Julia Garner landed the lead role in the Madonna biopic the “Material Girl” has had in the works, and the Fantastic Four: First Steps star is giving insight into the audition process.
In a new interview, Garner says that she is still set to play Madonna on a biopic the “Hung Up” singer is directing herself.
“That’s supposed to still happen,” Garner said on the SmartLess podcast when host Sean Hayes remembered she was supposed to play Madonna in a project.
Garner said she is “such of fan of Madonna” and “grew up listening” to the pop star, adding, “It just came about. I knew they were doing a project, making a movie about it, and then I went out to audition.”
“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. And sing with her!” she recalled of the audition process.
To prepare for the audition, Garner says that she told herself, “OK, what would Madonna do? Which is convince you that she deserves, you know, 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.’”
Garner said that the project is still in the works and added that “anything that’s great … takes a long time.”
In January 2023, it was reported that the film at Universal Pictures had been scrapped. Madonna was set to direct the film about her life and career, penning the script with Diablo Cody and Erin Cressida Wilson.
After the film was put on hold, Madonna teased in July 2024 that she was back working on a script for her biopic.
Earlier this year, Deadline exclusively reported that Madonna had partnered with Netflix to tell her story in a TV series being developed alongside Shawn Levy.