Who should play Madonna in the biopic of her life?
Julia Garner? Lady Gaga? Gigi Goode? Madonna herself?
Madonna last week confirmed she’s to direct and co-write her own biopic – and, naturally, we have thoughts about who should play the Material Girl.
The stakes are high, given the astronomical success of rock and pop biopics in recent years: Rami Malek, of course, won a Best Actor Oscar for playing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, while Taron Egerton won plaudits as Elton John in last year’s Rocketman.
(Albeit no Oscar nod – you were robbed, Taron!).
Here’s our pick of the contenders for Madonna’s movie – which we sincerely hope is called Ray of Light and not something more obvious.
Side note: we absolutely cannot wait for this film.
Julia Garner
Julia, seen in last year’s movie The Assistant, has the look of 80s Madonna (Picture: Bleecker Street)
She won an Emmy earlier this week for her work on Netflix crime drama Ozark – and Julia’s hotly-tipped for the role in question after fans spotted Madonna herself started following the 26-year-old on Instagram recently.
Bearing in mind M only follows 289 people, this is pretty telling.
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Catherine O’Hara
Another big winner from the 2020 Emmys was Catherine, and her hit show Schitt’s Creek. (Although, to a generation, she’ll always be the mum from Home Alone).
We’re throwing Catherine into the mix because her Schitt’s Creek character Moira Rose – a super glam ex-soap star – has massive echoes of Madonna. So much so, there’s even an Instagram account dedicated to their similarities.
Kim Petras
Kim Petras is 29 – the age Madonna was when she released ‘Vogue’ (Picture: YouTube)
In the spirit of pop stars conquering the acting world (like Madonna did with Evita, and didn’t with Swept Away), we’re suggesting Kim.
The Malibu singer actually met Madge at last year’s World Pride in NYC, telling E! this year: “I had no idea what to say to her at all. I just freaked out, but she was really nice and cool about it. I’m obsessed with her.
“Whenever I’m down, I watch her Truth or Dare documentary and it picks me up. She’s a huge inspiration for me. She’s part of the reason I make escapist pop.”
Emma Mackey
Emma Mackey has won critical acclaim for her portrayal of Maeve in ‘Sex Education’ (Picture: Netflix)
All eyes are on actress Emma Mackey since her rise to fame in Netflix series Sex Education in recent years.
What’s more, her free-spirited misfit Maeve in SE has touches of Madonna, and especially her character in Desperately Seeking Susan.
Plus, Emma’s star’s about to rise considerably: she’s appearing in next month’s murder mystery film Death on the Nile alongside established movie stars like Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer.
Gigi Goode
A runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race 2020, a standout moment for Gigi was when she channeled the very essence of the Queen of Pop during her turn as True Blue-era Madonna.
No mean feat considering Gigi was born in 1997 – some 11 years after the album came out!
Lady Gaga
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It might be too on the nose, but it’s possible: they did, after all, end their feud at last year’s Oscars following Gaga‘s Best Song win for A Star Is Born’s Shallow.
Plus, there were only problems to begin with because Gaga and Madonna are incredibly similar – not least their shared habit of complete look and sound reinventions (OK, fine, Born This Way did sound incredibly close to Express Yourself, and Madonna calling it “reductive” was one of our favourite showbiz stories of the last decade.)
Madonna herself
Madonna has sold over 300 million records worldwide (Picture: Interscope Records)
We wouldn’t rule it out. Not least because, when the 62-year-old said on The Graham Norton Show last year “If there ever is one [a biopic], I’ll be directing it”, it sounded far-fetched. And now it’s really happening.