Once, Madonna envisioned a sprawling autobiopic. She was to direct her own life story and adventures because “who better to tell them than me.” She would put seemingly every buzzy young actress in Hollywood through boot camp to select, eventually, Julia Garner to play the young Madge. Then, she would cancel the whole thing to focus on her Celebration Tour. But now the wind has blown a different way, and Madonna’s life story is coming back into production.
It’s going to look significantly different, though. Deadline reports this afternoon that there is now a Madonna limited series in the works at Netflix, and that the keys to Madonna’s story have been handed to Deadpool & Wolverine helmer Shawn Levy. Levy and the pop star have reportedly been discussing the project for a while, and that this is a different project than the stalled biopic. They’re starting from scratch—unless Julia Garner is available, in which case everyone still sounds pretty sold on her casting.
Clearly, it’s still early in the development process. At one point in 2020, it was reported that Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody would write the screenplay. Deadline reports today that Madonna had ultimately co-written the abandoned feature, and that it’s unclear whether she’ll have a hand in writing the new one. Also unclear is what part(s) of Madonna’s life the series aims to depict. Regardless, the episodic format could prove to be a natural fit for an artist known for constantly reinventing her career and image and the forms in which she would like to tell her life story.
