Madonna Biopic Dead as Singer Focuses on Upcoming World Tour: Reports

Last June, Julia Garner emerged victorious from the fog of war that was the months-long casting boot camp for an untitled Madonna biopic, having clawed over a dozen other actors to snatch the part. That project, tentatively titled “Little Sparrow,” has been scrapped, according to multiple reports on Tuesday. Sources told Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline that the movie, which would have seen the iconic singer herself settle into the director’s chair, is no longer moving forward at Universal. The studio had no comment on the matter. The news comes a week after Madonna unveiled the dates for her forthcoming Celebration world tour, a greatest-hits retrospective set to kick off this summer. The biopic showed signs of floundering in its development stages, with one source telling the Reporter that none of its drafts clocked in at under 180 pages. Insiders suggested to both Variety and Entertainment Weekly that the 64-year-old performer is still interested in making a movie about her life and career at some point in the future.