The long-awaited biographical film about Madonna's life, which was going to be directed by the artist herself and starring Julia Garner, never hit theaters. After years of silence, he explained in an interview for Interview magazine the real reasons behind the cancellation of the project with Universal Pictures and the obstacles he subsequently encountered with Netflix.

According to Madonna, the project, which was in development for four years, collapsed due to a financial conflict with the studio. The singer defended the need for a blockbuster to tell her story truthfully.

“I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgets and casting,” he explained. "We had a rift, Universal and I, regarding the budget, I've had an extraordinary life. I've had a huge life, so I needed a big budget."

To try to save the project, Madonna proposed filming in Serbia to reduce costs, an idea that did not convince the studio. "I found a way to do it for less money in Serbia, but I don't think they were crazy about the idea. Maybe they just didn't believe in me," said the singer.

Your relationship with Netflix

After the failure with Universal, Netflix became interested in the project, but this time to turn it into a limited series. However, the process was not easy either. Madonna ran into a new legal hurdle: She couldn't use the script she had written for Universal unless she bought it back for a price she called "extortionist."

"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 any," Madonna explained, noting that this process dragged on for "another eight or nine months."

In the absence of progress, the singer found solace in her musical career. "Thank goodness 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," he declared.