Madonna (47 page)

Up until that point, Madonna had made arrangements for David Fincher to film her concert tour, but he dropped out at the last minute. It was already March of 1990, and with just three days before the tour started in Japan, Madonna called Alek and asked him to join her there. He agreed and began filming the Tokyo dates. When he and Madonna ran through the dailies, they realized the project could emerge as much more than just an on-stage documentary about a rock and roll tour.

He wanted to film her in every possible setting. He told her, “I'll film you without makeup. I'll film you when you're being a complete bitch. I'll film you in your room after the show when you don't want anybody around. I'll film you in the morning before your sleeping pill's worn off.”
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What started happening on the road was something unique. Madonna and her troupe of backup singers and dancers actually became a tightly bonded family backstage—a family that loved each other, fought with each other, and ultimately said good-bye to each other.

“It's something that I felt compelled to do,” she says of the project. “I was very moved by the group of people I was with. I felt like their brother, their sister, their mother, their daughter—and then I also thought that they could do anything…. When I started looking at the footage I said, ‘This is so interesting to me. There's a movie here. There's something here.'”
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She felt so strongly about it, in fact, that she spent $4 million of her own money to complete the film, with herself as executive producer. What started out as a routine concert film became an amazing chronicle of a slice of her life. Ultimately the backstage story proved more riveting than the story onstage. After viewing the behind-the-scenes footage, she realized, “I couldn't give a shit about the live show. This is life! This is what I want to document.”
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It turned out to be her most brilliant career move. Through it she ultimately found that people would rather see Madonna as Madonna than some fictional character. After all, truth
is
stranger than fiction.

Many of the true-to-life events that happen in the finished version of
Truth or Dare
became actual subplots to the film. First of all, there were the conflicts between six of the male dancers who were openly gay, whom Madonna refers to as “queens on the rag. “
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The seventh dancer, Oliver, was straight and constantly at odds with the others. Madonna became a mother hen to all of them, smoothing ruffled feathers, and occasionally cracking the whip.

The behind-the-scenes views of Madonna showed her off as the ringleader with her two female backup singers. Together they occasionally seemed like schoolgirls off on a round-the-world field trip. There are also revealing scenes with the co-stars of Madonna's life—both famous and previously unknown. Warren Beatty is visibly uncomfortable with the ever-present Alek and his camera. In the most famous Warren scene in the film, Madonna is seen in her Manhattan apartment getting a throat examination by a doctor. When the doctor asks Madonna if they should talk about her throat off camera, Beatty snaps, “She doesn't want to live off camera, much less talk.” When Sandra Bernhard visits with Madonna in a Paris hotel, the girl talk is about an unnamed woman in Sandra's life. “Are you still sleeping with her?” Madonna asks Sandra.
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Probably the most surprised participant in the film is Madonna's childhood friend Moira McFarland. Madonna discloses on camera that it was Moira who taught her many things in life, like how to use a tampon, shave her legs, and get “finger-fucked.” “I remember staring at her bush,” Madonna reveals in her typically unembarrassed tone.
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To turn the revelation into a full cinematic moment, Alek arranges for a surprise reunion with Moira. She tells Alek on camera that she was doing so many drugs when she was younger, if she did indeed “finger-fuck” Madonna, the drugs wiped the memory away. When they are reunited, Madonna is in a hurry and acts awkward. It is a touching and telling part of the film.

Some of the between-show antics reveal Madonna and her troupe as being bound so close together that they would do anything to shock, startle, or get a laugh out of the other members of the group. Playing the game Truth or Dare, the performers especially let loose. When Madonna dares Slam to French-kiss Gabriel, the two dancers go into a tongue-exchanging extravaganza. Not one to be outdone, when she is dared to demonstrate her fellatio technique on a water bottle she manages to show off dramatically.

Hosting a slumber party in her bed, she insists that garments be removed upon command. Groping one dancer's body she laughingly commands, “Get out of my bed until your dick is bigger!”
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Madonna took great delight in watching the two dancers French-kissing. “That's my favorite scene in the movie. I love that people are going to watch that and go home and talk about it all night long. I live for things like that,” she claims.
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Ultimately, the film has become the most popular rock and roll documentary since
Woodstock
. With
Truth or Dare
, Madonna was finally able to do something that her other films hadn't: inspire the moviegoing public to buy tickets specifically to see her up there on the screen.

The fact that the concert footage was filmed in color, and the backstage footage in grainy black and white, only accentuates the movie's
Wizard of Oz
feeling. In the color sequences, no problem is unsolvable and life is glitteringly glamorous. But in the black and white real world, life is often traumatic and depressing. Madonna, however, is colorful no matter what film stock she is captured on. She is simply larger than life just the way she is.

When the film debuted in May 1991, Madonna flew across the globe for each gala premiere. In Los Angeles she hosted a star-studded night that ended with a fund-raising dance at the Arena club. Dressed in a clinging low-cut black Jean-Paul Gaultier outfit, her hair dyed a dark brown, Madonna came to dance, party, and sweat, and she happily did all of the above. The money raised by the $100-a-ticket event went to AIDS Project L. A., and a host of media stars turned up to help her kick off the film, including k.d. Lang, Sandra Bernhard, Vanilla Ice, and Barry Manilow. She also attended premieres in New York and in Cannes.

In Europe, the film was called
In Bed with Madonna
, and although it was not officially entered in the annual Cannes film competition, it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Madonna became the toast of the entire week-long event. As though the drama of it all wasn't enough, her ex-husband, Sean Penn, was also present at the festival to show off his directorial debut with
Indian Runner
. In the two and a half years since their divorce, he had been having an affair with actress Robin Wright, with whom Penn had a baby girl they named Dylan. What an odd turn of events, indeed, especially since Madonna referred to Sean as the main love of her life in her film.

One point Madonna stressed while doing the publicity for
Truth or Dare
was her feelings about gay rights. This really marked the first time that a mainstream performer catered to a gay audience, raised money for AIDS research, and went on to champion the cause. In 1990 Madonna lost two more friends to AIDS: Keith Haring and Christopher Flynn.

In two May issues of the fortnightly gay national magazine,
The Advocate
, Madonna presented herself as someone so super-confident with herself, that she claims to want other people to love themselves more as well. She said, “I feel that most gay men are so much more in touch with a certain kind of sensitivity that heterosexual men aren't allowed to be in touch with—their feminine side.” She further stressed the point by stating, “Straight men need to be emasculated…. Every straight guy should have a man's tongue in his mouth at least once.” Taking it a step further, she also announced in the magazine that “My brother Christopher's gay, and he and I have always been the closest members of my family.”
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A more dramatically militant gay weekly called
Outweek
refers to her as “the Queen of Queers, who's done more for fag and dyke visibility than any star since [the] Stonewall [riots].”
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What other star of her magnitude has stood up for gay rights? Several other stars, who wouldn't have a career if not for devoted gay followers, have turned their backs on them. When born-again Christian Donna Summer made a statement in the early eighties about AIDS being somehow retribution for evil-doing, her career reached a sudden end. Another once-huge star, Diana Ross, has never given a concert to benefit anyone but herself and has never lifted a finger for AIDS.* Madonna, on the other hand, faces the controversy head on and instinctively follows her heart.

She has taken many causes to her cone-covered breasts and made them her own. AIDS, saving the rain forest, and protecting the constitutional right of freedom of speech are three of her favorite causes. Speaking out against anything she sees she can make a difference in has never frightened her.

Continuing her unflagging support of gay causes, on April 21 Madonna went to the Fourth Annual AIDS Dance-A-Thon. Niki Harris, who had a song with Jellybean on the charts called “What's It Gonna Be” was there that night to perform it. Madonna showed up and introduced Niki and danced on-stage for an hour.

Madonna's AIDS awareness vocalizing reached a new peak when in December 1991 gossip columnists buzzed with rumors that the diva herself had tested positive with the HIV virus. To nip the rumor in the bud, Madonna issued a statement flatly denying the allegation. Later that month she became the first recipient of the AmFAR Award of Courage for her charitable work and AIDS awareness efforts.

When
Truth or Dare
opened in May of 1991 Madonna made the rounds of television talk shows, including “Good Morning America,” MTV, “Regis & Kathie Lee,” and a special guest spot on “Saturday Night Live.” For the latter three appearances, she insisted that her segments be filmed in black and white, to simulate the look of her movie.

On each of the shows she appeared to be calm and confident about her recent career moves. She was so calm, in fact, that she could have named her film
Take It or Leave It
. She knew that a certain percentage of the population was going to love the film, and a certain percentage was going to be appalled by it. She was prepared to let the chips fall where they would.

Her most amusing performance was a pre-taped segment for “Saturday Night Live” on May 11. It was part of a recurring skit called “Wayne's World.” The premise of “Wayne's World” is that it is a cable access show that two high school kids host from Wayne's parents' basement. In this particular episode, Wayne (Mike Myers) and his friend and sidekick Garth (Dana Carvey) are ranking the “top ten babes of all times.” True to the teenage nonsense of the show, the list was insanely eclectic, including Kim Basinger, the Flintstones' cartoon neighbor Betty Rubble, “Beverly Hillbillies” Granny (Irene Ryan), and actress Julia Roberts. The number one “babe” turned out to be Madonna. When Wayne announces, “I've had her” to Garth, the duo amusingly go into a black and white dream sequence, supposedly transpiring in Madonna's bedroom.

The actual scene was taped in Los Angeles, in a suite at The Four Seasons Hotel. In the skit, Wayne and Garth are visiting Madonna and playing a round of her now famous game of challenges, Truth or Dare. When a seductive Madonna lounges on her bed and challenges nerdy Garth to truthfully tell her if he has ever made love to two women at once, his reply is yes. Rolling her eyes, Madonna says, in “Wayne's World” lingo, “I believe you—NOT!” When he insists that it is true, Madonna deadpans, “Yeah, you might, and monkeys might fly out of my butt!” He then “dares” her to kiss him. When she accepts the dare, the music of “Justify My Love” starts playing, and the skit becomes a riotous takeoff on her naughty French hotel video of the same name. The dream gets out of control when a Prince lookalike and a pair of forceful-looking dominatrixes appear in the room, ready for a wild sex scene. As the dream sequence ends, Madonna bids the teenagers farewell in “Wayne's World” lingo: “Party on, Wayne! Party on, Garth!”
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The funniest aspect of the appearance on the show was that Madonna is so confident about her artistry that she is the first to poke fun at herself. She still has an unhalting drive that fuels her career, but she seems finally to be relaxing into the character and phenomenon she has created. At last she is really having fun with it.

When
Truth or Dare
opened at theaters across America, it was an instant hit at the box office and with critics. Richard Corliss in
Time
called it “Epically entertaining… a spectacular dare!” Peter Travers in
Rolling Stone
referred to it as “Outrageously funny… and revealing.” In
USA Today
, Edna Gundersen wrote that it was “Exhilarating… Madonna is never short of riveting.” Madonna finally had a movie with the words
must see
stamped on every frame.

One of the most hysterical outgrowths of Madonna's
Truth or Dare
documentary came later that year when comedienne Julie Brown starred in a deft takeoff called
Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful
. Originally produced for the Showtime cable network, the spoof found Brown acting spoiled and self-absorbed as controversial rock star Medusa amid her “Blonde Leading the Blonde” tour. Instead of performing fellatio on a water bottle, Medusa chose a watermelon. Doing direct parodies of Madonna songs, Julie Brown performed concert versions of the lampoon hits “Like a Video,” “Expose Yourself,” and “Vague.”

Since
Truth or Dare
has restored her box office magnetism everyone still believes that
Evita
is destined to become her greatest screen role. Yet the fate of
Evita
is still up in the air. “Every day is a different story,” explains Madonna. “It's a really big production, and Hollywood's really clamping down on budgets these days. Glenn Caron wrote a brilliant script for it, and you can't make
Evita
for the small amount of money Disney is saying they want to make it for. They wanted Jeremy Irons to play Juan. All the things they want that would make it incredible cost money. So where do you draw the line? I don't want it to be a mediocre rendition of
Evita
. It has to be grand. It's an epic thing. If there is an
Evita
, I contend that I will be her.”
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