Julia Garner is opening up about her audition process for the long-delayed Madonna biopic.
During a recent interview on the SmartLess podcast, the actress was asked by hosts Will Arnett, Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman for a status update on where the shelved Universal biopic stands, to which she responded, “Yeah, I mean, that’s supposed to still happen.”
As for how she landed the role of the Queen of Pop, Garner, 31, said she’s “such a fan of Madonna’s” and “grew up listening” to the “Vogue” singer.
“It just came about,” the Ozark alum added of the audition. “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!”
Garner added that despite being nervous, The Fantastic Four: First Steps actress kept telling 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.’”
It’s unclear exactly where the Madonna biopic stands, which she was set to direct, as it was shelved by Universal Pictures in 2023. However, following the legendary singer’s massive Celebration Tour wrapping, Madonna shared on Instagram in 2024 that she was working on the script again.
In a separate project, it was announced earlier this year that the “Material Girl” singer has also teamed up with producer and director Shawn Levy on a limited series project at Netflix. The project is in the early stages of development at the streamer.
After Garner reiterated on the SmartLess podcast that the movie was still in the works, she added, “But I also feel like anything that’s great … takes a long time” to be completed.
