Madonna recently gave an interview to USA Today.
In person, Madonna is crisp, thorough and businesslike, immaculately attired in a draped blue dress, accessorized with fingerless leather Chanel gloves.
There’s no repartee, just succinct, exacting answers with flashes of humor.
Her penchant for perfectionism reveals itself promptly at the start of an interview in a swank Waldorf-Astoria room, when symphonic notes begin clamoring out of hidden speakers.
Madonna, looking around for the source, is miffed…
“We should turn the classical music off. It just came on. I’m sure there’s a button somewhere.
This is apparently their suite, where they [the Duke and Duchess of Windsor] stayed.”
On paying attention to details…
“Details are important to me. The rugs, the lampshades, the jewelry, the one hair out of place.
Little things like that drive me bonkers, if they’re not just right”
On working on her MDNA album…
“It’s fun.
It sounds different.
It was nice to get away from the film and do something visceral and write songs and play the guitar.”
On being busy on all fronts…
“A lot is happening.
It wasn’t planned that way, but it turned out that way.”
On Wallis Simpson…
“She liked nice clothes, and I can relate to that.
When I first read about her, I thought she was clever and witty, and quite ambitious and calculating.
And when I started to investigate and read, she seemed like a trapped animal in many respects, quite fragile, in a lot of pain.
She made the best of all her situations.
She’s been grossly misunderstood.”
On critics reviewing Madonna more than her film…
“I haven’t read any of the reviews, so I don’t know the nature of what people are saying specifically.
I think yes, I’m gauged with a different measuring stick than an anonymous person would be.
That goes with the territory.
The subject matter touches a nerve with people.
I deal with relationships, and I investigate the inner life of a woman, which isn’t really dealt with in film very often.”
On Madonna connecting to the dual stories of the protagonists…
“I see elements of myself in both of them.
The girl, who’s dreaming about what it must feel like to be loved like that and having a bit of a naïve point of view.
And then there’s the Wallis Simpson character, who’s dealt a series of challenging blows and has to deal with life, and get on with it.
She’s quite practical about it.
She says what she means, and she means what she says, and I can relate to that, for sure.”
On the concept of all-encompassing love…
“I think true love is really unconditional love.
It’s something one has to work toward.
You have to come to an understanding that nobody’s perfect.
You have to learn to live with people’s imperfections. You have to learn the art of negotiation.
True love, it exists, but it doesn’t exist in that fairy-tale way.”
On working all the time…
“I have an office in my house, so I’m in my house and around my kids as much as possible.
My work process is non-stop all day long.
When I wake up in the morning, after the kids go to school, if I don’t go back to sleep, I go to my office.
I’m working until I have to leave.
When I come back, I have dinner with my kids and put them to bed, and then go back to my office.”
On slowing down…
“I fantasize about it, yeah. But I’ve never done it.
Even if I say I’m going to take the day off, there’s something hanging over me.
I try to make time for myself, where I’m really not working and being with my family.
And I fantasize, when I pass my bed in the middle of the day, and the sun is streaming through the window — I wonder what it would be like to lie on my bed in the middle of the day and watch a film and not feel any pressure.
I think, I’ll try it one day. I think I might like it.”
Source: USA TODAY
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