Wanna feel old? No? Well, tough shit, because somebody’s working on a Madonna biopic.
The Hollywood Reporter says that Universal has picked up Elyse Hollander’s screenplay Blond Ambition, which previously appeared at the top of the 2016 Black List, a compilation of Hollywood’s most popular yet stubbornly unproduced scripts. The focus is the beginning of her career:
The story is set in early 1980s New York as Madonna Louise Ciccone works on her first album, struggling in a business that treats women badly, while also dealing with a burgeoning love life and the first hints of fame.
Madonna moved to New York from Michigan in 1978 to pursue dance but segued to singing and writing songs. After failing at a rock band, she switched to dance and pop. After achieving some success with a few dance singles, she began work on her debut album, Madonna, which was released in 1983. The album yielded hits “Holiday,” “Borderline” and “Lucky Star,” and set the stage for her ground-breaking Like a Virgin album.
It’s not clear whether Madonna will actually be involved; if not, her truly uncensored thoughts on being given the biopic treatment would probably be a real treat.
Congrats to the suburban 14-year-olds who will discover the early days of MTV via this movie. As opposed to the era which will also seem unfathomably ancient to them, i.e., the days of the original My Super Sweet Sixteen.
Update: Via the New York Times, we’ve got those uncensored thoughts from Madonna, coming right up! She posted a photo of her younger self on Instagram, commenting that, “Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story,” and, “Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool.” However, she did not mention the production by name.