Julia Garner Says She Doesn't Know Where the Madonna Biopic Stands

Julia Garner does not know where the Madonna biopic stands. Speaking to CBS, the actor said the situation keeps shifting. "Every hour it changes, in a way," she said, as Variety reported on 10 November 2026.

Garner said the decision is not hers. "It's not up to me," she told CBS, adding that she would love to see the movie get made. She also said she loves Madonna and thinks she is incredible.

The project has been around for a while. It was announced in 2020. Garner won the lead role in 2022 after a singing-and-dancing boot camp. Before her, Florence Pugh, Alexa Demie, Odessa Young and Bebe Rexha were reported to have been in consideration. Madonna was set to direct her own story, and two different scripts were written by Diablo Cody and Cressida Wilson.

Then it stalled. In 2023, the film was scrapped ahead of Madonna's world tour and paused indefinitely at Universal Pictures. Things seemed to still be moving in July 2025. Garner told the SmartLess podcast that she was still set to play Madonna. "That's supposed to still happen," she said at the time.

Now she is describing a project in limbo. Her latest comments suggest that the cast is waiting on decisions made elsewhere, and that those decisions have not been announced.

Film projects like this can sit in development for years. A star can be chosen, scripts can be written and a director can be named, yet the film still needs a studio to commit money and a date to fit it onto its schedule. Until that happens, the answers tend to come in pieces, from interviews and podcasts rather than official announcements.

For Madonna fans, the message from Garner is simple. She wants the film made, but she is not the one who decides. Any update will have to come from the studio or the people who control the project.