Tuesday
May102016
Podcast Special: 25th Anniversary of Madonna's "Truth or Dare"
Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 11:00PM 
Nathaniel, Nick, and Joe revisit the seminal rock documentary by Alek Keshishian Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991). The film was a blast in 1991, became one of the biggest documentary hits of all time, and proved prophetic thereafter for celebrity culture and reality TV narcissism which hadn't been invented yet. Well, reality TV hadn't; Narcissism precedes Madonna.
Topics include but are not limited to: Our first viewings, Warren Beatty's terror at the project, the Antonio Banderas fixation, celebrity cameos, and Madonna's relationship to both the camera and LGBT culture.
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the convo in the comments...
- What's the story of your first viewing?
- Have you watched it recently (Hint: it's streaming on Netflix!)?
- Do you think Blonde Ambition is Madonna's best era?
Reader Comments (12)
"That was really.... neat"
Madonna is such an overwhelming figure to write about. Although the topic is Truth or Dare it is connected to so much else that happened before during and after. The makeup artist Madonna laughed at was hired for the follow up tour The Girlie Show. Years later she shares of story of Madonna shunning her at the Kabbalah center.
By the way no mentioned David Fincher was initially hired to film Truth or Dare? He actually shot footage too. Not sure if any of it was used in the final version. Two dancers from Madonna's only tours from the 90's are featured in the movie Showgirls. The black female dancer from The Girlie Show played Annie. And Kevin has some speaking lines in the film. Kevin the Asian dancer from Blond Ambition.
My dad and I were going to see Backdraft, but we were late or it was sold out, I don't remember, so I convinced him to go see Truth or Dare. I sat through the Evian scene with my dad next to me. Classic.
I saw Madonna last November and she was fucking amazing so I feel like saying that her best era is NOW. I will never get tired of her.
Nathaniel, you're a mish-kid? That is amazing. Who knew.
Julie Brown's Medusa: Dare to be Truthful is a required companion piece.
Did they ever release the full Blond Ambition concert on video? As much as I would love to see Truth or Dare on the big screen again, I would also love it if they released the full concert theatrically.
Wouldn't it be cool if Madonna revived the show and toured it again with the same dancers?
My first time watching this was with my mom, at home, she was knitting, I was sowing (learning to sow, actually, as I had very recently started living on my own and was finally getting off my high horse of entitled adolescence and actually acquiring some home skills), she kept calling Madonna ridiculous pretty much the whole movie, but in the end we both really liked it. That was about 6 years ago and I haven't seen it since.
I am a bit ambivalent on Madonna as whole, as I love her music, mostly dislike her personality, find some of her stunts slightly embarrassing (especially now in older age), often defend her and complain she does get enough respect as an artist and actually think she is glorious in Evita (even if I fully acknowledge her shortcomings as an actress).
Her best era for me were the mid to late 90s, when she was so unbelievably handsome and earthy (Something to Remember days, the classiest she ever looked) and was also stretching herself to the peak of her talents (Evita and Ray of Light).
I appreciate Erotica (the album), Like a Prayer and Confessions on a Dance Floor as well.
I truly love it when we have movie anniversary podcasts like this one and the Mean Girls one, or artist-centric podcast like this one too, in a way, and also what prob is my fave podcast of all time here at TFE, the Katharine Hepburn one w/ Nick and Anne Marie.
Awwww, thanks, everyone, for sharing more information and especially your own Truth or Dare memories!!!
@brookesboy-Oh, that shit was hilarious.
So Sue -- wow. thanks for putting that thought in my head. I mean she would NEVER do it. because she's not nostalgic for herself in that way.
Brookseboy * Steven -- ohmygod i have not thought of that in so long and used to love. Julie Brown was a treasure.
Thanks guys! I love the film and really enjoyed the podcast. Truth be told (ha), the doc made me really respect Madonna. I was thinking I could never be as badass as she was/is. I kind of wish I had lived (on a smaller scale, of course) such a phase so that I would have got some it out of my system.
Nick, how did you do in that contest? I couldn't even get to the second round (if we're talking about the same one), though most students don't.
Oops (and yes, I know, this post has come and gone)...but I guess I should've done some research before I asked my question...to the latecomers and lurkers, Blonde Ambition aired on HBO in its entirety and has been released on DVD and it's on YouTube...but don't we want a complete theatrical version with the Alek Keshishian footage?