Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is writing a series of essays during the coronavirus pandemic “documenting his experiences and the memories that have come up as a result” and a particularly juicy one appeared in Indiewire on Friday in which he spilled the tea over a famous scene that appears in Madonna’s 1991 documentary Truth or Dare in which the musical icon flirts with actor Antonio Banderas.
Writes Almodóvar: “I went out with her the days she spent in Madrid. I organized a big flamenco party for her with La Polaca and her husband, El Polaco, in the Palace Hotel, with Loles León, Bibiana Fernández, Rossy de Palma, but she had already made it very clear to me that, aside from myself, she was only interested in meeting one other guest, Antonio Banderas. I promised her that Antonio would be there, but I didn’t tell her that I couldn’t invite him without his then-wife, Ana Leza, a huge fan of the singer. Madonna decided how we had to be seated (there were a number of roundtables for my friends and her dancers). Naturally, she sat at the main table, with me on her right and Antonio on her left. And she sent Ana Leza to the table furthest away in that great salon.”
According to Almodovar, “Madonna did not pay attention to anybody else” and “Ana dared to get close to our table and told the divine blonde sarcastically, ‘I see you like my husband, it doesn’t surprise me, all women like him, but I don’t mind because I am very modern.’ To which Madonna replied: ‘Get lost.'”
The director added: “I don’t mind if this seems like a settling of scores, if it had been the other way round (me filming Madonna and her team and making a film with all that material which I would then premiere around the world) I would have taken such a hit in the form of a lawsuit I’d still be recovering from it. Madonna treated us like simpletons and I had to say it one day. She didn’t ask for permission to use our images, and she even dubbed me, because my English mustn’t have been that good.”
Head over to Indiewire for more of the story.
