Madonna Talks 'W.E.' Film, Gets Glamorous In Interview

'W.E.' has 'been kind of an obsession of mine,' she tells Gus Van Sant in magazine.

By James Montgomery

In the May issue of Interview magazine, Madonna reveals details of her upcoming film "W.E.," somewhat fitting, considering she was speaking with director Gus Van Sant.

The film — co-written by Madonna (who will also direct) and "Truth or Dare" director Alex Keshishian — is set to begin photography this summer and flashes back and forth between pre-World War II England and New York in 1998. Though the plot remains a tightly guarded secret, Madonna made it clear that early reports on the film had at least one key aspect wrong.

	Madonna's May 2010 Interview Magazine Spread

"Yeah, [it's] the movie everyone thinks I'm making that's supposed to be a musical about the duke and duchess of Windsor. I don't know why that got in the newspapers," she tells Van Sant. "The duke and duchess of Windsor are in the movie, but it's not going to be about them. It's really about this other woman's journey, and the duchess is kind of her spiritual guide. ... I use the Sotheby's auction in 1998 of the duke and duchess of Windsor's estate as a device to flash backward from."

Madonna freely admits that the concept behind "W.E." is "fantastic and complicated," involving not only the lives of the duke and duchess of Windsor, but "a girl who has this obsession and is going to the auctions." It's a complicated piece and very much a labor of love.

"I've been writing it for the last two and a half years, to tell you the truth. It's been kind of an obsession of mine," she said. "I started writing it when I finished filming [2008 directorial debut] 'Filth and Wisdom.' It was actually an idea I had before that, but I made 'Filth and Wisdom' because I realized that I didn't really have a right to make a bigger film until I made a smaller film — and learned how to make a film."

In the issue — which hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on Tuesday and goes nationwide May 11 — Madonna also admits that working on the film has shifted her focus away from her other career.

"I don't have a record deal right now with anybody. I don't know how I'm going to get my music out the next time I make a record," she said. "I'm going to have to reinvent the wheel. I haven't really been focused as much as I should be on the music part of my career, because this movie has just consumed every inch of me. Between that and my four children, I don't have the time or the energy for anything else. For example, I do appreciate that lots of people worked long and hard putting together things like the DVD of the Sticky & Sweet Tour that we just released, and I have seen the finished product, but I have got no idea how people are going to find out about it or how it's going to be sold."

"They'll find it," Van Sant said.

"Hopefully," Madonna joked. "I think I have a fan club — well, that's what they say."