Madonna regrets turning down a role in The Matrix
Madonna doesn't have many regrets, but not starring in The Matrix is one of them
Aux News Madonna
Madonna’s had her fair share of acting roles, starring in Desperately Seeking Susan, A League Of Their Own, Evita, and Dick Tracy. But it turns out that she almost appeared in a major blockbuster: The Matrix.
On the latest episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Fallon brought up some “myths and rumors” about Madonna’s career, asking the pop legend to confirm whether any of them are true. One of the “myths and rumors” was Madonna turning down the role of Catwoman (that went to Michelle Pfeiffer) and the lead role in Showgirls. She said she regrets turning down Catwoman, but not Showgirls ( for obvious reasons).
“I also turned down the role in The Matrix. I wanted to kill myself,” she admitted. “That’s like one of the best movies ever made.” She didn’t elaborate on which role it was (our guess? Probably Trinity) or why she turned it down, but being unable to play the role still stings.
When Fallon joked that she’s Madonna, she doesn’t regret anything, she said, “A teeny, tiny part of me regrets that just one moment in my life.”
She also talked about being annoyed that people who want to write biopics about her are always men. She mentioned the biopic that Universal has in the works, saying that Universal initially sent her a script to see if she’d approve it, but she wasn’t happy with it. “I read it, and it was the most hideous, superficial crap I ever read,” she explained. She also said that she found out a “total misogynist” (who she doesn’t name) was going to direct.
After threatening to protest “and make everybody’s life a misery if they go through with it,” she “threw down the gauntlet.” She convinced Universal that nobody’s more qualified to make a movie about Madonna than Madonna herself—so she’s writing and directing it.
41 Comments
whats she gonna throw a baseball real hard at neo?
time how long neo pees when he wakes up in the real world?
Young Monk: “Do not try to throw the ball – that’s impossible…”
Rosie O’Donnell? (she threw the ball in League)
“…it was the most hideous, superficial crap I ever read…”
That could describe almost every biopic ever put to film.
“Goddamn, this is a dark fuckin’ period!”
My guess would have been Switch and not Trinity. She looks a bit more like Belinda McClory at the time and her sexual ambiguity might have been more along the lines of what the Wachowski sisters were thinking of at the time.
I’m guessing it was the woman in white leather. Can’t remember her name, but she seems like a better fit for Madonna than Trinity.
I made the same comment (in the grays) but the character you are thinking of is Switch. Madonna bears a closer resemblance to the actress eventually cast as Switch (Belinda McClory).
Switch. She was originally written as trans (male in Zion and female in The Matrix) but Warner Bros. vetoed that idea.
It would have been a fun scene to have a character look like Madonna in
the Matrix and just some shlub in the “real” world, so it’s a shame they
didn’t do it. I mean, “Switch”? Duh. I suspect the new one will incorporate that idea, now.Also, thanks to the person in grey that Kinja won’t let me respond to.
Never knew that before. That would have been cool.
Maybe there will be a character written this way in Resurrections.
It would be nice to see that concept realized.
Only thing about that is why couldn’t the person live as their true self in the real world and only in the Matrix? “Residual self image” and all. I don’t think Zion or Morpheus’ crew on the Nebuchadnezzar would care, especially considering the rave orgy parties and all.
Do you mean the woman in semitranslucent rubber? Monica Bellucci was naked under it, in the first sequel.
The rest of us on the other hand are quite grateful.
If she was in it, the press for the movie would have been about 30% about the movie and 70% about Madonna being in the movie
this was around her ‘ray of light’ era? ngl, i wouldn’t have minded at all if madonna had done the soundtrack.
Selina Kyle/Catwoman would have been interesting considering Batman Returns released right after she played Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy and there’s a lot of overlap between the two aesthetically.
A universe where Madonna stars in the Matrix is a movie where twenty years later, no one is still talking about the Matrix.
Been a while since I’ve seen an unironic hot take in the wild.
Related headline: World Relieved Madonna Turned Down Role in “The Matrix.”
Madonna is going to write and direct her own biopic!? Oh dear God! It’s gonna be worse than “W.E.”
And the title of Madonna’s biopic? “Box Office Poison.”
Has anyone else ever done that?
Madonna declined to appear in The Matrix, so naturally it went on to be a major success.
…Seriously, there’s no bigger albatross for your film than Madonna. She hasn’t just failed at movies, she’s failed at every kind of movie you can make (comedies, dramas, big budget, low budget, biopics, romance, thrillers, etc).
Eh, most of her movies pre-2000 or so were well received. A League of Their Own, Evita, people liked those.
A League of Their Own has an argument for best baseball move ever made. Top 5 certainly.
Todd In The Shadows, a YouTube pop music reviewer, this a sub-series reviewing all of Madonna’s films. It’s amazing how many different type of bad movies she’s been in. Desperately Seeking Susan is boring. Who’s That Girl is obnoxious. Shanghai Surprise is stupid. Dangerous Game is pretentious. The Next Best Thing is offensive. All of her bad movies can be boiled down to one unique negative adjective. It’s kind of amazing.
Except for Desperately Seeking Susan because she essentially just played herself.
After seeing her body of evidence… I don’t regret her turning it down.
So there’s an alternate universe in which Will Smith played Neo and Madonna played Trinity. I don’t know, I feel like we got the better version of that movie.
And Sean Connery as Morpheus.
“You’re the One now, dawg!”
Curious if all the people bashing Madonna were also the same ones bashing Debra Winger for saying essentially the same thing.
People should never write and direct their own biopics.
The rest of America doesn’t regret it.
Setting aside Madonna’s cardboard acting, her being in Matrix would’ve been way too distracting because she’s just too big a name especially in the 90’s.
It would be like Michael Jackson walking into the scene as The Architect.
I would also watch the shit out of that upside down version of the Matrix.
There are two things that smell like tuna. And one of them is tuna.
“We’re glad you did, tho….” – Everyone else on planet earth