Spike Lee Responds to Criticism Over Casting Madonna in Girl 6

Summary

• In a retrospective on Madonna’s acting career, Spike Lee defended his decision to cast the singer in
  Girl 6
  .
• Madonna and Spike Lee’s friendship spans decades; he was set to direct her biopic at one point.
• Madonna’s biopic, initially planned with Julia Garner and Julia Fox, was canceled but may still happen in the future.

Vulture recently did a career-ranging retrospective of Madonna, filled with quotes from her and the people around her. One of the most interesting portions of the piece concerns her small role in the bold Spike Lee film, Girl 6, and the iconic director clarified that he didn’t care what anyone thought about the decision. Madonna played a higher-up at a phone sex operation, specifically “Boss #3.” Despite being warned about hiring Madonna, given a couple of box office flops, Spike Lee told Vulture that he knew he wanted her for the role. He wouldn’t let anything deter him from signing her on for that brief role. Check out his searing quote below:

I didn’t give a f*ck… She’s who I had in mind, and she wanted to do it, so that was it. She’s a pro.

Spike Lee had known Madonna beforehand; his first date with his wife of 42 years was the release party for Madonna’s controversail art-porn book, Sex. He was able to get Madonna very quickly after casting her friend, Debi Mazar, in the film as well. Their friendship has been fruitful through the years as Lee got a discount on using a few of Madonna’s tracks from the Ray of Light album in the Netflix adaptation of She’s Gotta Have It. Madonna was also able to go to Spike Lee for some notes on her since-canned biopic, which she was also slated to direct.

Related These Madonna Films Still Hold Up Today

Madonna: With over 335 million records sold, the best-selling female artist of all time also had at least two timeless acting performances.

More Information on Madonna’s Canned Biopic

Julia Garner was reportedly slated to portray Madonna in the scrapped biopic. The Ozark star beat out big names such as Bebe Rexha and Florence Pugh for the role. The role was given to Garner after several stars attended a singing and dancing boot camp. Variety reported back in 2023 that the “Like A Virgin” singer still hopes to make a movie about her life one day.

The movie, reportedly titled Little Sparrow, would feature Julia Fox as Debi Mazar. The film would have reportedly culminated with Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition tour. However, Madonna ultimately chose to go on a brand-new tour and focus on her music rather than making the film. Fox told IndieWire that she would still love to be a part of the project but worries that she might have aged out of the world of a young Debi Mazar. Her full quote can be read below.

“I mean, I’d still love to but I genuinely don’t know. They are going back, you know, when, when they’re like 19 and they first meet. I feel like I might have already aged out of that casting, but we’ll see… I love Debi. She’s truly New York royalty, and it would be an honor to play her.”

Despite being nominated for and winning several Razzie Awards that have critiqued her acting chops, Madonna still has her place in Hollywood and has a big supporter in Spike Lee. If Madonna can bring the same ambition that’s carried her throughout her career and the faith in her own project that Spike Lee had in her back in 1996, her biopic will undoubtedly hit the big screen one day.

You can view the original article HERE.