MADONNA is planning to save face with a fly-on-the-wall documentary after her biopic was canned, a source has told The U.S. Sun.
The Queen of Pop, 64, was left high and dry when Universal Studios last month decided to pull the plug on the movie, which she was set to direct and co-write.
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She also faced criticism over her appearance at this year’s Grammys, with some fans claiming she looked grotesquely bloated from apparent plastic surgery.
Now an insider says that the Like A Virgin star plans to fight back by filming a documentary about her upcoming 2023 world tour.
It would potentially take the form of Michael Jordan’s mega-hit The Last Dance series, with footage from the Celebration Tour as its backbone.
The Hollywood source told The U.S. Sun: “Madonna plans to record and film a lot of her Celebration Tour and use that footage for future projects.
“Making a documentary, which she has done before, most famously with her 1991 Truth or Dare project, is on the table.
“But it’s a massive undertaking and would require tons of expensive research and legal clearances of old footage that Madonna doesn’t own, plus the need to wrangle loads of talking heads from Madonna’s past to get on camera and say nice things about her.
“It’s a big job, and it really carves into the tour profits if Madonna’s funding something like that on her own.
“Right now, the only thing green-lit for the tour itself is to capture the big hit performances as beautifully as possible.
“Madonna will decide what to do with the footage when she’s ready.”
The U.S. Sun revealed last month that the canceled biopic had left Universal down an estimated $12million.
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The project was dropped after Madonna announced her new world tour, although the decision is thought to have been made before that.
Ozark star Julia Garner, 28, won the coveted role of Madonna after beating tough competition from other young stars such as Florence Pugh and Sydney Sweeney in grueling boot camp-style auditions.
The U.S. Sun also reported how the failure to produce a final draft of the screenplay for the movie before casting began was seen as a major “red flag” and that studio execs were left baffled by Madonna’s “circus antics” on social media.
Explaining how Madonna is now plotting her revenge, The U.S. Sun’s source said: “She still has an unlimited amount of funds to follow through on her grand vision for the Celebration Tour.
“But with her biopic on ice, a new urgency has surrounded the filmed elements of the tour, both the eventual performance footage and the material Madonna needs to shoot ahead of that to provide backdrops while she sings.
“It’s all a lot higher stakes now than it was just a couple of months ago when she was first putting the idea together.
“Suddenly, Madonna really has something to prove after the seeming black eye she took at the Grammys.”
Comments about Madonna’s face came after she took to the stage to introduce Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ performance at the music awards ceremony in LA.
Responding to the criticism in the immediate aftermath, Madonna complained that close-up pics with a long lens would have distorted anyone’s face.
She added: “Once again, I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny.”
This week, she appeared to make light of the furor, posting a pic on social media with the caption: “Look how cute I am now that swelling from surgery has gone down.”
Describing where the two episodes have left her career, the insider said: “Madonna has no choice but to take her case directly to the fans.
“She knows this, and her circle of friends and supporters who advise her regularly see the Celebration Tour as the magic formula that puts Madonna and her catalog of music at the center of the conversation again, instead of her Instagram or her sometimes-unusual appearance.
“This tour has to be a triumph of everything people loved about Madonna in the first place, and failure is not an option.”
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