Madonna Says a ‘Falling Out’ With Universal Pictures Over Budget Killed Her Biopic Movie: ‘I’ve Had a Huge Life, So I Needed a Big Budget’

Madonna revealed to Interview magazine that a falling out with Universal Pictures is the reason her movie biopic never went into production. The studio won a multi-studio auction in 2021 to make a film about Madonna’s life, with the pop icon on board to co-write and direct the movie. Screenwriters such as Diablo Cody and Erin Cressida Wilson were attached to the film over the years, while “Ozark” Emmy winner Julia Garner won the part of Madonna 2022 after a highly-publicized audition boot camp.

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“I was supposed to make a movie about my life. I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgeting and casting,” Madonna told the publication. “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?”

According to Madonna, Universal “couldn’t get their heads around” the budget required to make a biopic on her life, so she tried to bring the price tag down by finding “a way to make it for less money in Serbia.”

“Maybe they just didn’t believe in me,” Madonna said. “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.”

“That’s just the way it goes,” she continued. “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.'”

Variety has reached out to Universal Pictures for comment.

Insiders previously told Variety the film would have followed Madonna from her humble beginnings in Michigan through her artistic coming of age in New York City during the ’80s. The movie would’ve led right up to the 1998 release of “Ray of Light.” Netflix is currently developing an autobiographical series about Madonna via Shawn Levy’s exclusive TV deal at the streamer, but Garner is not attached to this version.

While the Madonna biopic did not come to fruition at Universal, the movie will live on in a fictional capacity in “The Studio” Season 2 at Apple. Madonna and Garner filmed episodes last year at the Venice Film Festival for the new season of Seth Rogen’s Emmy-winning comedy series. One of the story arcs for Season 2 finds a Madonna biopic starring Garner heading to Venice for its world premiere.