Madonna Says Her Biopic Was Shelved After “Falling Out” With Universal

Madonna Reveals She Would Date Men So She Could Use Their Fancy Bathrooms

Madonna is saying goodbye to her highly anticipated biopic.

“The Power of Good-Bye” singer recently stated that production for a film based on her life was halted over financial and creative differences with Universal Pictures.

“I was supposed to make a movie about my life,” Madonna told Interview in a story published June 22. “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,” she added. “I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget.”

The “Vogue” hitmaker claimed that though she presented solutions for lowering the project’s budget, they ultimately weren’t able to move forward.

“They couldn’t get their heads around it,” she explained. “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?’” she added. “My whole life has been survival. I’m not going there for a holiday.”

But it seems rejection was redirection for Madonna. After all, Netflix announced in May 2025 that it would be partnering with the 67-year-old on a limited series about her life.

However, it was no walk in the park to get the deal off the ground.

Photo by Dominique Charriau/WireImage

“I was in limbo when that fell apart, and then Netflix reached out to make a series,” she noted. “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.”

But as the Grammy winner has learned from her long career in showbiz, “That’s just the way it goes.”

And the setbacks only push her forward.

“I started trying to understand how making a series would work. It’s a very, very different process,” she explained. “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.”

Photo by PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Images

“I was like, ‘Good thing I have another job because I need to work,’” she continued. “I need to create. I need to do what I was put on this earth to do.”

E! News has reached out to Universal Pictures for comment but has not heard back.

In 2020, Universal announced that Madonna was partnering with the production company on the biopic. And in September 2025, it seemed the film had found their onscreen Material Girl in Julia Garner, who confirmed at the time she was set to play the lead in the film.

"I can't say too much about it," Garner said in a video published by W Magazine last September, "but yes, it's a work in progress."

But even in the film’s earliest stages, it seemed Madonna had her frustrations with production. As she wrote on Instagram in July 2024, “I Need A-lot of Bandz  to make this………..OKAY (Story of my life).”

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