‘Ozark’ Star Julia Garner Reportedly in the Running for Madonna Biopic

Two-time Emmy-winning Ozark actress Julia Garner is reportedly the top choice to play Madonna in a forthcoming biopic about the music icon. According to Variety, Garner is said to have been offered the role, but it is currently unclear if she has accepted. The film will reportedly follow Madonna’s life through “the early days of the oft-controversial artist and queen of perpetual reinvention,” with the singer herself behind the camera as director of the movie. Garner has been working in film and TV for more than a decade but is most well-known as Ruth Langmore from Ozark.

Additionally, Garner received acclaim for her performance in Inventing Anna, a Netflix series based on the real life of Anna Sorokin, a Russian-born German convicted fraudster who pretended to be a wealthy German heiress under the name Anna Delvey from 2013 until she was found out in 2017. The limited series was created and produced by Shonda Rhimes, and was inspired by the New York magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” by Jessica Pressler. In addition to Garner, Inventing Anna also stars Anna Chlumsky, Arian Moayed, Katie Lowes, Alexis Floyd, Anders Holm, Anna Deavere Smith, Jeff Perry, Terry Kinney, and Laverne Cox.

View on X

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Garner spoke about taking on the role, and what she learned about Sorokin while preparing to portray her. “Anna did not want to fail, at all. She went to the nth degree so she wouldn’t fail in front of people, but she kept on digging herself in a deeper hole,” Garner said. “And with the fear of failure, behind that is a deep-rooted fear of rejection. And behind the fear of rejection is not being okay with your identity. To me, that’s what the project is about. It’s about people struggling with their identity, with their self-worth, with the fear of failure.”

Going on to speak about meeting with Sorokin ahead of playing her, Garner shared, “I didn’t have the expectation of Anna answering certain questions because Anna’s very private. She doesn’t like showing her cards often, or actually, at all. I wanted to get her energy and her spirit and mirror that and put it in the show.” 

Garner continued, “When I went there, they asked if I wanted a recording device or a notepad and I said no-I rejected all of that because I didn’t want her to feel like she’s being documented because then she was instantly going to change and have a filter. And the thing that I got out of it was seeing her energy. I was so surprised by how bubbly she can be, how charming she is, and instantly, it made much more sense why she was able to have all those powerful people gravitate toward her.” All episodes of Inventing Anna and Ozark are now streaming on Netflix.