Curiosity Drives, Inspires Madonna After Spending 4 Years in Relative Seclusion, Icon Is Returning to the Public Eye
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PAGE b8 THE STATE JOURNAL fUAREbR y 1, 2012 Wednesday Curiosity drives, inspires Madonna After spending 4 years in relative seclusion, icon is returning to the public eye By ReBecca Keegan pregnancy, interracial kiss- nish) develops an obsessive “What they did was pretty think it’s something that we malfunction that accom- Los AngeLes Times ing, cone bras – have since curiosity about the roman- controversial,” she said, ex- see very often in films. Most- panied Janet Jackson’s 2004 LOS ANGELES – On a fall become mainstream. To at- tic life of Wallis Simpson plaining her interest in the ly, we see women sabotaging show. afternoon in New York’s Cen- tempt to live one step ahead (Riseborough), the divorced couple. “I found her to be a other women.” “I have 12 minutes and 40 tral Park, hundreds of curi- of the moment indefinitely American for whom Britain’s very complex person, and I The singer’s best prepa- seconds to do something ex- ous on- must be exhausting. King Edward VIII (James found his sacrifice to be un- ration for the demands of travagant and exciting in the l o o k e r s But in an interview at her D’Arcy) famously abdicated usual. ... People don’t just directing a movie may have middle of something that’s and pa- sprawling Sunset Boulevard the throne in 1936. Wally’s get up and walk away from been her ambitious, visually quite sacred to all of Ameri- p a r a z z i home, Madonna said she’s visits to a 1998 auction of the the most powerful position driven live shows, and she’ll ca,” she said. “No one’s asked w a t c h e d driven by something much couple’s estate serves as a in the world. It’s kind of un- spend the latter half of 2012 me to tone down my moves. a s t wo more stimulating – an in- narrative link between the heard of.” on a global tour on behalf of They were curious about my quiring disposition. c o m e - periods – and a location for “W.E.’s” 54-day shoot in “MDNA.” costumes and the costumes “I don’t like to repeat my- ly young her flirtations with a hand- 2010 spanned New York, Lon- At the Super Bowl in Indi- of the dancers.... They were self,” she said. “I’m a curious a c t r e s s - some security guard (Oscar don, the English country- anapolis on Feb. 5, Madonna very clear with us up front person who’s interested in es, Abbie Isaac). side, Paris and the South of will have the unusual expe- that they don’t want nipples learning, and I like to take the C o r n i s h Madonna “I liked the idea of exam- France. “It was hell,” Madon- rience of surrendering much or anything like that, and I road less traveled by. That’s and An- ining the cult of celebrity,” na said. “In a way, I was very of the control she treasures, didn’t have any intention of just my nature, so perhaps drea Rise- Madonna said. “That Abbie’s naive. I wrote the script, and if not creatively, at least lo- doing that, so I was like, ‘OK, that leads me to subject mat- borough, performed a scene character would be looking I let my imagination go, and gistically, to the National we’re cool.’ I’m more nervous ter or controversial or sub- on a park bench. When a rock at this story and thinking, I didn’t really think of the Football League and NBC. about this than most things versive waters. I don’t know. band sound check across the ‘Wow, I want that,’ the way practicalities of all the dif- That means staging a mem- I’ve done, simply because ... It’s not something that’s in- park disrupted the scene, the people do with famous peo- ferent locations I had written orable performance within it’s not how I’m used to work- movie’s director trotted off to tentional. I’m not calculating ple. They think that they have and all the different places I the rigid timing and space ing. I’m a perfectionist. I like ask the band for a reprieve. being subversive or trying this kind of a life, and so they was gonna have to go.” constraints of a football everything to be done just so, “The entirety of Central to be ahead of people. I just follow them around with this Critics at the Venice and game and without any Fed- and I like to run things and Park followed her,” said Rise- work on things that interest fairy tale notion of who they Toronto film festivals, where eral Communications Com- run things and run things borough, “and left Abbie me.” think they are.” “W.E.” premiered last year, mission-inciting offenses until people can do it with and I sitting on the bench, at Madonna had just re- At home, Madonna had a found the most to praise like the infamous wardrobe their eyes closed.” which point we just looked turned home from a Gold- much softer, more vulner- in the film’s look – its styl- at each other like, ‘Well, this en Globes rehearsal, where able manner than her stage ish re-creation of Wallis and obviously isn’t where it’s hap- she practiced presenting the persona. She spoke slow- Edward’s decadent lifestyle. pening.’” award for foreign language ly and deliberately, with no They were less impressed, bCw A k Ard GLANCes That filmmaker has held film. “There’s only one coun- trace of the British accent however, with Madonna’s crowds in thrall every time try that’s a little tricky – that’s that drifted into her diction a period-bridging storytelling, she’s left the house for the China,” she said, nursing a decade ago when she moved with the Hollywood Report- last 30 years. Now, as the co- cup of tea in a sitting room to London with now ex-hus- er calling “W.E.” “as easy on writer and director of the ro- lighted by dozens of woodsy- band English director Guy the eyes and ears as it is em- mantic drama “W.E.,” she’ll smelling candles and deco- Ritchie. It’s clear, however, balmed from any dramat- attempt to draw audiences rated with rich fabrics, seven that she’s a woman accus- ic point of view.” The Wein- from behind the lens. After guitars and a grand piano. tomed to having things the stein Co. acquired the film’s four years in relative seclu- Compact, clad in all black, way she wants them. “Ooh la U.S. rights ahead of its festi- sion, Madonna is returning with a dancer’s erect pos- la, I can’t take this anymore,” val premieres and will open to the public eye: “W.E.,” her ture, she is that uncommon she said, yanking the cord “W.E.” in a limited release, second feature film as a di- 53-year-old who can still get out of a phone that wouldn’t beginning with four theaters rector, arrives in theaters Fri- away with wearing a glitter- stop ringing. in New York and Los Ange- day; she’ll perform in front ing, golf ball-sized skull ring. As a woman once paired les. of more than 100 million TV (In less than 24 hours, she with such men as Warren Madonna said she hopes viewers at the Super Bowl would be accepting a Gold- Beatty and Sean Penn, Ma- her movie will find its audi- halftime show on Feb. 5; and en Globe for “Masterpiece,” a donna is undoubtedly well ence among women, who “MDNA,” her first album of song she performed and co- equipped to direct a movie may relate to Wally’s naive new material since 2008, is wrote for “W.E.,” and deflect- about a famous romance ex- fantasies about Wallis’ life, Courtesy of paul weddle and rodgers studio due in March. ing a sarcastic barb from host perienced from the inside. and the strength she draws e lkhorn players carry off their coach, tommy griffon, after their The busy period is just the Ricky Gervais about being She researched and wrote from learning the more com- team defeated somerset 13-7 in the final game of the season in latest iteration of a career of “just like a virgin.” “If I’m still the script for “W.E.” with Alek plex story. “There’s three love 1957. perpetual self-reinvention, just like a virgin, Ricky, then Keshishian, the director of stories in the film: There’s one that has earned her a why don’t you come over here her 1991 tour documentary, Edward and Wallis, the blos- HIS IMA FRA reputation as a reliable pro- and do something about it?” “Truth or Dare,” over three soming love story between vocateur and miner of fresh Now Madonna taunted. “I haven’t years, immersing herself Wally and Evgeni, and there’s TOR GES NKF Available cultural territory. But many kissed a girl in a few years – in letters between Edward the love affair between the of the things Madonna has on TV.”) and Wallis and plastering two women,” she said. “It’s an IC OF ORT sung about, done and worn In “W.E.,” an unhappily the auction catalog pages of important mythological sto- over three decades that have RODGERS STUDIO • 223-3123 married modern Manhat- their belongings on the walls ry to tell ..