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Thread started 04/24/17 6:41pm

Identity

Madonna Biopic, Blond Ambition, in The Works

Bn97IdZ.jpg


04/2017
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Universal is developing the Madonna biopic Blonde Ambition, picking up rights to a screenplay about Madonna’s first album.

The project details Madonna’s efforts in the early 1980s in New York City to get her first album released while navigating fame, romance, and the dismissive attitude of the music industry at the time.

Madonna broke out in 1983 on her first album, Madonna, followed by 1984’s blockbuster Like a Virgin.

The title of the film comes from a tour launched in 1990 by the singer who was in her glory with No. 1 hits such as Like A Prayer, Express Yourself and Vogue. In 1991, the documentary Truth or Dare documented the tour.

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Reply #1 posted 04/24/17 8:16pm

SoulAlive

hmmm why not a biopic about her entire career?
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Reply #2 posted 04/24/17 8:53pm

Identity

This is an awesome way to reintroducing her to the masses. A movie chronicling her whole career would be inconceivably long.

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Reply #3 posted 04/24/17 11:05pm

mjscarousal

Well deserved.

However, I rather see a Madonna bio movie that covers her superstardom peak. There was already a bio movie made that covers the Blond Ambition era. However, Madonna deserves to have a bio movie that covers most of her career especially her commecial peak. It will show the younger generation and remind old heads of why she is the greatest female pop star of all time/legend/and Icon. She pushed buttons and took controversial music and artistic risks and didn't care what the media and masses thought. ! She challenged the status quo and audiences. She was very intelligent, witty and a bad ass bish overall. Very deserving and long overdue. I just hope they rethink about covering her entire career or at least her commercial peak.

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Reply #4 posted 04/25/17 4:09am

Glindathegood

SoulAlive said:

hmmm why not a biopic about her entire career?

I agree! There was a tv movie called Innocence Lost that covered the same period. Now that wasn't very good, and maybe this new movie will be better, but it seems like it's going over essentially the same ground.

But it would be interesting if there was a movie that covered the later aspects of her career because that would be different than what has already been done.

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Reply #5 posted 04/25/17 4:24am

DaveT

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Hmmm ... could be interesting. I hope they don't try to over-dramatise this by adding in things or exaggerating things that happened.

Having said that, was this period dramatic enough to make a film out of? Where was the conflict, the drama? Did they alleyway assault that Madonna alludes to in Live To Tell happen around this time?

Casting should be interesting to. Think I'd prefer a relative unknown over an A-lister. Felicity Jones (Jyn from Star Wars; Rogue One) would be a pretty good fit if she can pull off the accent.

www.filmsfilmsfilms.co.uk - The internet's best movie site!
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Reply #6 posted 04/25/17 4:39am

missfee

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SoulAlive said:

hmmm why not a biopic about her entire career?

True...but why not do a docu about her entire career instead? I'm still a sucker for "Truth or Dare"...I've always loved it and still enjoy watching it till this very day. nod The part where she acknowledges that Sean Penn was basically the love of her life always gets me. touched I'm confident that if she was asked the same question today, her answer would be the same.

I will forever love and miss you...my sweet Prince.
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Reply #7 posted 04/25/17 7:55am

purplethunder3
121

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missfee said:

SoulAlive said:

hmmm why not a biopic about her entire career?

True...but why not do a docu about her entire career instead? I'm still a sucker for "Truth or Dare"...I've always loved it and still enjoy watching it till this very day. nod The part where she acknowledges that Sean Penn was basically the love of her life always gets me. touched I'm confident that if she was asked the same question today, her answer would be the same.

Yeah, Truth or Dare is hard to compete with. Madonna did reality TV before there was such a thing! lol

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #8 posted 04/25/17 9:16am

DaveT

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purplethunder3121 said:

missfee said:

True...but why not do a docu about her entire career instead? I'm still a sucker for "Truth or Dare"...I've always loved it and still enjoy watching it till this very day. nod The part where she acknowledges that Sean Penn was basically the love of her life always gets me. touched I'm confident that if she was asked the same question today, her answer would be the same.

Yeah, Truth or Dare is hard to compete with. Madonna did reality TV before there was such a thing! lol


I prefer I'm Going To Tell You A Secret myself ... she seems more like her natural self in that. Truth or Dare always seemed like she was acting and putting on alot of what we saw on camera.

www.filmsfilmsfilms.co.uk - The internet's best movie site!
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Reply #9 posted 04/25/17 9:30am

thedoorkeeper

SoulAlive said:

hmmm why not a biopic about her entire career?

A 2 hour movie that covers her struggles in NY, her hitting it big with Like a Virgin, Endlessly Seeking Susan, scandal involving nude pix, the marriage to Sean Penn, her impact on fashion, touring, recording & releasing music , divorce, scandal surrounding Erotica,her pregnancy with her first child, her marriage to that English director, moving to England, having another baby, divorce, moving back to the US, adopting kids, coping with aging, etc.
Sounds like a lot of material to condense into a 2 hour movie.
You have to pick a small period in her life & dramatize that. Otherwise you would be making a movie of headlines.
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Reply #10 posted 04/25/17 9:35am

thedoorkeeper

A mini-series would work better at telling the story of her life & career.
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Reply #11 posted 04/25/17 2:04pm

TrivialPursuit

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There's already been a biopic about her upbringing and ends with the MTV gig with "Like A Virgin".

Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking.
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Reply #12 posted 04/25/17 2:17pm

Cinny

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A RE-BOOT of Innocence Lost? biggrin

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Reply #13 posted 04/25/17 2:43pm

purplethunder3
121

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Madonna's response to the biopic via FB:

"Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story. 1f4da.png📚Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool. 1f921.png🤡. Looking for instant gratification without doing the work. This is a disease in our society. 270d.png✍️1f643.png🙃" -Madonna

[Edited 4/25/17 14:46pm]

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #14 posted 04/25/17 4:05pm

bashraka

purplethunder3121 said:

Madonna's response to the biopic via FB:

"Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story. 1f4da.png📚Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool. 1f921.png🤡. Looking for instant gratification without doing the work. This is a disease in our society. 270d.png✍️1f643.png🙃" -Madonna

[Edited 4/25/17 14:46pm]

I was thinking of Prince when I read this quote. This really applies to a certain former ex wife milking Prince's death for all that it's worth. Not a big Madonna fan but I do applaud her for taking steps to tell her own biography for opportunistic associates do it for her when she dies.

3121 #1 THIS YEAR
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Reply #15 posted 04/25/17 4:18pm

Identity

I guess we shouldn't expect her to go to the premiere. lol

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Reply #16 posted 04/25/17 4:32pm

SoulAlive

purplethunder3121 said:

Madonna's response to the biopic via FB:




"Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story. 1f4da.png📚Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool. 1f921.png🤡. Looking for instant gratification without doing the work. This is a disease in our society. 270d.png✍️1f643.png🙃" -Madonna



[Edited 4/25/17 14:46pm]




lol
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Reply #17 posted 04/25/17 4:35pm

SoulAlive

What I would like to see is....Madonna writes her autobiography and they turn that into a movie,with Madonna's complete involvement.
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Reply #18 posted 04/25/17 9:39pm

purplethunder3
121

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SoulAlive said:

What I would like to see is....Madonna writes her autobiography and they turn that into a movie,with Madonna's complete involvement.

She'll probably direct it, too. wink

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #19 posted 04/26/17 2:53am

SoulAlive

purplethunder3121 said:

SoulAlive said:

What I would like to see is....Madonna writes her autobiography and they turn that into a movie,with Madonna's complete involvement.

She'll probably direct it, too. wink

No,she needs to let someone else direct it smile she can be executive producer

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Reply #20 posted 04/26/17 2:48pm

SoulAlive

Screen Shot 2017-04-25 at 7.47.34 PM.png

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Reply #21 posted 04/26/17 2:49pm

SoulAlive

Screen Shot 2017-04-25 at 7.53.39 PM.png

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Reply #22 posted 04/26/17 2:49pm

SoulAlive

^^apparently,these are pages from the script smile

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Reply #23 posted 04/26/17 5:04pm

JabarR74

The question now is who will Madonna get to play her?

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Reply #24 posted 04/26/17 5:14pm

morningsong

Should be interesting. Hope she says her piece now.

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Reply #25 posted 04/26/17 5:37pm

SoulAlive

JabarR74 said:

The question now is who will Madonna get to play her?



there is a crazy rumor that Paris Jackson (!) has been mentioned for this role eek
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Reply #26 posted 04/26/17 6:10pm

JabarR74

I kinda would rather see Kirsten Dunst play her.

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Reply #27 posted 04/26/17 6:33pm

purplethunder3
121

avatar

SoulAlive said:

JabarR74 said:

The question now is who will Madonna get to play her?

there is a crazy rumor that Paris Jackson (!) has been mentioned for this role eek

whofarted

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #28 posted 04/26/17 7:44pm

purplethunder3
121

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What's Inside Madonna Biopic 'Blond Ambition' & Can She Stop It?

Frans Schellekens/Redferns
Madonna performs during the Blonde Ambition tour at Feijenoord Stadium on July 24, 1990 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

If the Universal project does get the green light, it will have to survive the wrath of the Material Girl.

Most scripts on the Black List -- an annual ranking of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays, voted upon by the people who read them (many of them agency and studio assistants) -- remain just that: unproduced.

But not always. Certainly landing in first place on the list doesn't hurt. Such was the case with Blond Ambition: The biopic from first-time screenwriter Elyse Hollander about Madonna's rise to fame earned 48 votes on the 2016 list, 13 nods ahead of the second-place entry from veteran scribe Dan Fogelman (This Is Us).

The script impressed Universal enough to snatch up the property, with two major producers -- Michael De Luca and Brett Ratner -- attached. Still, no director has yet been attached and the film is not yet an official green light.

A scene from Madonna – Her-Story.

.

Definitely not on board, however, is Madonna herself. The singer has posted several Instagram messages denouncing the project. In the first, posted just hours after The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of the project on Tuesday, she writes, "Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story. Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool."

On Wednesday (April 26), a copy of the script now in hand, her criticism grew more pointed and personal. "Why would Universal Studios want to make a movie about me based on a script that is all lies???" she writes. "The writer Elyse Hollander should write for the tabloids."

.

As an example of the script's inaccuracies, Madonna singled out a line of dialogue on the first page, in which Madonna tells Dick Clark in an interview on American Bandstand, "I was born in Detroit. I'm a famed high school dropout."

.

"I was born in Bay City, not Detroit. And I did not drop out of high school. In fact, I went to University of Michigan," Madonna counters. But Hollander took that exchange directly from the actual American Bandstand broadcast, as evidenced by this YouTube video. (Perhaps that is why Madonna later deleted the second Instagram post.)

If Blond Ambition does get green-lighted, it will have to survive the wrath of Madonna. For Universal, it could wind up being a headache not worth pursuing. It certainly won't be the first unauthorized biography to make it to the screen, but other recent notable instances -- The Queen, The Social Network, Foxcatcher -- were not reliant on a highly recognizable musical catalog.

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Figuring heavily into Blond Ambition's plot are such early Madonna hits as "Burning Up," "Everybody," "Borderline," "Lucky Star" and "Holiday" -- all of them hit singles off her self-titled debut album from 1983. For Universal to include these songs, they would need to secure a sync license for the master recording (if they use the originals) and the music publishing rights.

.

Even if Madonna holds none of these rights herself, one prominent music lawyer estimates that "given her stature in the industry, she probably has an approval right" over the songs and could prevent them from use in Blond Ambition. The resulting film -- a Madonna biopic without any Madonna music in it -- greatly runs the risk of coming off like a big-budget Lifetime movie in the vein of Britney Ever After.

.

A second and far less promising tack would be to go after the script for defamation. But while there is plenty of material in Blond Ambition to which the Material Girl might object, calling it defamatory would be a legal stretch.

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In one scene, she's depicted shoplifting in a drugstore, "stashing a toothbrush and some toothpaste in her backback."

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The script also suggests that Madonna stole her iconic look from another fixture on the downtown club scene, a character named "Bianca Stonewell."

And as her star rises, the screenplay suggests that Madonna ignores her then-producer and boyfriend, Jellybean Benitez, to cozy up to Prince.

.

"He tries to move past the bodyguard," the stage directions note. "Madonna, fully engrossed in a conversation with Prince, doesn’t see him. Or does she?" (Italics Hollander's.)

And in the final scene, just moments after her triumphant performance of "Like a Virgin" at the 1984 MTV Music Video Awards, she callously informs Benitez that she aborted their child.

"I won't have to choose between my career and a family now," she says as she applies lipstick in a vanity mirror. "And that's how I want it." (The scene was shot by students at the Los Angeles Film School and uploaded to YouTube, making for an inadvertently hilarious piece of Madonna ephemera.)

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Oddly enough, what could have been one of the most incendiary and emotionally wrenching chapters -- Madonna's rooftop rape at age 19, something she spoke openly about in 2015 -- is barely referenced in Blond Ambition.

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"This might sound crazy, but when I first got to New York I wanted to believe the best in everyone," she tells Benitez. "Of course, it wasn’t too long before someone took advantage of that. Took advantage of me..."

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"Wait ... Do you mean..." Benitez interrupts.

"I don’t want to get into it," she replies.

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For now, Madonna is not speaking out further on the subject, having passed on a request for comment. Hollander, too, did not respond to a request for comment; her Twitter feed was recently made private.

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #29 posted 04/26/17 11:21pm

Goddess4Real

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missfee said:

SoulAlive said:

hmmm why not a biopic about her entire career?

True...but why not do a docu about her entire career instead? I'm still a sucker for "Truth or Dare"...I've always loved it and still enjoy watching it till this very day. nod The part where she acknowledges that Sean Penn was basically the love of her life always gets me. touched I'm confident that if she was asked the same question today, her answer would be the same.

yeahthat also this bit of news sounds like a pile of whofarted come on no one could really play Madonna in a film.

Keep Calm & Listen To Prince
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