Madonna’s ‘Giving Up a Little of Her Dream’ With Miniseries on Her Life: ‘It’s Less Risky,’ Says Source

Madonna’s long-awaited autobiography is back on track and has an all new format – but according to a source, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

After the “Vogue” singer’s feature film starring Julia Garner was put on hold at Universal Pictures in 2023, it’s been confirmed that an unrelated miniseries is in development at Netflix, per Deadline.

However, the change-up has reportedly been frustrating for Madonna, who, a source tells Examiner, “absolutely hates to compromise.”

“It’s a less risky and more sensible approach than making a big studio blockbuster movie,” the source points out, “but you can’t help but see that Madonna is giving up a little of her dream to make this happen at all.”

Over the last few years, the project has gone through several iterations, including a screenplay that she started to develop with Diablo Cody called Little Sparrow and a script co-written with Erin Crissida Wilson, according to Daily Mail.

Now, the source says that teaming up with Netflix was “the only way to keep this project alive and not throw away all the work she and her hand-picked actress Julia Garner did over the last three years on the movie version of this project for Universal.”

The project is set to be produced by Shawn Levy, who not only also produced Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things, but is also said to be a huge fan of the “Material Girl” singer.

“He’s an ’80s kid who worships Madonna and her music and has made hundreds of millions of dollars for Netflix,” adds the source. “It’s a major shot in the arm for the Madonna project, but Madonna is still Madonna, and she’s a hopeless perfectionist who tested the patience of the bosses at Universal past the breaking point!”

“You have to wonder if Netflix and Shawn haven’t just stepped into the same quicksand that the Universal executives did when this whole thing got underway a few years ago,” the source tells Examiner.

While Madonna’s “ace in the hole” could be that she has her incredible music and “super-memorable” videos to work with, not to mention Garner’s “uncanny resemblance” to her, the source says Madonna has “always been her own worst enemy on this project.”

“Nobody can really see the story the way she does, which is a blessing and a curse,” the source explains. “She wants it to be authentic and real, not a ‘greatest hits’ mash-up like the recent Elton John and Freddie Mercury movies. The problem is, those movies were both massive successes with audiences.”

By choosing to let Netflix develop the project, the source says she’s “for now at least – given up on the dream of making a movie about her life that has audiences dancing in the aisles in movie theaters.”