Madonna's biopic has been shelved after having a 'falling out' with Universal

Back in 2023, pop sensation Madonna started teasing details about "a visual autobiography" film about her life, which was first announced in 2020. It was previously announced in June 2022 that actress Julia Garner had been offered the role of Madonna, however, now in June 2026, it's been revealed that the film won't go ahead due to a 'falling out'.

Revealing the news in a chat with Interview Magazine, Madonna explained that she worked on a script for two years, before having a 'falling out' with Universal over the budget.

"I was supposed to make a movie about my life," she explained. "I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgeting and casting.

"We had a falling out, me and Universal, regarding budget because I needed - I’ve had an extraordinary life. I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget. You know what I mean? It’s not going be a..."

Before the journalist, Mel Ottenberg, added: "An Indie film?"

"No," Madonna continued. "They couldn’t get their heads around it. I found a way to make it for less money in Serbia, but I don’t think they were into the idea of - I don’t know.

"Maybe they just didn’t believe in me. One of their first reactions was, 'We don’t believe you’d stay in Serbia more than four days.' And I said, 'Did you read the script?'

"My whole life has been survival. I’m not going there for a holiday. But anyway, I was in limbo when that fell apart, and then Netflix reached out to make a series. That was a whole other long process, because I couldn’t use the script I had with Universal unless I bought it from them for an extortionist’s price, even though I wrote it. Don’t ask."

In 2025, news of a Netflix series about Madonna started to emerge, with Deadline reporting that Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy was set to work on the project. However, in the interview, Madonna also revealed: "I started trying to understand how making a series would work. It’s a very, very 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. I was like, 'Good thing I have another job because I need to work, I need to create. I need to do what I was put on this earth to do.'"

READ MORE: Madonna's career story - The queen of pop music and ultimate fashion icon

Who was going to play Madonna?

In March 2022, it was revealed that auditions were underway for the film's cast, which saw a host of famous actresses audition to play Madonna. It was then revealed that Ozark and Inventing Anna star Julia Garner has been offered the role!

Before Julia was offered the part, other celebrities considered for the role included Florence Pugh (Midsommar), Emma Laird (From Life), singers Bebe Rexha and Sky Ferreira, and Euphoria actresses Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie, and Barbie Ferreira.

Auditions for the much sought-after role took months, and candidates had to be able to sing, dance, and act to be considered. According to The Hollywood Reporter, auditions included hours of choreography sessions with Madonna's choreographer and the singer herself.

Madonna had previously revealed that she would like actress Florence Pugh to be cast in the film, and in January 2022 she hinted that Julia Fox (Uncut Gems) could also be involved in the film.

In June 2026, Julia Garner then appeared in a music video for Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter's song 'Bring Your Love'. This caused speculation that news of the film biopic could be on the horizon, but it wasn't the news fans had been hoping for.

What was the film about?

Madonna was set to co-direct and co-write the film about her life, which she described as "a visual autobiography". She revealed in October 2021 that the script was almost finished.

In February 2022, the singer took to Instagram to share that auditions were underway for the biopic. She posted a video of herself dancing to her 1983 song 'Burning Up', with the caption: 'Auditions for my film are a Surreal experience 🎬🎥 But I’m enjoying Dancing to the Classics!!'

Madonna previously told Associated Press how she has found the process of creating the film: "It's a pretty crazy experience so far, I’m just in the writing process, and just deciding which stories to tell, how much detail to go into, which characters to develop. It's really been a long and arduous process, but it's been really therapeutic as well."

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