Madonna is taking control of the aux—and the camera

Everywhere we look, there’s Madonna. Ever since the pop diva announced her dance-music renaissance with Confessions II, a day hasn’t gone by without Madonna in the headlines (or, at least, it feels that way). We’ve seen her pop up onstage with headliner Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella and perform an impromptu DJ set at West Hollywood’s the Abbey (with Addison Rae as a hypewoman). She’s since dropped two bop-worthy singles (“I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love,” her electrifying duet with Sabrina) and, lest we forget, attended the Met Gala in a Leonora Carrington–inspired dress. But Madonna is just getting started, and it seems her plans for domination in 2026 go beyond music and into our screens.

As part of the Tribeca Film Festival, Madonna will premiere Confessions II, a short film directed by TORSO. According to the festival’s website, the 10-ish-minute film features six new songs, each making up a different chapter: “a sexy thriller, a dance delusion, an epic fever dream.” If the official synopsis rings true, this is an erotic cult classic in the making. Time to rush for tickets!

“Madonna has spent decades proving that reinvention is its own art form,” Tribeca Festival cofounder Jane Rosenthal said in a statement. “Confessions II feels immersive, provocative, and completely of the moment, while still channeling the kind of nightlife mythology only she could create.”

But it seems we’re poised for plenty more Madonna on our screens in the coming months. There’s been talk about a Madonna-directed (auto?)biopic starring Julia Garner since 2023. That project fell apart almost as quickly as we found out about it, but in 2024, Madonna teased that the script is still in progress, even titling the film Who’s That Girl. This excitement was recently reignited when Madonna and Garner were spotted in Venice, re-creating the “Like A Virgin” music video while singing on a gondola and clutching large sun hats. The pair also uploaded a photo carousel in a joint Instagram post with the caption “Desperately Seeking Venice,” referring to Madonna’s best movie (at least, in my opinion), Desperately Seeking Susan. It sparked rumors that they’d revived the biopic (especially because Garner told W Magazine that the movie was still a “work in progress” last September).

The truth was simultaneously disappointing and exciting: They weren’t doing promos for the biopic (boo!), but they were filming a scene for Seth Rogen’s Emmy–winning industry dramedy The Studio (!!!).

Now Bryan Cranston, who stars as frenzied studio executive Griffin Mills in the AppleTV+ show, revealed to Access Hollywood that his character does something in front of Madonna that “will either raise my street cred very high or destroy my career.” (Can’t wait for whatever that means.) But one way or another, it seems the planned Madonna/Garner biopic will play a role in the award-winning show. Now we just have to deal with the very real problem of time (and production schedules) going by… so slowly.

This article is originally from harperbazaar.com 

Lead image: XPOS//BACKGRID

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