All we know about the 'bootcamp' auditions for Madonna's canceled biopic
Fans of Madonna were shocked to learn on January 24 that her highly-anticipated biopic, which she had initially set out to direct herself, had been placed on an indefinite hiatus.
Not only because the upcoming movie – which was in development at Universal Studios – had already cast Ozark's Julia Garner to portray the Queen of Pop, but because of how hard it had been to decide on a lead actress in the first place.
Since news of the project had been scrapped, first shared by Variety, multiple outlets have made note of what a gruesome ordeal the audition process had been, now seemingly pointless.
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Variety said that Julia's casting, which was announced in June of 2022, came after "a grueling weeks-long bake-off," between some of the aspiring Madonnas.
Some of the contenders included Don't Worry Darling's Florence Pugh, Euphoria's Alexa Demie, Australian actress Odessa Young, and singer Bebe Rexha.
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To prove themselves as the perfect Like a Virgin singer, Variety reports that they had to attend singing and dancing bootcamp, which The Guardian reports were up to eleven hours of grueling practice with Madonna's own choreographer.
Julia previously portrayed con-artist Anna Delvey in Inventing Anna
Not only was the bootcamp-style audition process long, but the writing and script planning – Madonna was both director and co-writer – had also been yet another time-consuming and gruesome aspect of the project, with The Hollywood Reporter previously reporting that the scripts turned in had been extraordinarily long.
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News of the cancellation came days after the Desperately Seeking Susan actress announced a new, entirely different project, revealing that she was embarking on a world tour.
Fans will at least get to see the singer back on stage
Titled The Celebration Tour and produced by Live Nation, the 35-city global tour will kick off in Vancouver on January 15th, ending in Amsterdam on December 1st, and per the tour website, aims to be a retrospective of her musical oeuvre.
Her last tour, Madame X, ran from September 2019 to March 2020.
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