A performer writing, directing, and starring in their own story creates an impossible dynamic. The control that makes Madonna extraordinary is exactly what makes her the wrong person to oversee a film about herself.
Where this was said
At 9:00 · chapter starts 6:35
The episode's first main question comes from Nathan Stucker, asking whether productions ever have to proceed because of sunk costs — specifically referencing the mysterious 'Madonna boot camp' mentioned in press coverage of the collapsed biopic. Marina Hyde and Richard Osman unpack the project's complicated history: it was co-written and set to be directed by Madonna herself, a dynamic both hosts view with scepticism from the outset. Six actresses — Florence Pugh, Odessa Young, Bebe Rexha, Sky Ferreira, Alexa Demie, and Julia Garner — all went through intensive boot camp training [1] — Marina Hyde "Madonna ran six A-list actresses through a gruelling boot camp — including Florence Pugh and Julia Garner — only for the project to collaps…" 06:35 , with Garner eventually winning the role. The project was then shelved during Madonna's Celebration Tour in 2023, resurrected, and has now definitively collapsed. Madonna's public explanation — that her extraordinary life required an extraordinary budget — is met with knowing laughter. Her proposal to move filming to Serbia to cut costs was rebuffed by Universal with the blunt verdict that they didn't believe she'd last four days in the country. Hyde lands the forensic observation that sunk cost logic does drive some Hollywood productions forward, but the smarter move is always to walk away before principal photography begins.
Madonna ran six A-list actresses through a gruelling boot camp — including Florence Pugh and Julia Garner — only for the project to collapse when Universal refused to fund the scale she demanded. Her offer to move the shoot to Serbia was met with Universal's verdict: we don't believe you'd last four days.
The Madonna biopic script was over 3 hours long, co-written and directed by Madonna herself, contributing to its collapse with Universal.
Six actresses — including Florence Pugh, Bebe Rexha, and Julia Garner — went through Madonna's boot camp before Garner was chosen for the role.
Studios sometimes greenlight failing productions because they've already spent too much to walk away — the classic sunk cost trap. But Marina Hyde argues you should always pull out before the cameras roll.
The entire plot of the original Terminator film depends on the phone book. The Terminator looks up 'Sarah Connor,' finds multiple listings, and starts killing them one by one. No phone book, no movie.
Rico has already appeared in Den of Thieves, Den of Thieves 2, and Roadhouse alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Dave Bautista. Jason Statham is developing a specific role for him. Working alongside elite actors taught Rico something about himself: the emotional suppression that makes him a great fighter is exactly the material that makes great acting — if he learns to stop pushing it away.
Trump joked that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally ran over, butchered, and delivered the evening's beef tenderloin to the dinner — then topped it with a punchline about RFK wanting to serve raccoon roadkill as an appetizer. The crowd's laughter at jokes targeting his own administration signaled a rare night of good-natured self-deprecation from Trump.
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Alan Ritchson walked into a Thor audition with his sides still in his hand, half-assed it on a spotlight-lit stage before two silhouettes in a dark theater, and bombed so completely that the casting director broke protocol to call his team. The feedback? He had no craft. That one sentence sent him to acting school — and changed the trajectory of everything.
Alan Ritchson walked out of his Titans audition so sure he'd booked the lead that he called his wife and told her he was going to buy a Tesla. She said he hadn't booked it. He went and bought the car anyway. His instincts were right — he was offered the role — just not the one he wanted.
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Motor City has no spoken dialogue. Every major leading man in Hollywood — Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, Adrian Brody — was attached at some point. It was greenlit nine times. The concept was simple: Greg Silverman wanted a film everyone in the world could watch with the exact same experience, regardless of language. Alan Ritchson read the script and called it a masterpiece.
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