Why was Madonna’s biopic shelved? 'Maybe they didn't believe in me,' says singer on Universal fallout

Madonna’s long-awaited journey to bring her life story to the big screen has officially hit a dead end.

Back in 2022, the pop icon announced plans for a biopic that she would not only co-write but also direct herself. Four years later, that vision has fallen apart. Now, Madonna has lifted the curtain on what went wrong behind the scenes—and why her fallout with Universal Pictures ultimately derailed the project.

Speaking to Interview magazine, the singer confirmed that creative and financial disagreements with the studio brought the film to a halt.

“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. 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?” Madonna said.

According to her, Universal Pictures struggled to get behind the scale she believed her story required. The singer claimed the studio “couldn't get their heads around” the budget needed to properly capture her life on screen. At one point, she even considered drastic cost-cutting measures, including moving production to Serbia to make the film more financially viable.

For Madonna, the breakdown left her in a state of uncertainty.

She explained that while everything stalled with Universal, she briefly considered how to salvage the project by scaling it down. “Maybe they just didn’t believe in me,” she said, recalling one of the studio’s reactions: “We don’t believe you’d stay in Serbia more than four days.” To which she responded, “Did you read the script?”

“My whole life has been survival. I’m not going there for a holiday,” she added. “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.”

The studio has not yet responded to her comments.

The biopic, first secured by Universal Pictures after a competitive studio auction in 2021, went through several iterations over the years. Writers including Diablo Cody and Erin Cressida Wilson were attached at different stages, while Ozark star Julia Garner was set to play Madonna.

Although the film never materialised, Madonna hasn’t entirely left the idea behind. In April, she and Garner appeared together in Apple TV’s The Studio Season 2, in a playful sequence that referenced the scrapped project.

More recently, it was reported in 2025 that Madonna is now collaborating with director Shawn Levy on a limited bioseries for Netflix. Garner is not involved in this new version.