Julia Garner
Julia Garner attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue )

Julia Garner could be set to play Madonna in a highly anticipated biopic, according to an exclusive report from Variety.

Garner is said to have been offered by Madonna herself, after a rigorous audition process that reportedly saw her competing against Florence Pugh, Euphoria‘s Alexa Demie, Odessa Young, and Emma Laired. Singers Bebe Rexha and Sky Ferreira were also reportedly on the casting shortlist.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, auditions for the role of Madonna have been ongoing for months, and could often last up to 11 hours a day. These auditions included choreography sessions with both Madonna’s choreographer and the star herself. Madonna was also involved in readings and singing auditions with those hoping to be cast.

Madonna
Blonde Ambition Tour, Madonna, Feyenoord Stadion, De Kuip, Rotterdam, Holland, 24/07/1990. She is wearing a Jean Paul Gaultier conical bra corset. (Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images)

The Universal Pictures project is said to revolve around Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition tour and will, naturally, involve intense singing and dancing scenes, which Garner will likely spend months training for if she accepts the once-in-a-lifetime role.

Garner, 28, is best known for her roles in Ozark and Inventing Anna, in which she blew everyone away with her depiction of Anna Sorokin, including the scam artist’s bizarre hybrid accent. At the 2019 and 2020 Emmy Awards, Garner was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series for her role as Ruth Langmore in Ozark.

While there isn’t currently any production timeline for the film, in the announcement of the biopic starting production, Madonna said she hopes it can “convey the incredible journey that life has taken me on as an artist, a musician, a dancer — a human being, trying to make her way in this world”.