Julia Garner still believes she will play Madonna on the big screen.

The Ozark actress was cast as the Material Girl hitmaker in 2022 but months later, the project was placed on hold and its fate has been up in the air ever since.

However, Julia insisted on the SmartLess podcast that the biopic is "supposed to still happen".

The Fantastic Four: First Steps star had been a fan of Madonna when she was growing up so knew she had to audition as soon as she heard the project was in the pipeline.

She said: "It just came about… like I knew that they were doing a project, making a movie about it, and then I went out to audition. I kind of just wanted to see if I could do it."

The 31-year-old actress has no dance training so had to learn how to move and then show off her skills in front of Madonna herself, and she decided to channel the Vogue hitmaker during her audition.

Explaining she asked herself what Madonna would do, she added: "Which is like convince you that she deserves… to be in this room. And I owned it. I was like, 'You can take it or leave it, but if you leave it, if I leave, then that's on you.' "

In July last year, Madonna revealed she was working on a new draft script for the biopic, which will be titled Who's That Girl in a nod to the singer's 1987 movie and song of the same name.

Madonna took to Instagram and posted a collection of photos of herself working on the script with the caption: "I Need A-lot of Bandz to make this ……….. OKAY. (Story of my life) (sic)."

The film was announced in 2020, and writers Diablo Cody and Erin Cressida Wilson were brought on to help the Like A Virgin hitmaker with the script and screenplay.

However, in January 2023, it was revealed the film had been paused indefinitely at Universal Pictures.

After the movie was shelved, Madonna went on her Celebration Tour in October 2023 to mark four decades in the music industry, but reportedly resumed work on the project once she got back home in June in the hopes she could finalise the script with Universal.

An industry insider previously told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "Madonna has only just finished her tour but in her mind it is on to the next project and fulfilling her dream of getting the biopic made.

"Julia is still her lead actress and they have remained in touch for the past year, talking through ideas. They are committed to creating some magic."

The 'Vogue' chart-topper had explained she wanted to both direct and write the movie because she wanted complete control over the project.

She told Variety: "I've had an extraordinary life, I must make an extraordinary film.

"It was also a pre-emptive strike because a lot of people were trying to make movies about me. Mostly misogynistic men.

"So I put my foot in the door and said, 'No one's going to tell my story, but me.'"