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Debra Wingerisn’t being coy about why she walked away fromA League of Their Own.
The Oscar-nominated actress, 66,toldThe Telegraphthatshe backed out of the 1992 Penny Marshall movie after pop star Madonna was cast to play one of the athletes in the film’s ensemble. Winger said she felt it was shaping up to be “an Elvis film,” not the project Winger spent three months seriously training for with the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
“The studio agreed with me because it was the only time I ever collected a pay-or-play on my contract,” said Winger. “In other words, I collected my pay even though I did not play, and that’s very hard to get in a court. … 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?’ "
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Geena Davis went on to play the role of Dottie Hinson, and Winger toldThe Telegraphthat Davis “did okay.” Davis, now 65, scored a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
“I certainly don’t begrudge any of them,” Winger said of the team involved withA League of Their Own, which also starred Tom Hanks, Lori Petty and Rosie O’Donnell. Winger added of Madonna’s performance, however: “I think [her] acting career has spoken for itself.”
A rep for Madonna did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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Madonna, now 63, earned a Golden Globe nomination for best original song forA League of Their Own’s “This Used to Be My Playground.” She went on to star in 1996’sEvita, and directed the 2011 filmW.E.It was previously reported that she iswriting and directing a biopic about her lifewith help from Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody.
In 2017, Davisrecalled working on the iconic sports movie, including her audition process: “[Marshall] wanted to make sure I could throw a ball, so that happened. I threw the ball to her, competently got it to her, she caught it and said, ‘Okay.’ That was the whole audition,” she toldUSA Today.
Davis also remembered hesitancy about working with a famous musician like Madonna.
“She was Madonna. We wondered if we were going to be able to talk to her. Was she going to have an entourage? Were they going to put up walls around her where she stands?” she said. “… But she was so game. She was a trooper.”
Winger told PEOPLE in 2017 abouttaking a break from Hollywoodat 40 and clashing with some of her costars.
“I don’t know what Hollywood is. I’m living under the freaking sign now, and I just stare at it and laugh,” Winger said at the time. “Los Angeles is a place, but the idea of Hollywood doesn’t really exist for me. Broadway is more of a family than Hollywood, although there must be some in-crowds that I just don’t know about.”
source: people.com
