Today in Madonna History: January 3, 2003

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On January 3 2003, Madonna.com announced: “Madonna’s next album is scheduled to be released in April, and there is no title as of yet. The video for the first single will be shot in February and will be directed by Jonas Akerlund. The album cover will be shot next week by Craig McDean (he also did the Vanity Fair Madonna cover).”

Today in Madonna History: December 24, 1987

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On December 24 1987, Madonna began filming Bloodhounds Of Broadway, co-starring Matt Dillon, Jennifer Grey & Randy Quaid and directed by Howard Brookner.

Today in Madonna History: December 19, 1990

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On December 19 1990, the film Dick Tracy was released on home video.

Here’s a video I put together for one of our favorite songs from the film, Stephen Sondheim’s More.

Today in Madonna History: December 5, 1994

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On December 5 1994, Madonna began filming the music video for Bedtime Story at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA.

The video marked her second collaboration with director Mark Romanek and featured cinematography by Harris Savides. To assist in the process of developing her ideas for the video into something more tangible, Madonna again turned to storyboard artist Grant Shaffer, who had previously collaborated on her videos for Deeper And Deeper and Rain.

Madonna recalled the inspiration for the video in an interview with Aperture magazine:

“My Bedtime Story video was completely inspired by all the female surrealist painters like Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. There’s that one shot where my hands are up in the air and stars are spinning around me. And me flying through the hallway with my hair trailing behind me, the birds flying out of my open robe – all of those images were an homage to female surrealist painters; there’s a little bit of Frida Kahlo in there, too.”

The effects-laden video was shot over six days and has been noted by Madonna as being one of the more grueling video shoots of her career. Filming of a scene that featured Madonna bathing in blue-coloured water yielded unexpectedly colourful results; when Madonna emerged from the water, she later recounted, it quickly became apparent that her skin had been temporarily stained blue.

Fortunately any on-set difficulties were not evident in the final product. Following several months of post-production work, the video’s stunning surrealist imagery was enthusiastically received by viewers upon its release in March, 1995.

A very special thank you to artist Grant Shaffer for generously sharing a selection of his original storyboards used in the development of the Bedtime Story video! We’d like to invite readers to check out more of Grant’s art on his official website – including his sketches for Deeper And Deeper, Rain and Madonna’s Japanese Takara commercial.

Today in Madonna History: November 4, 1995

On November 4 1995, Madonna’s You’ll See was reviewed by Billboard magazine’s Larry Flick. Written & produced by Madonna & David Foster, the song of self-empowerment served as the lead single from her collection of ballads, Something To Remember.

 

Today in Madonna History: October 23, 1995

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On October 23 1995, Madonna began filming the You’ll See video in London, England with director Michael Haussman.

The video was conceived as a sequel to Madonna’s 1994 video for Take A Bow, with both featuring Spanish bullfighter Emilio Muñoz. Madonna’s scenes for the You’ll See video were shot as she was preparing to begin recording the soundtrack for Evita.

Today in Madonna History: October 3, 1985

On October 3 1985, the film A Certain Sacrifice was released on home video – at a retail price of $59.95.