Madonna’s claws are out. To be fair, they’re probably always out, given Madge’s proclivity for quick comebacks and cutthroat takedowns. But this time, her claws are sharper, shinier, and adamantium-strong, and sinking into a surprising new victim: a biopic called Blond Ambition. Universal recently snapped up the rights to the script, which is a retelling of Madonna’s early life and career. However, the singer greatly disapproves of the story, even more so now that she’s read the screenplay.
“Why would Universal Studios want to make a movie about me based on a script that is all lies???” she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post, per The Hollywood Reporter. “The writer Elyse Hollander should write for the tabloids.”
Hollander’s screenplay, which follows a young Madonna struggling “to get her first album released while navigating fame, romance, and a music industry that views women as disposable,” shot to the top of the Black List last year. Michael DeLuca (Fifty Shades of Grey) of Brett Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment is set to produce the film, alongside John Zaozirny of Bellevue Productions.
The pop superstar continued trashing the project, singling out specific script details like a scene in which a young Madonna tells Dick Clark on American Bandstand that she was born in Detroit and dropped out of high school.
“I was born in Bay City, not Detroit,” the singer says now. “And I did not drop out of high school. In fact, I went to University of Michigan.”
Representatives for Universal and Madonna have not yet responded to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.
Though she deleted the post, she also followed it up by posting an image of a quote that reads: “Don’t worry about those who talk behind your back, they’re behind you for a reason.”
The caption then directly calls out Ratner (whom Madonna previously worked with on the 1999 video for “Beautiful Stranger”) and Hollander, making good use of the once prosperous snake emoji: “Universal Studios🐍 Brett Ratner 🐍and Rat and Elyse Hollander 🐍🐍🐍 Lies Have No Legs.” It has not been deleted.
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When news of the biopic originally broke on Tuesday, Madonna immediately took to Instagram to voice her disapproval. She posted a photo of herself in all her 80s splendor, with the caption: “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. Looking for instant gratification without doing the work. This is a disease in our society. ✍️🙃.”
On the bright side, Charlatans and Fools sounds like a great future album title, followed up by the scorching Lies Have No Legs.
