Ozark’s Julia Garner is the frontrunner to star in Madonna biopic

The search for the perfect actress to play Madonna may be over. Julia Garner, best known for her award-winning performance in Netflix’s Ozark, is currently the frontrunner to play Madonna in the upcoming biopic.

Julia Garner is one of several stars who took part in a months-long audition process to play Madonna. Garner, along with Florence Pugh, Odessa Young, and Alexa Demis, took choreography lessons with Madonna’s choreographer, as well as singing and reading sessions with Madonna herself. It’s still early in the dealmaking process, but Julia Garner could very well end up being our Madonna.

In a bit of a twist, the Madonna biopic will actually be directed by Madonna herself. It’s not every day that the subject gets to direct their own story, so this should be interesting. Madonna is also co-writing the screenplay. She first tackled the script with Diablo Cody, who later exited the project, and again with Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train). There have been previous attempts at telling the story of Madonna’s rise to fame, but she’s never been happy with the scripts she’s been sent. “I read that Universal was doing a script,” Madonna told Jimmy Fallon last year. “Like they sent me the script because they wanted my blessing, and I read it. It was the most hideous, superficial crap I’ve ever read.” The artist added that “the reason I’m doing it is because a bunch of people have tried to write movies about me, but they’re always men.”

Julia Garner was most recently seen in the final season of Ozark, but she also starred in Inventing Anna, a miniseries inspired by the story of Anna Sorkin, a Russian who was able to convince the upper crust of New York City that she was a German heiress with access to a substantial fortune. What do you think? Would Julia Garner make a good Madonna?