Smash Hits: So what have you been up to lately?
Madonna: I�ve just finished working on the movie A League Of Their Own, which I�m very excited about. I�ve also been working on material for my next record but that probably won�t be released for a couple of months.
Smash Hits: Are you planning any amazing tours and perhaps finally popping down to Australia along the way [hint hint]?
Madonna: Yes, absolutely. But right now I want to concentrate more on film. I�ve always wanted to become an actress � so I want to concentrate on film, the theatre and also dance.
Smash Hits: Is it true that you always regarded your singing career as a fluke?
Madonna: Yes, it�s true. When I came to New York City I never came with the intention of making it as a singer. The success from that took me by surprise. So I went off in that direction, but now I feel because I�ve had a certain amount of success I can go back and delve more into my original interests, in particular, film.
Smash Hits: How do you feel about the progress you�ve made as a film actress?
Madonna: It�s taken me a little longer to be accepted and respected in film. But nothing that�s worth being successful at happens overnight. Everyone�s always looking to knock you down when you�re on top and I�m no different. I�ve had my fair share of that. But I�ll be around a lot longer than most of those critics.
Smash Hits: You�ve accomplished so much already, but what�s your next goal?
Madonna: Making more movies. Lots and lots of them. I don�t simply want to appear in other people�s films, I want to do my own film projects. Next I plan on doing a picture on Frida Kahlo � she was a Mexican painter (M has filled her house with pictures painted by Ms Kahlo, incidentally). And I just bought the film rights to a book about Martha Graham (one of Madonna�s early dance instructors who died recently) I and I want to do a movie about her life, too. Also I�m going to make a new thriller called Body Of Evidence with Willem Dafoe in Oregon in April. That one will come out sometime before the year is over. I want to be the biggest movie star in the whole world [wicked laugh]. Nothing else will do, so watch out Hollywood!
Smash Hits: You come across as a very confident and ambitious woman. Are you consumed by ambition?
Madonna: No, I don�t think it consumes me, although in a sense, the Blond Ambition tour in In Bed With Madonna was very consuming and I had very little time for quiet moments or private moments. It was physically exhausting, but then I�m not on tour all of my life, so I can take a few months off and regroup.
Smash Hits: In that very movie, your old chum Warren Beatty says that you don�t like to live off-camera. Is that true?
Madonna: No, that�s not true. Warren was just getting fed up and mad about the camera always being on in my living room or dressing room every time he came over. He couldn�t handle it.
Smash Hits: Is it true that he asked to have his footage cut out of the film?
Madonna: Yes.
Smash Hits: What did you say?
Madonna: I told him no. He didn�t like that, but it was my film, not his.
Smash Hits: Because you keep dying your hair back to blond every so often (M is currently blond again. Well this week anyway! � Ed.) a lot of people think you have a preoccupation and fascination with Marilyn Monroe. Do you think that�s true?
Madonna: I don�t think I�m like Marilyn Monroe in a lot of ways. The main thing that we have in common is that we bleach our hair. She�s a �sex symbol� and a �sex goddess� and I can relate to that in terms of how many people like to see me. I kind of like to take that imagery and what everybody�s preconceived notions of what a sex goddess is supposed to be and turn it all around. Throw it back in your face and say, �Yes, I can be this sex symbol, but I don�t have to be a victim, and I don�t have to be fragile�.
Smash Hits: Marilyn Monroe also died a rather horrible death from drugs and you�ve certainly got no plans for that, we hope.
Madonna: I refuse to placate people and be victimized. I always felt Marilyn Monroe drank and popped pills to escape reality and the problems in her life. I�m not like that at all. I don�t have an addictive personality. I love my life and what I do.