Music

Madonna shared a photo on her Instagram Story Tuesday of her studying a script while riding in a water taxi in Venice, the city where she filmed the iconic “Like a Virgin” video. That photo, Entertainment Weekly reports, documents the fact that the Queen of Pop is taking on her first acting role in more than 20 years.

According to EW, Madonna will make a guest appearance in Apple TV’s Emmy-winning comedy The Studio, which is currently shooting its second season in Europe. Madonna captioned the photo, “The Italian Job” and placed a heart over the script, so we can’t see what it is. Madonna was also separately photographed on set.

The Studio stars Seth Rogen as the bumbling head of a movie studio and is famous for landing A-list guest stars like Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Ron Hon Howard, Zac Efron, Jean Smart, Zoë Kravitz and even Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos.

EW notes that Madonna’s last major acting role was in 2002, when she starred in Swept Away, a film directed by ex-husband Guy Ritchie. That same year, she had a small part in the James Bond film Die Another Day. She also had a cameo in a 2003 episode of Will & Grace.

ABC Audio has reached out to Madonna’s reps for comment.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Madonna shared a photo on her Instagram Story Tuesday of her studying a script while riding in a water taxi in Venice, the city where she filmed the iconic “Like a Virgin” video. That photo, Entertainment Weekly reports, documents the fact that the Queen of Pop is taking on her first acting role in more than 20 years.

According to EW, Madonna will make a guest appearance in Apple TV’s Emmy-winning comedy The Studio, which is currently shooting its second season in Europe. Madonna captioned the photo, “The Italian Job” and placed a heart over the script, so we can’t see what it is. Madonna was also separately photographed on set.

The Studio stars Seth Rogen as the bumbling head of a movie studio and is famous for landing A-list guest stars like Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Ron Hon Howard, Zac Efron, Jean Smart, Zoë Kravitz and even Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos.

EW notes that Madonna’s last major acting role was in 2002, when she starred in Swept Away, a film directed by ex-husband Guy Ritchie. That same year, she had a small part in the James Bond film Die Another Day. She also had a cameo in a 2003 episode of Will & Grace.

ABC Audio has reached out to Madonna’s reps for comment.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, March 18, 2002…

Talking Heads, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and the Ramones were among the acts inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Talking Heads were inducted by Red Hot Chili Peppers’ frontman Anthony Keidis, with the band – David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison – reuniting for their first performance together since 1984. They performed “Life During Wartime,” “Psycho Killer,” and “Burning Down the House.”

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were inducted by Jakob Dylan, and the band performed “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and “American Girl.”

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder handled induction duties for the Ramones, with Green Day performing “Teenage Lobotomy,” “Rockaway Beach” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” in tribute to the punk rockers.

The night’s other honorees included Isaac Hayes, Brenda Lee and Gene Pitney.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, March 18, 2002…

Talking Heads, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and the Ramones were among the acts inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Talking Heads were inducted by Red Hot Chili Peppers’ frontman Anthony Keidis, with the band – David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison – reuniting for their first performance together since 1984. They performed “Life During Wartime,” “Psycho Killer,” and “Burning Down the House.”

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were inducted by Jakob Dylan, and the band performed “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and “American Girl.”

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder handled induction duties for the Ramones, with Green Day performing “Teenage Lobotomy,” “Rockaway Beach” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” in tribute to the punk rockers.

The night’s other honorees included Isaac Hayes, Brenda Lee and Gene Pitney.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The new Peaky Blinders movie, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, is in select theaters now and will debut on Netflix Friday. To coincide with the release, its star Cillian Murphy has shared his choices for the ultimate Peaky Blinders playlist, and that includes“Lazarus” from David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar.

It turns out, Bowie had a real connection to the series, which debuted on Netflix in 2014, and always wanted his music to be a part of it.

In a interview posted to Instagram, Murphy says Bowie was “a very early advocate of the TV show,” noting, “He loved it from the start when many people didn’t.”

“I worked with him briefly in the year before he died and we’d spoke about it,” he says. “He told me how much he loved it and then I sent him the cap that I wear in series 1 with the razor blade in it and everything. And he sent me back a picture of him wearing it, which I treasure.”

Murphy says after Bowie died in 2016, they found out he had wanted songs from Blackstar to be used in the show.

“We were all like speechless and just kind of overwhelmed and just beyond moved,” Murphy says. “And then we tried to use them in a fitting way and I think that it really works.”

Also included on Murphy’s playlist is Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” Murphy notes “you could draw some line” between his character Tommy Shelby and Ozzy Osbourne. “Kind of rebels, both of them,” he says.

The list also includes songs by Sinéad O’Connor, Leonard Cohen and Radiohead Thom Yorke.

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