In 1992, Madonna had quite a few “failures” under her belt. Specifically filmic ones. After her success with 1985’s Desperately Seeking Susan, in which many argued she was playing herself (and it was, indeed, nicknamed “the Madonna movie”), Ms. Ciccone couldn’t seem to recapture the magic in subsequent efforts, including Shanghai Surprise, Who’s That Girl, Bloodhounds of Broadway, Dick Tracy and Shadows and Fog. Even though the latter two films might have been theoretically buttressed by a built-in audience for the comic book character and Woody Allen respectively, one came away with the sense that the movies would ultimately become nothing more than “throwaways” in everyone else’s filmography except Madonna’s. For she had so few projects to cling to by this point, except the only other well-received effort she made, 1991’s Truth or Dare. A documentary in which, again, she was playing herself—only literally this time.
Sensing a certain formula for success in this regard, Madonna knew what she was doing when she agreed to be in an ensemble piece that would not only take the pressure off her to carry the entire thing herself, but also provide a role she could relate to: bawdy, boy crazy Mae “All the Way Mae” Mordabito. A last name that, yes, does sound conveniently like libido. Using real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player Faye Dancer as her inspiration, Madonna brought her own brand of Mae West-styled humor to the part. Even if Debra Winger wasn’t willing to stick around and find out what the Queen of Pop might be able to do with it, telling The Daily Telegraph in a new interview, “Her acting career [spoke] for itself.” This stated in a confession regarding being the original star of the feature, Dottie Hinson—eventually taken on by Geena Davis, who has made the part difficult to envision with anyone else in it, least of all Winger.
And yet, that was precisely what was to be… were it not for Madonna entering the picture. After training for three months for the role, Winger backed out upon learning of director Penny Marshall’s intent to cast Madonna, effectively turning it into what Winger dubbed “an Elvis film.” Incidentally, Elvis’ death day is the same as Madonna’s birthday, so go figure. Before adding more shade to her commentary, Winger also assured, “The studio agreed with me because it was the only time I ever collected a pay-or-play on my contract. In other words, I collected my pay even though I did not play, and that’s very hard to get in a court.”
So yes, she’s saying the studio agreed with her that Madonna was going to make the movie into something that perhaps it wasn’t originally intended to be (that is to say, potential box office poison). Which is why Winger persisted in “undercuttingly” (but also very overtly) pissing on the project with the critique of the final result being: “As entertaining as (the final film) was, you don’t walk away going ‘Wow, those women did that.’ You kind of go ‘Is that true?’”
Not content to stop now while riding the Shit-Talking Express, she was additionally sure to note that many of the actors (ahem, Madonna) didn’t train long enough to look convincing, concluding, “I certainly don’t begrudge any of them.” Clearly not. Or rather, clearly Debra Winger and Mariah Carey should get together for a drink.
They say you can’t fight the stars (as in: destiny… not, like, high-strung actors). And Winger certainly couldn’t have fought what was written in them when it stated Madonna was to be cast in A League of Their Own, thereby setting off the domino effect of also casting Davis when Winger backed out. To make matters more satisfying in terms of forcing Winger to eat crow no matter what she says about the “final result,” A League of Their Own became the first feature directed by a woman to gross over $100 million at the box office. A fitting coup considering the movie’s subject matter pertains entirely to women shattering the glass ceiling in the face of rampant sexism and the ingrained misogyny of our culture.
As such, there is also no woman more suited to be involved in such a project than “bad feminist” Madonna herself. Not to mention, without Madonna’s presence, there would have been no recording of the spun-gold ballad that is “This Used to Be My Playground” for the soundtrack. Thus, the cinematic gods smiling upon her being chosen for the production, thereby ousting Winger—obviously not entirely on board with the concept of “female solidarity.” Neither is Courtney Love (another occasional Madonna nemesis), for that matter, so maybe she should join in on that drink with Winger and Mariah as well.
