Madonna biopic still a ‘work in progress’ says lead star

‘I can’t say too much about it’ said Julia Garner

Julia Garner has said the long-awaited Madonna biopic she’s set to star in is still a “work in progress”.

The 31-year-old Weapons star fought off stiff competition from stars including Florence Pugh, Alexa Demie, and Sydney Sweeney to be cast as the singer in the highly anticipated movie.

However, the project was put on pause in 2023 as the “Holiday” singer embarked on her 84-show Celebration Tour until May 2024.

Over a year later, Garner has confirmed to W Magazine that the project is still in the works. “I can’t say too much about it, but yes, it’s a work in progress,” she said.

The Ozark star added that her favourite Madonna songs are “Borderline” and “Papa Don’t Preach”. She also enjoys Madonna’s 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor, the 1990 hit “Vogue” and the title track from her 1998 studio album “Ray of Light”.

“I love all of Madonna, basically, is what I’m trying to say,” she said. “I just love Madonna’s voice on ‘Papa Don’t Preach.’ There’s a lot of emotions in that song and I love that.”

Upon returning from her Celebration tour, Madonna revealed she was still working on the film’s script. A release date for the project is yet to be announced by Universal Pictures.

Julia Garner has said the long-awaited Madonna biopic is still a ‘work in progress’ (Getty Images)

Garner’s confirmation that the film is still going ahead comes after she opened up about the intimidating audition process to play the singer.

“I had to learn to dance and then dance in front of her and convince her that I can dance and sing – and sing with her!” she recalled earlier this year.

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To help boost her self-confidence, The Fantastic Four: First Steps star said she asks herself: “‘OK, what would Madonna do?’ Which is convince you that she deserves 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,’” she said.

The project was put on pause in 2023 when singer embarked on her Celebration Tour (Madonna/Instagram)

The actor acknowledged it may take some time for the long-awaited biopic to reach screens: “I feel like anything that’s great…takes a long time,” she said.

Garner rose to fame in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark and received further acclaim portraying Anna Sorokin in the Netflix series Inventing Anna in 2022.

She recently starred as Silver Surfer in Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps and featured in Zach Cregger’s hit horror Weapons as teacher Justine Gandy, whose class eerily goes missing.