Madonna.
Even after the delay, Entertainment Weekly reports that Julia Garner is still set to star as Madonna. Madonna reportedly held a “Madonna bootcamp”for actresses—which included Garner, Florence Pugh, Alexa Demie, and Odessa Young, among others—that consisted of 11-hour choreography sessions and singing auditions with Madonna herself. “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,” Garner said of the audition. “And sing with her!”
This will be a major film role for Garner, who starred in two hit television shows on Netflix: Inventing Anna as New York City con artist Anna Delvey and Ozark as criminal Ruth Langmore. She made her acting debut in Martha Marcy May Marlene in 2011. “I would consider myself a dreamer,” Garner told Town & Country. “In the business that we’re in, you have to be.”
Julia Fox was cast as Debi Mazar initially, and told IndieWire she’d still love to be in the film. “I know it was gonna be either tour or movie and then she went on tour,” she said. “So I don’t know when the movie will be picking back up again or when they’re going to start working on it again. But I didn’t hear anything. I actually don’t know.”
Fox added, “I mean, I’d still love to but I genuinely don’t know. They are going back, you know, when, when they’re like 19 and they first meet. I feel like I might have already aged out of that casting, but we’ll see.”
The film is possibly titled Who’s That Girl.
In an Instagram post in July 2024, Madonna wrote, “I Need A-lot of Bandz to make this………..OKAY 🍸💵🤑. (Story of my life).” A script, authored by Madonna and Erin Cressida Wilson, is visible in the photos.
According to the Hollywood Reporter in 2022, one draft of the film ended with her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour.
It’s been a long road to make the film.
In the original announcement of the biopic in July 2022, Madonna said she hoped to “convey the incredible journey that life has taken me on as an artist, a musician, a dancer — a human being, trying to make her way in this world. The focus of this film will always be music. Music has kept me going and art has kept me alive. There are so many untold and inspiring stories and who better to tell it than me. It’s essential to share the roller coaster ride of my life with my voice and vision.”
In a 2022 interview with Variety, Madonna shared that she has a very long script that is “really hard for me to make shorter.” She added, “I’ve been whittling away at it but it’s like hacking off my limbs.”
Madonna opened up on why she wanted to make the film, saying that she’s had “an extraordinary life” therefore “must make an extraordinary film.”
“It was also a preemptive strike because a lot of people were trying to make movies about me. Mostly misogynistic men. So I put my foot in the door and said, ‘No one’s going to tell my story, but me,'” the pop star added.
We’ll update this as soon as we learn more about the Madonna biopic.
You Might Also Like
-
12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion
-
13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
