Madonna has condemned Universal for its planned movie about her life.
On Monday, the studio announced it had picked up rights to Elyse Hollander’s script for “Blonde Ambition,” a biopic about the rise of the famed pop star. Hollander’s script was ranked No. 1 on the Blacklist, a list of the best screenplays in Hollywood that have yet to be produced.
Madonna had remained silent on the project until Tuesday, when she took to Instagram to voice her displeasure.
“Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen,” she captioned under an image of herself in the ’80s. “Only I can tell my story. Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool [who’s looking] for instant gratification without doing the work. This is a disease in our society.”
Hollander’s screenplay is set in New York in the 1980s and follows Madonna‘s rise to fame before the recording of her eponymous debut album, while spending her formative years breaking into the underground music scene. Because of the project’s timeline, it’s likely Universal will not need music clearances to move forward (the same way “Backbeat” didn’t need Beatles songs to follow the band’s early days in Germany).
Michael De Luca, who produced the “Fifty Shades” films for Universal, is attached to produce along with Brett Ratner and John Zaozirny.
Released in 1983, Madonna‘s eponymous debut album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, featured early hit singles like “Holiday” and “Lucky Star,” and set the stage for Madonna‘s breakthrough “Like A Virgin” album the following year.