Madonna

Film as a Battlefield

Madonna arrived in Times Square in 1978 with thirty-five dollars in her pocket and a hunger that didn't fit in Manhattan. She wasn't just after singing. She wanted the screen because she understood that image is the only language that needs no translation.

In 1985 she shot Desperately Seeking Susan, and critics swallowed their prejudices. That film worked because she wasn't acting. She simply walked around New York being herself in front of Susan Seidelman's camera, and audiences responded with twenty-seven million dollars in domestic box office.

And the gamble paid off.

But her romance with acting didn't last long. The flops Shanghai Surprise in 1986 and Who's That Girl in 1987 put her in the crosshairs of the Razzie Awards. These were productions designed to exploit her musical fame that forgot about storytelling along the way.

The Success of the Mask

Warren Beatty cast her in Dick Tracy in 1990, and that's when Madonna realized film could be an extension of her aesthetic. Her Breathless Mahoney was pure cardboard noir. That performance let her play with shadows and makeup without having to carry the dramatic weight of a dense script.

A year later she released Madonna: Truth or Dare. The documentary grossed fifteen million dollars in the United States on a minimal budget. It was the first time a star of her stature let the film's grain expose her misery behind the scenes.

Because she always wanted to control the narrative.

In 1996 she starred in Evita. Alan Parker gave her the role after years of letter-writing campaigns and grueling vocal training. She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress and proved she could carry a big-budget historical drama without relying on the tricks of her pop persona.

Behind the Camera and the Silence

After the commercial disaster of Swept Away in 2002, she decided she preferred to be in charge. She directed Filth and Wisdom in 2008 and W.E. in 2011. On the latter she obsessed over the costumes and the symmetry of the shots, but the story slipped through her fingers.

This film about Wallis Simpson cost eighteen million dollars and barely recouped one at the global box office. British critics were merciless about its take on the royal romance, and the project vanished from theaters within a few weeks.

In 2020 she began writing the screenplay for her own biopic together with Diablo Cody. The project stalled several times due to the demands of her world tour in 2023 and the constant search for an actress who could endure her eleven-hour rehearsal days.

Production resumed in 2024 under the working title Who's That Girl, with Julia Garner confirmed as the lead. Madonna serves as director and screenwriter to make sure no one edits her past without her permission.

Maverick, her production company founded in 1992, shut down its film division after losing millions on projects that never got past pre-production.