Madonna did not like Evita

[Roland Barthes 5,969]

From LA Times interview in september of 1996. I guess she was tired with the pregnancy and could not give an eff about everything so she spoke freely and had no time to tiptoe around the edges, i guess liz briefed her later for the release.

[Tudors 220]

Did she not read the script? Lol. She litterally begged for the role softened her image for the role canceled a tour.. Love this film and it's many peoples favorite thing she has ever done. It's up there for me.

[Donna 17,971]

14 minutes ago, Roland Barthes said:

From LA Times interview in september of 1996. I guess she was tired with the pregnancy and could not give an eff about everything so she spoke freely and had no time to tiptoe around the edges, i guess liz briefed her later for the release.

She was referring to the musical.  But Madonna was already schooled on Evita long before the role.  Her press agent didn't have to do that.  After all, she practically begged for that role, before even knowing the full direction of the film version.

[Donna 17,971]

2 minutes ago, Tudors said:

Did she not read the script? Lol. She litterally begged for the role softened her image for the role canceled a tour.. Love this film and it's many peoples favorite thing she has ever done. It's up there for me.

Again, she was referring to the original musical.  She didn't have these same thoughts when she sought out the role. Also, she was considered as early as the late 80's for the part, so she obviously had interest back then as well.

[littlestartman 81]

How different is the musical from the movie?

[DiegoLCL 5,530]

30 minutes ago, Tudors said:

Did she not read the script? Lol. She litterally begged for the role softened her image for the role canceled a tour.. Love this film and it's many peoples favorite thing she has ever done. It's up there for me.

There were talks of her wanting and being involved with this movie since the late 80s as @Donnasaid. This nonsense that she softened her image to win this role is so exagerated. 
Madonna is a smart woman and she changes as seasons go. She wouldn't keep doing Dita over and over again even if Erotica was the biggest selling album ever.

The only thing we have for a fact is her text on Something to Remember about dialing down the fanfare and bringing back the focus to the music.

[Donna 17,971]

8 minutes ago, DiegoLCL said:

There were talks of her wanting and being involved with this movie since the late 80s as @Donnasaid. This nonsense that she softened her image to win this role is so exagerated. 
Madonna is a smart woman and she changes as seasons go. She wouldn't keep doing Dita over and over again even if Erotica was the biggest selling album ever.

The only thing we have for a fact is her text on Something to Remember about dialing down the fanfare and bringing back the focus to the music.

This is true.  She dialed it back purposely to get the general public ready for Evita.  I'm sure her team at the time was very much advising her to do so.  And I don't feel like she was really reluctant in doing so.  She isn't a smart woman and she knows when to dial it back when it's needed.  This is why she was willing to release Something To Remember. That whole album was to soften her image at the time.  The pregnancy and her birth of her child was a convenient bonus.  She had the media eating out of her hands by the birth of Lourdes and she and her team pounced on that moment to help softening her image. Again, Madonna knew this was the way to go. This is a film she wanted so bad and it's one respectable moment in her career she would never take back. 

[me1981 1,366]

37 minutes ago, littlestartman said:

How different is the musical from the movie?

Mostly the same but the tone is definitely different, which is partly the movie not being as blunt and partly Madonna's performance. Patti LuPone was brutal in the original and Eva came across almost as a sociopath bent on gaining as much power as she could. 

Largely they softened the edges and Madonna brought the mania down quite a bit as well. 

[BoyToyMark 456]

She obviously likes it enough to repeatedly sing and include parts of the soundtrack on compilations and her tours.

[lucasciccone 4,257]

As an Argentinian I can say the approach of the movie is shit   but Madonna was great in it. 

[Donna 17,971]

The title of this thread is very misleading to no doubt to bait people to think something different.  The fact is; her thought on the Evita production was based on the Broadway production and was not based on the actual person or film.  The OP original post and quotes from Madonna is based on her thoughts of the actual production and not of the film she took part of.

[Piksel8 664]

Eh... there's already a long history of criticism of the original musical on how inaccurate the story was since it was turned into mega musical and over exaggerated for dramatic effect. if anything she was referring to THAT! the movie version is totally different from what the musical which Luponed originated (which made look eva as a manipulative tyrant). If I recall, there were times Madonna suggested to change things or lyrics to certain songs and they told her NO.

[A. A. Aardvark 4,917]

"Do I have to sing this song again ?"

"If you could manage it once, that'd be amazing."

Andrew Lloyd Webber's reply to Madonna while recording You Must Love Me.

[Donna 17,971]

38 minutes ago, A. A. Aardvark said:

"Do I have to sing this song again ?"

"If you could manage it once, that'd be amazing."

Andrew Lloyd Webber's reply to Madonna while recording You Must Love Me.

Bullshit narrative! 

[Pedro Beltran 5,019]

1 hour ago, A. A. Aardvark said:

"Do I have to sing this song again ?"

"If you could manage it once, that'd be amazing."

Andrew Lloyd Webber's reply to Madonna while recording You Must Love Me.

[Enrico 16,022]

7 hours ago, littlestartman said:

How different is the musical from the movie?

Well, for instance, in the theatrical version Buenos Aires is followed by Goonight and thank you Magaldi. It's Eva who dismisses Magaldi. In the movie she sings Another suitcase, which shows her as fragile and lonely.

Eva's sonnet - which is replaced by You must love me in the movie - is much more political and shows Eva only thinking about being vice president:

Then I must now be vice-president!

Those shallow mean pretenders to your throne
Will come to learn ours is the upper hand
For I do not accept this is not known
In rich established parcels of our land
To face the storms so long and not capsize
Is not the chance achievement of a fraud
Conservatives are kings of compromise
It hurts them more to jeer than to applaud

And I shall have my people come to choose
The couple who shall wear
Their country's crowns
In thousands in my squares and avenues
Emptying their villages and towns
Where every soul in home or shack or stall
Knows me as Argentina that is all

O I shall be a great vice-president!
This is not a gambler's final throw
Forced upon me by those bastards who've
Only longed to see me up and go
It's not an unprepared or panicked move
Which just goes to prove
I'd be good for you
Eva vice-president is good for you

[Blue Jean 16,054]

8 hours ago, Roland Barthes said:

From LA Times interview in september of 1996. I guess she was tired with the pregnancy and could not give an eff about everything so she spoke freely and had no time to tiptoe around the edges, i guess liz briefed her later for the release.

While this is a direct quote I’m wondering if it is out of context? Because we know these aspects are what she worked with the director to change about the portrayal from the stage version. This is also one of the reasons Another Suitcase was changed to Madonna, to show the more vulnerable side of the character. It is also probably the intention of You Must Love Me, to show that the relationship between Peron and Eva was genuine and that he took care of her when she was sick. So I don’t believe Andrew was against her interpretation at all as he has always praised her and added YMLM into the stage version. She did afterall spend a lot of time researching her and meeting people that knew her.

And even though Madonna claims Andrew was not nice to her (from the live stream with Diablo Cody) he attended Madame X and I believe likes and respects Madonna. He has gone on record as saying he would love her to do the movie version of Sunset Boulevard.

When you look at the track record of his musicals that have been turned into films Evita is the only one that was a real success.

[cosmic_system 3,209]

She didn't like the point of view of the musical, not the musical of the film  itesefl. Also the film is more "sweet" to Eva than the origianl musical. 

[Blue Jean 16,054]

6 hours ago, Piksel8 said:

Eh... there's already a long history of criticism of the original musical on how inaccurate the story was since it was turned into mega musical and over exaggerated for dramatic effect. if anything she was referring to THAT! the movie version is totally different from what the musical which Luponed originated (which made look eva as a manipulative tyrant). If I recall, there were times Madonna suggested to change things or lyrics to certain songs and they told her NO.

That last part was specifically in relation to YMLM I think, they thought she was trying to get a writing credit 

However, I believe a lot of her desired changes were honoured. Overall, there was a deliberate attempt to make Eva seem less of a manipulative tyrant.

[Andreo 5,504]

If the Miami Remix was the one being played for the whole movie she would have loved it 

[EgoRod 5,714]

She didn't like the way Evita was portrait not that she didn't like Evita.

She was already warming up to the role with Take a Bow and You'll See.

Let's don't forget she also changed her character in 'Up For Grabs' , is Madonna we are talking about.

 

[wtg1987 10,405]

I’m probably in minority here but this is low on my list of good Madonna movies - yeah she is good in it but the music in it is very dated and Antonia Banderas singing voice was awful as was Jonathan Pryce - to me it’s just a long ( over long ) music video - and the title of this thread is clearly click bait as she was referring to the musical - she was very proud of the film and always spoke highly of it - the cinematography is also gorgeous - the guy who did it worked with fincher a lot so that doesn’t surprise me 

[Roland Barthes 5,969]

She did not trash Alan Parker though, here's the link to the whole interview

I believe she signed on to make a musical and not a biopic but when she researched the character she discovered how badly she was presented in it.Truth is, it is a weird musical, Don't cry for me Argentina's lyrics make no sense within the movie. It's one of my least favourite era in her career, i still don't understand why they mae a musical about a dictatorship and if it was to denounce it why targeting the wife and not Juan Peron. The musical, wether it's on stage or movie is indeed misogynistic about a girl coming from a very poor background making her way in the world by sleeping with influent men. Not once they question that if you were born poor then it was the only way to go high up on the social ladder whe you were a woman. And we blam omen whom accepted to do it instead of the men using their social position and power to have sex with women who wanted to escape their condition, they are the bad guys and it is still something that our culture celebrates instead of questionning : abuse of power to enslave people. It's funny she says Snake Eyes / Dangerous Game was a life altering experience because what Nancy Ferrara (Abel's ex wife, producer and actress in the movie playing her own role) said about it in a Madonna biography is a real Metoo moment.

[Blue Skies 1,466]

1 hour ago, wtg1987 said:

I’m probably in minority here but this is low on my list of good Madonna movies - yeah she is good in it but the music in it is very dated and Antonia Banderas singing voice was awful as was Jonathan Pryce - to me it’s just a long ( over long ) music video - and the title of this thread is clearly click bait as she was referring to the musical - she was very proud of the film and always spoke highly of it - the cinematography is also gorgeous - the guy who did it worked with fincher a lot so that doesn’t surprise me 

I hear that.  Before I got into Madonna my dad used to fast forward the preview of it in coming attractions and I’d laugh.

 

I finally watched it during the pandemic.  Her performance was good but I don’t know too much about Eva Peron to know or not know her whole story.

 

I don’t believe Madonna hated the movie though.  I know she was really pretty stressed during it so sometimes people might say things out of frustration kind of thing.  

[A. A. Aardvark 4,917]

9 hours ago, Donna said:

Bullshit narrative! 

"We had to really lower them for her...."