Madonna Grinding up on ‘Jurassic World’ Actor Is Among the Funniest Celebrity Encounters

More than four decades later, Madonna remains one of the most trenchant dancers to grace pop music with landmark performances expressing herself over the course of her career. But while her love and expertise for dancing is something some of us can only dream of, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star Rafe Spall shared a hilarious story of Madonna grinding up on him in a moment he couldn’t believe himself.

In an interview with The Guardian, Spall reveals the moment came around the time he was starring in the Broadway production of Betrayal alongside Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and directed by Mike Nichols before his death. Sharing that Madonna was “dressed as Madonna,” which included a gold grill and fingerless gloves, he imagined the moment to go a lot smoother in his head.

“I was feeling quite confident because I’ve just done the show and I was like, ‘I’m going to pretend to Madonna that I’m not scared of her,’” he said, revealing dinner tables were pushed aside to make room for a dance floor. “So I started dancing and Madonna came up and started, well… grinding me. Very close. I suppose ‘dutty wining’ would be the phrase? My wife [Elize du Toit] was there… And she looked at me like, ‘The f—?’ My torso was pouring with sweat. And in my mind, I was saying, ‘Don’t back down!’ So I looked [Madonna] in the eye and said to myself, ‘Yeah, this is me.’”

The Apple TV+ star of Trying reveals a dance circle formed with Madonna on a “literal throne,” leading to all her dancers from the tour forming around. “She said, ‘Rafe, get in the circle!’ So I was like, ‘Don’t back down, this is you.’ So I got in the middle of the circle of Madonna and the best dancers in the world. And I danced in there for three minutes.”

Sharing the moment with the U.K. game show, There’s Something About Movies last fall, Spall revealed he was “really frightened,” especially as she looked him in the eyes and said, “This is who you are, this who you are.” Admitting he was “shaking from trying to brave this one out” while his whole torso sweat it out, Spall added he stared her straight in the eyes, saying, “Yeah, this is who I am, Madge.”

Spall isn’t the only celebrity to have had a significant moment with the queen of pop. In 2018, Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland told BBC talk show host Graham Norton he experienced “one of the most embarrassing” moments of his life when meeting Madonna. After presenting at the Oscars that year, Holland attended an afterparty and explained his meeting with the “Lucky Star” singer. “An old friend of mine, who’s a manager, comes up to me and is like, ‘Tom! Tom! Do you know Madonna?’ And I’m like, ‘Funny enough, no.’ So he drags me across the nightclub and introduces me to Madonna,’” he said.

While it seems pretty calming at first, Holland goes on to share that he began panicking, which prompted his friend to slide in a little white lie. “[My friend] goes, ‘Madonna, Tom is an incredible dancer.’ She goes, ‘Really? That’s something I’d love to see — show me!’”

Holland shared how he took Madonna by the hand and drags her onto the dance floor. “[But] as soon as I took her, I realized it was a mistake. I start dancing with her and — and she’s so unimpressed… I just bailed and left. I just leave Madonna on the dance floor.”