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Madonna: Truth or Dare

Madonna: Truth or Dare (also known as In Bed with Madonna internationally) is a 1991 American documentary film by director Alek Keshishian chronicling the life of entertainer Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. Madonna approached Keshishian to do an HBO special on the tour after watching his Harvard senior project. Initially planned to be a traditional concert film, Keshishian was so impressed with the backstage life that he persuaded Madonna to make it the focus of the film. Madonna funded the project and served as executive producer. The film was edited to be in black-and-white, in order to emulate cinéma vérité, while the performance scenes are in color.

Madonna: Truth or Dare
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlek Keshishian
Produced byTim Clawson
Jay Roewe
StarringMadonna
Narrated byMadonna
CinematographyChristophe Lanzeburg
Robert Leacock
Doug Nichol
Daniel Pearl
Toby Phillips
Marc Reshovsky
Edited byBarry Alexander Brown
Music byMadonna
Production
companies
Boy Toy, Inc.
Propaganda Films
Distributed byMiramax Films (United States)
Dino De Laurentiis Communications (International)[1]
Release date
  • May 10, 1991 (1991-05-10)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.5 million
Box office$29 million

Madonna: Truth or Dare was screened out of competition at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and was given a limited release on May 10, 1991; two weeks later, it had its worldwide release. It opened to positive reviews although certain scenes, such as one where Madonna visits her mother's grave, were criticized. Madonna was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. With a worldwide gross of $29 million, it was the highest-grossing documentary of all time, until Bowling for Columbine surpassed it in 2002. Truth or Dare has been noted as a groundbreaking film for its casual portrayal of homosexuality, and was compared to Paris Is Burning (1990). It has also had an impact on reality television and celebrity culture, inspiring parodies and other music-related documentaries.

Synopsis Edit

The film begins on August 6, 1990, the day after the final show of the Blond Ambition World Tour in Nice, France. Madonna reminisces in her hotel room about the tour and how its completion would affect her.

In a flashback to April 1990, the tour is about to kick off in Japan. Madonna did not realize that it was rainy season. Because of this, she and the dancers switch their tour costumes for warmer attire. In a voice-over, Madonna confesses that the only thing keeping her from "slashing my wrists" is the thought of returning to North America and performing the show as it is meant to be. In the United States, she meets the families of her dancers. Oliver Crumes, one of the dancers, sees his father for the first time in several years. In Los Angeles, sound problems arise; despite reassurances, Madonna focuses on the technical problems and yells at her manager Freddy DeMann for allowing so many people from the music industry in the front rows. After the show, she meets with several celebrities; Kevin Costner offends her by calling the show "neat" and she pretends to gag after he leaves.[2]

On the final Toronto show, the crew receives a visit from the local police who threaten to arrest Madonna for "lewd and indecent display", specifically the masturbation scene during the performance of "Like a Virgin"; she refuses to change the show. DeMann believes the threat of arrest will only make Madonna go further.[3] According to a news report, Toronto police decide not to arrest her, claiming that no threats were made.[4] The next stop is Madonna's hometown of Detroit. In a voice-over, she expresses the difficulty she has going back home. At the end of "Holiday", Madonna calls her father Tony on stage and sings "Happy Birthday to You". Backstage, Tony and his wife Joan compliment the show, though Tony expresses his displeasure at some of the more "burlesque" aspects. Madonna and Christopher wait for their older brother Martin to show up while they discuss his substance abuse problems. Later, she reunites with her "childhood idol" Moira McFarland-Messana, who gives her a painting she made entitled "Madonna and Child", and asks her to be godmother to her unborn child. Before leaving Detroit, Madonna visits her mother's grave for the first time since she was a child, as "Promise to Try" plays in the background. She lies down beside the grave as Christopher watches from afar.

As the tour continues, Madonna's throat problems worsen while Warren Beatty becomes more fed up with the cameras. During a throat examination in Madonna's hotel room, Beatty chastises her for the documentary, telling her the atmosphere is driving everyone insane. Madonna ignores him, and when she declines to have the rest of her examination done off camera, he starts laughing, saying, "She doesn't want to live off-camera, much less talk... What point is there of existing off-camera?". Due to her throat problems, she cancels some of her shows. In New York City, her doctor instructs her not to talk and she finds herself isolated in her apartment with only her assistant Melissa Crowe. Madonna is upset at losing contact with the dancers.

The third and final leg of the tour kicks off in Europe with everyone in better spirits. As the tour nears Italy, Pope John Paul II attempts to have it banned, forcing Madonna to cancel one of two shows in Rome. Sandra Bernhard appears to cheer up Madonna. Madonna tells Sandra that she's interested in meeting Antonio Banderas. When Pedro Almodóvar throws a party in Madrid, Madonna spends a week thinking up ways to seduce Banderas, but it turns out that he is married. While Madonna works in her hotel room, voice-overs from her family, friends, and co-workers describe the star. Though she is happier now than she was on her last tour, Sandra does not think that she takes enough time to enjoy her successes. Others describe her in unflattering terms.

As the tour winds down, the group plays a game of truth or dare? and Madonna is dared to perform fellatio on a glass bottle. She's then asked who has been the "love of your life for your whole life?", to which she replies without hesitation, "Sean. Sean". She then invites her dancers and backup singers, one by one, to join her in bed, where she imparts "words of wisdom" to each. While the show's closing act, "Keep It Together", plays, a montage of Madonna saying good-bye to her dancers is shown. The film ends with a clip of Madonna telling director Alek Keshishian to go away and, "Cut it, Alek! Cut it, Goddamnit!"

Tour Edit

 
Madonna performing "Express Yourself" as the opening number of the Blond Ambition World Tour

The Blond Ambition World Tour was Madonna's third concert tour. It supported her fourth studio album Like a Prayer and the Dick Tracy soundtrack I'm Breathless. In January 1989, Pepsi-Cola announced that they had signed a US$5 million deal with Madonna to feature her and her single "Like a Prayer" on a television commercial.[5] The deal also included Pepsi sponsoring Madonna's next world tour, announced then as the Like a Prayer World Tour.[6][7] After the release of the music video for "Like a Prayer", which featured a church and Catholic symbols such as stigmata, Ku Klux Klan-style cross burning and Madonna kissing a black saint, religious groups worldwide including the Vatican immediately protested due to its blasphemous use of Christian imagery and called for a national boycott of Pepsi and PepsiCo's subsidiaries.[8][9] The company revoked the commercial and canceled Madonna's sponsorship contract.[10][11] Sire Records officially announced the Blond Ambition World Tour on November 16, 1989.[12]

The concert, which was directed and choreographed by Vincent Paterson, was divided into five segments: Metropolis, inspired by the 1927 German expressionist film of same name; Religious by religious themes; Dick Tracy by the film of the same name and cabaret; Art Deco was inspired by early Hollywood films using the works of artist Tamara de Lempicka, and the fifth was an encore.[7] The art direction was developed by Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone, while the costumes were created by designer Jean-Paul Gaultier.[13][14] It received positive reviews from contemporary critics, who praised its fashion and theatricals and received the "Most Creative Stage Production" at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards.[15] It was also a commercial success, grossing over US$62.7 million ($140.44 million in 2022 dollars[16]) from 57 concerts.[17][18]

Background and production Edit

The documentary was directed by Alek Keshishian from Propaganda Films, who had previously worked on music videos by Elton John and Bobby Brown.[19] David Fincher, who had previously directed Madonna's music videos for "Express Yourself", "Oh Father" and "Vogue", was originally attached to direct, but pulled out shortly before the tour started.[20] Madonna became interested in working with Keshishian after seeing his Harvard senior project - a short film titled Wuthering Heights.[5] According to author J. Randy Taraborrelli, "her gut instincts told her that the handsome, long-haired film maker with fresh ideas was the kind of hip, cool artist who could lend the film the right edge".[5] She approached Keshishian about doing an HBO special on her Blond Ambition World Tour and flew him to Japan, where the tour kicked off in April 1990.[21] Initially to be a traditional concert film, Keshishian rented "everything that had been done in the music documentary and concert arena", but decided to not watch any of them, as he came to the conclusion that he wanted to do something different.[22] He found the backstage scene to be "a Fellini-esque dysfunctional family" and persuaded Madonna to do an actual film focusing on that, with some performances interspersed; "when I realized it could be more, everyone was telling her, 'Don’t be crazy. Look at what happened with Rattle and Hum and how it didn’t make money'. She decided to go with my opinion, rather than the others", the director recalled.[21][23] Madonna herself funded the project and served as its executive producer.[24] During an interview with James Kaplan from Entertainment Weekly, she explained:

It’s something that I felt compelled to do. I was very moved by the group of people I was with. I felt like their brother, their sister, their mother, their daughter — and then I also thought that they could do anything. And that we could do anything on stage. Because the show was so demanding, so complex — whenever you go through something really intense with a group of people it brings you closer together. And ultimately, though I’d set out to document the show, just to get it on film, when I started looking at the footage I said, ‘This is so interesting to me. There’s a movie here. There’s something here’.[24]

She later told Good Morning America that her main intention was "to explode the myth that we raise up on a pedestal people we turn into icons. We make them inhuman and we don't give them human attributes so they're not allowed to fail, they're not allowed to make mistakes".[25] Taraborrelli pointed out that Madonna gave Keshishian "full access to her world, complete entrée to her life during the tour's four months".[5] To record Madonna and those around her with ease, the director would place the cameras behind one-way mirrors; he would have his crew wear black at all times, and gave them specific orders not to interact with the subjects. Each night after filming, he would log the day's events on a computer to keep track of the footage.[26] The interviews with the tour's dancers and staff were done the first two weeks in Japan, while the performances were shot during the three Paris shows in July; this allowed Keshishian to "plan the numbers, to sit where I wanted them to be".[27]

The backstage footage was edited to be in black and white to give it a "vérité look", while the performances were edited to be in full color. Keshishian explained that "it seemed like an interesting division: the color for the artifice of the performance versus the reality of documentary, and yet each reflected the other".[22] He also recalled that New Line Cinema, the film's original distributor, dropped it because of this.[23][28][29][27] Over 200 hours of footage were shot, which took the director over a month and a half to edit and trim down to a reasonable length.[23] The first cut was over 3 hours long, but Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein said that it was still too long and forced Keshishian to reduce it.[23] Locations shot included the Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum at Kawkawlin, Michigan. It counts with appearances by Al Pacino, Mandy Patinkin, Olivia Newton-John, Antonio Banderas, Sandra Bernhard, Kevin Costner, and Warren Beatty, whom Madonna was dating at the time.[30][31] Madonna recalled that Beatty "didn’t take the whole thing seriously while it was being made — he just thought I was making a home movie".[24]

Release and promotion Edit

 
 
Madonna performing "Like a Virgin" (left) and "Holiday" (right) on the Blond Ambition World Tour. The performances were released as music videos to promote Truth or Dare

In August 1990, after the film was finished, Madonna invited a group of friends, including Warren Beatty, to watch a rough cut in the screening room of Beatty's home.[32] According to Taraborrelli, Beatty did not approve of the film; the next day, Madonna received a letter from his attorney demanding that certain scenes featuring Beatty be cut from the final version of the film, otherwise she would be sued; they came to an agreement in private and the scenes in question were removed from the movie.[32] In tribute to the games of truth or dare? Madonna and her entourage played during their breaks between shows, the working title was Truth or Dare: On the Road, Behind the Scenes and In Bed with Madonna, but Madonna felt it was too long and shortened it to Truth or Dare.[33][24] Outside North America, the title was changed by Miramax Films to In Bed with Madonna, due to the game being relatively unknown in other countries.[34] In a 2005 interview with Dermot O'Leary, Madonna said she disliked that title, calling it "really naff".[35]

The film was distributed by Miramax Films.[21] It was rated R by the MPAA due to profanity, brief nudity and sexual suggestiveness.[36] It was given a limited release on May 10, 1991. Five days later, Madonna attended the 44th Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected to be screened out of competition.[32][37] She wore a white silk bra with tap shorts and a pink overcoat designed by Gaultier.[38] For Vincent Canby, from The New York Times, both the film and Madonna were "canny and entertaining" and "brought this year's festival spontaneously to life for the first time".[37] Truth or Dare had its worldwide release on May 24, 1991.[39] To promote the film, Madonna made a guest appearance in the recurring sketch of Saturday Night Live, "Wayne's World".[40] Additionally, the performances of "Holiday" and "Like a Virgin" included on the documentary were released as music videos and received nominations at the 1991 and 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.[41][42][43] In several malls across the United States, the film was heavily promoted with tie-in products, big visuals and video displays.[44]

Box office and home media Edit

Upon release, the film was an immediate commercial success. In the United States, it entered the box office at number 13, when it had a limited release the weekend of May 10–12, 1991, earning a total of US$543,250 from being shown at 51 theaters.[45] On its first weekend of nationwide release, it grossed US$2.8 million, bringing its total box-office receipts to $3.3 million and making it the third-highest-grossing film, only behind F/X2 and What About Bob?.[46][47] According to Jack Matthews from the Los Angeles Times, Truth or Dare grossed over $4.3 million during its first week of release, surpassing Woodstock (1970) as the most commercially successfully music documentary up until that time.[47] The film remained in theaters for 33 weeks and collected a total revenue of $15,012,935 million in the United States.[39] With an additional gross of $14 million internationally, Madonna: Truth or Dare earned a total of $29 million (an estimated $62.31 million in 2022 dollars[16]) from its theatrical release, against a budget of $4.5 million.[39] It held the record for the highest-grossing documentary of all time for eleven years, before being surpassed by Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine (2002).[48][49]

The film was first released on home video by LIVE Entertainment in North America on October 9, 1991.[50] In the United Kingdom an additional "15" certificate, edited version was released in November 1991; over 57 seconds of footage were cut to make it appropriate for younger audiences.[51] It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Gold in Germany by Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) denoting shipments of 25,000 copies for both countries.[52][53] By January 1992, the video had sold 155,000 units in the United States according to The Hollywood Reporter.[54]

In 1992, it was re-released on VHS in the United States with two additional performances from the Blond Ambition Tour – "Like a Prayer" and "Hanky Panky" – which played after the end credits.[55][56] The DVD version was released on August 26, 1997, by LIVE Entertainment in North America but did not get a worldwide release until January 6, 2003, by MGM Entertainment.[57] On April 3, 2012, it was released on Blu-ray for the first time.[58] This release was remastered for 1080p, presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; it included the film's theatrical trailer as its sole bonus feature.[59]

Critical reception Edit

Madonna: Truth or Dare received generally positive reviews.[60] The documentary was one of the most highly-praised films of 1991.[61] It has an 86% approval rating on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes from 35 critics.[62] Peter Travers from Rolling Stone deemed it "the most revealing and outrageously funny piece of pop demythologizing since Dont Look Back"; praising its "freshness and snap" but criticizing Madonna's "lost-lamb routine" in the scene when she visits her mother's grave. He concluded his review: "you may not leave Truth or Dare loving Madonna, but you'll respect her as a force of nature".[63] Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars. He wrote that "unlike most rock documentaries, the real heart of this film is backstage, and the onstage musical segments, while effectively produced, seem obligatory - they're not the reason she wanted to make this film".[64] Ebert was particularly impressed by Madonna's work ethic.[64] Writing for The New York Times, Janet Maslin noted that "Madonna has succeeded in taking on real importance. [Truth or Dare] combines galvanizing, well-photographed color scenes of her onstage act with grainy black-and-white glimpses of her offstage one, sometimes making interesting efforts to reconcile the two".[36] Also from The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli felt that some of the film's best moments were Madonna's interactions with other celebrities.[30] Gawker's Rich Juzwiak opined it was "sometimes infuriating, but it's rarely less than fantastically entertaining. A relic of a time before grueling media training, when pop stars didn't hang on the approval of their publicists before talking".[25] Bustle's Amy Roberts called it "raw and honest, it never felt cynical (and still doesn't)".[65]

"Part of the alchemy of a great music documentary is catching the subject at exactly the right moment, and Alek Keshishian couldn’t have trained his cameras on Madonna at a better time. In the midst of the inventive and influential Blonde Ambition [sic] tour, he finds a self-possessed genius who is a magnet for controversy, as well as for other stars".

—Ryan Gilbey from The Guardian on his list of the 20 best music documentaries, where Madonna: Truth or Dare came in first.[66]

For The Washington Post's Martha Sherrill, "It's fresh. It’s outrageous. It’s unreality in black-and-white. And it’s certainly more entertaining than Madonna in person".[67] Louis Virtel from Paper praised the live footage as "some of Madonna's most exhilarating live work" and "the way the movie incorporates the stories of Madonna's dancers, most of them gay, is one of its richest features".[68] Slant Magazine's Keith Watson called it "less of a concert film than an elaborately constructed exegesis on pop mythmaking and the construction of identity", awarding it three stars.[69] Noel Murray from The A.V. Club praised some of the film's "raunchy" parts; "compared to the increasingly brittle, cautiously patrician Madonna of recent years, it’s a kick to see her so playful". Murray also highlighted the scenes in which Madonna talks to her father on the phone and meets an old childhood friend as "the times when we do seem to be seeing the real 'real' Madonna”.[70] Spectrum Culture's Erica Peplin felt that it "humanizes Madonna like nothing else has".[71]

Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave it an A- and wrote: "the most daring — and revelatory — aspect of the movie is how candidly it depicts Madonna’s symbiotic relationship with her dancers, almost all of whom are gay. [...] She does more than show us the backstage life of a pop star. With inspiring frankness, she reveals the roots of her style".[72] In 2002, the same publication concluded that "[Madonna] gets the role she was born to play".[73] Writing for The Backlot, Virtel called it "damn rewatchable, [with] legendary concert sequences and nutty celebrity cameos, and simply recalls Madonna at her prime".[74] Similarly, The Guardian's Guy Lodge deemed it an "exhilarating snapshot of the star in her godly, don’t-give-a-fuck prime, well before Kabbalah and Guy Ritchie [...] the film’s concert sequences may be its least interesting material almost by design, yet they capture the brazen, cocksure performance presence that – well ahead of her vocal chops, as she herself admits – made her a phenomenon to begin with".[75]

David Denby from New York magazine, pointed out that the film "is often lewd, but she's never sexual. [Madonna] offers a public personality that is completely eroticized". Nonetheless, he criticized her for having "virtually, nothing of interest to say [...] because the notion of a private self has long ceased to exist for her [...] She's so much a one-note person that Truth or Dare, for all its skill, is often a little boring".[76] On a more mixed review, Ty Burr from Entertainment Weekly wrote that "even if Truth or Dare is artfully made and entertaining, it’s no less an act for being a good one [...] like everything Madonna has her hand in, the film proclaims style as content". He continued his review: "[Madonna] is so controlling of her public self that when the cameras are whirring she doesn’t know how to do 'realistic'", and criticized the cemetery scene for being "awkward and forced".[77]

Writing for Pitchfork, Emma Madden pointed out that "for what should have been a tour documentary, little attention is paid to the world outside of Madonna’s dressing and hotel rooms [...] While most music documentaries today don’t seem to exist for any other purpose than to say, 'wait, this pop star’s a good person, cut them some slack', [Truth or Dare] makes her look like a straight-up megalomaniac". She concluded her review by referring to the film as "one of the most morally contentious documents of the spoiled, rich white-girl fantasy".[78] PopMatters' Bill Gibron deemed it "hollow and calculated" and Bill Wyman, from the Chicago Reader, panned it as "the most baldly manipulative and scarily dishonest piece of propaganda to be recorded on celluloid since at least the Reagan campaign's 'Morning in America' commercials and possibly since Triumph of the Will", and called it "Madonna's big lie".[28][79] At the 12th Golden Raspberry Awards, Madonna was nominated for Worst Actress, but lost to Sean Young for A Kiss Before Dying.[80] At the 1992 Homer Awards, organized by the Video Software Dealers Association, Truth or Dare won in the category of Best Documentary.[81]

Lawsuit Edit

On January 21, 1992, dancers Oliver Crumes, Kevin Stea and Gabriel Trupin sued Madonna and her production company Boy Toy Inc., Miramax and Propaganda Films for "invasion of privacy, fraud and deceit, misrepresentation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress". The suit claimed the three men had been shown in "nonperformance" scenes discussing intimate facts about their personal lives, making them the subject of "contempt and ridicule".[82][83] One of the scenes in question showed Trupin kissing Salim Gauwloos; the former claimed Keshishian had told him he would delete any footage he believed invaded his privacy, but when he asked that that particular scene be cut, Madonna yelled at him and told him to "get over it".[83][82] A spokesperson for Warner Bros., Madonna's label, stated that "the parties [in the suit] have been handsomely compensated. They did sign releases, and they were all paid".[83] In a commercial for MTV's Rock the Vote campaign later that year, Madonna joked about the lawsuit, saying: "You're probably thinking that's not a very good reason to vote… So sue me! Everybody else does".[84] The trio eventually reached an out-of-court settlement in 1994 and the lawsuit was dismissed. Debra Johnson, Trupin's lawyer, said that "we could have settled this thing without 2 1/2 years of litigation and the related expense if Madonna had just recognized that dancers have rights, too".[85] In 2015, Keshishian talked about the lawsuit and defended Madonna:

All [the dancers] were asked to sign releases. It came with the gig, you know? They all signed them. What happened was when the time was coming for it to be released, some didn't want it to be revealed they were gay, some wanted money. Legally, it was extortion, in my mind. They'd signed the releases and it wasn't as if we were filming it in secret. The cameras were there all the time. They did the interviews. What did they think was being filmed — a home movie!? I didn't respect that. I felt bad for Madonna because she really did love those kids and they turned around and did that. That's why celebrities grow more and more weary of getting close to anybody.[23]

While recalling their involvement on the lawsuit on the film's 30th anniversary, Stea and Crumes said they felt no animosity toward Madonna and merely wanted to get the money that was "written out and agreed to in our contracts"; the former said that his involvement was "completely a contractual issue", and that "[my] agents should have been the ones to sue, not me".[86] Crumes on the other hand, said that, despite being "so much of a vulnerable movie [...] We should have all gotten paid because it's still making money". Nonetheless, he dismissed the whole situation as "water under the bridge [...] No matter what, I'm always going to still love her. I have nothing but love for her, and I wish one day I'll get to see her again".[86]

Legacy Edit

"I had no idea I was going to inspire so many gay men to A. give blowjobs to Evian bottles, or B. be free and take a stand and say 'this is who I am, like it or not'. When I look back and watch that film, I am horrified by my brattiness, but I’m also proud that it gave so many people hope".

—Madonna talking about the film at the 30th GLAAD Media Awards.[87]

Writing for Billboard, Louis Virtel said Truth or Dare was "one of the first documentaries that featured gay dudes just hanging out", and called it one of the reasons Madonna is an "eternal inspiration to the LGBTQ community".[88] Similarly, Samuel R. Murrian from Parade said that it inspired many gay men to come out.[89] On their book Film Theory Goes to the Movies: Cultural Analysis of Contemporary Film, authors Jim Collins, Ava Preacher Collins and Hilary Radner compared Truth or Dare to the documentary Paris Is Burning (1990), as both films provide access to the "comments and performances" of black and Latino gay men.[90] Melissa Anderson, from The Village Voice, said that, just like Paris Is Burning, "[Truth or Dare] is an essential investigation of queerness, race, and stardom".[91] Keith Watson from Slant Magazine pointed out that the film was the first time many Madonna fans, and the public in general, saw two men kissing.[69] Similar thoughts were shared by the HuffPost's Daryl Deino, who stated that Truth or Dare was the first mainstream gay film that many people saw, and that it led to the acceptance of future films and television shows with gay themes.[92]

The Metrograph deemed it crucial for the LGBTQ community, as it exhibited "a degree of honesty and non-judgment towards homosexuality rarely seen in mass-market entertainment at the time".[93] For Jeremy Kinser from Queerty, it "changed a generation of gay people".[23] Keshishian said he was very happy that so many gay adults and young people from all over the United States credit Truth or Dare with helping them see gay men in a positive and casual way.[23] The documentary Strike a Pose premiered in the Panorama section of the 2016 Berlinale. Directed by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan, the film chronicles the lives of six of the Blond Ambition Tour's seven dancers who appeared on Truth or Dare, including Kevin Stea, Carlton Wilborn, Luis Xtravaganza Camacho, Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza, Salim Gauwloos and Oliver Crumes.[94][95] Gauwloos opined that Truth or Dare showed "being gay when it was not cool".[96] Sue Trupin, the mother of dancer Gabriel Trupin who died of AIDS in 1995, said that she had no idea "just how important [Truth or Dare] had been to gay men’s self-acceptance and validation", and that her son, who led the lawsuit against Madonna, "would have come to be extremely proud of the role that film played in helping gay men around the world".[97] Trenton Straube from POZ magazine concluded: "This was 1991. Before the Internet, before gay marriage, before Will & Grace [...] Truth or Dare was some revelatory, groundbreaking shit. It changed lives".[98]

Joe Coscarelli from The New York Times felt that "[Truth or Dare] has transcended cult-classic status and been elevated to the modern canon by pop obsessives and queer audiences of a certain generation. It also in many ways presaged the celeb-reality complex".[30] Nina Metz from the Chicago Tribune, noted an impact on reality television, as it was released just a year before MTV's The Real World premiered.[99] Lee Barron wrote on his book Celebrity Cultures: An Introduction, that the film was a precursor to the confessional technique many reality shows would go on to adopt.[100] A similar opinion was shared by The Daily Telegraph's Matt Cain, who also added that it predated "the modern wave of manipulated and 'structured' reality TV".[101] According to Benjamin Halligan, Robert Edgar and Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs, authors of The Music Documentary: Acid Rock to Electropop, "echoes of this particular documentary can be seen throughout contemporary celebrity culture, particularly in reality TV. It answered, or reflected or engendered, an intense public fascination with all facets of celebrity life".[102] These thoughts were shared by Jason Baily from Flavorwire, who concluded that it's impossible to imagine something like Keeping Up with the Kardashians without the "precedent" of Truth or Dare.[103] Nina Metz also said Madonna was foreshadowing what was going to happen with social media.[99] For Amy Roberts, Truth or Dare was "ahead of its time in many respects", as it raised "vital questions about culture and society that were crucial for the time it was made", concluding that "its legacy remains to make an impact, and its influence helped change the pop music industry for the better".[65]

Noel Murray said that it can be seen as a study in marketing.[70] Keshishian concluded that "it takes a very special type of person at a very special time in their lives to want to do that kind of movie [...] There aren’t many who pull off what Madonna pulls off in Truth or Dare".[30] Further influence can be seen in other music-related documentaries, such as White Diamond: A Personal Portrait of Kylie Minogue (2007), Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011), One Direction: This Is Us (2013) and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019).[104][71][105][106] Singer Katy Perry cited Truth or Dare as a major inspiration for her 2012 film Katy Perry: Part of Me.[107] Both Gaga: Five Foot Two (2017) and Miss Americana (2020) were compared to Truth or Dare;[108][109][110] Lorraine Ali from the Los Angeles Times wrote that while Truth or Dare was "an orchestrated look into [Madonna]'s life", Five Foot Two is "too amateurish to do any of that, let alone cut its own path".[108] Rolling Stone's David Fear said that, thirty years later, it remains as "the template for the modern pop-star documentary".[111] In 2016, Selena Gomez hired Keshishian to direct the music video for her song "Hands to Myself" because of his work on Truth or Dare.[112] Director Brady Corbet cited Madonna's performance in the documentary as one of the inspirations for the main character of his 2018 film Vox Lux, played by Natalie Portman.[86] In 2018, The Guardian named Truth or Dare the greatest music documentary of all time.[66] Amy Roberts said it was "doubtful that we'll ever see a music documentary make the same visceral impact".[65]

In popular culture Edit

Aired in November 1991, the ninth episode of the second season of American sitcom Blossom, "Rockumentary", revolved around Truth or Dare: the titular character (Mayim Bialik) falls asleep while watching the movie and dreams she's a famous singer starring in her own documentary.[113] Neil Patrick Harris guest starred as a character based on Warren Beatty who convinces Blossom to fire her father-manager.[114] One month later, comedian Julie Brown directed and starred in the mockumentary Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful.[115] In the film, Brown plays Medusa, a "manic-depressive pop sensation with an unrelenting ego and an insatiable sex drive" who allows a documentary crew to follow her on her "Blonde Leading the Blonde Tour".[116] Kathy Griffin and Donal Logue played supporting roles.[117] It included parodies of several Madonna songs, such as "Party in my Pants" ("Like a Prayer"), "Expose Yourself" ("Express Yourself") and "Vague" ("Vogue").[118][119] It received positive reviews from critics; Joe Rhodes from Los Angeles Times wrote that "because Madonna's act so often seems like a parody itself, there are moments when it's hard to distinguish 'Medusa' from the real thing".[118] In an interview with Michael Musto of The Village Voice, Brown recalled Madonna's reaction when she first saw the film: "At first I heard she really liked it. Then I heard she didn't like the scene where I rolled around on my dog's grave. She'd rolled around on her mother's — like that wasn't offensive enough? Then she didn't like the scene with the dancers suing me, because that really happened to her". Madonna then sent Brown a half-finished bottle of warm champagne as a gift, which Brown allegedly drank.[120]

In March 1993, British sketch comedy television series French & Saunders did a parody of the film titled In Bed with French & Saunders, with both Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders playing Madonna.[121] Another parody was done by RuPaul during the 1997 Christmas special of his VH1 talk show The RuPaul Show, with guest appearances by Hall & Oates, Suzanne Somers and En Vogue.[122]

References Edit

Footnotes Edit

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  3. ^ Cross 2007, p. 51
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  10. ^ Wollenberg, Skip (March 1, 1989). "Pepsi expecting millions to view new Madonna ad". Kentucky New Era. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
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Bibliography Edit

External links Edit

madonna, truth, dare, fashion, branding, truth, dare, madonna, also, known, with, madonna, internationally, 1991, american, documentary, film, director, alek, keshishian, chronicling, life, entertainer, madonna, during, 1990, blond, ambition, world, tour, mado. For the fashion branding see Truth or Dare by Madonna Madonna Truth or Dare also known as In Bed with Madonna internationally is a 1991 American documentary film by director Alek Keshishian chronicling the life of entertainer Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour Madonna approached Keshishian to do an HBO special on the tour after watching his Harvard senior project Initially planned to be a traditional concert film Keshishian was so impressed with the backstage life that he persuaded Madonna to make it the focus of the film Madonna funded the project and served as executive producer The film was edited to be in black and white in order to emulate cinema verite while the performance scenes are in color Madonna Truth or DareTheatrical release posterDirected byAlek KeshishianProduced byTim ClawsonJay RoeweStarringMadonnaNarrated byMadonnaCinematographyChristophe LanzeburgRobert LeacockDoug NicholDaniel PearlToby PhillipsMarc ReshovskyEdited byBarry Alexander BrownMusic byMadonnaProductioncompaniesBoy Toy Inc Propaganda FilmsDistributed byMiramax Films United States Dino De Laurentiis Communications International 1 Release dateMay 10 1991 1991 05 10 Running time122 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 4 5 millionBox office 29 millionMadonna Truth or Dare was screened out of competition at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and was given a limited release on May 10 1991 two weeks later it had its worldwide release It opened to positive reviews although certain scenes such as one where Madonna visits her mother s grave were criticized Madonna was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress With a worldwide gross of 29 million it was the highest grossing documentary of all time until Bowling for Columbine surpassed it in 2002 Truth or Dare has been noted as a groundbreaking film for its casual portrayal of homosexuality and was compared to Paris Is Burning 1990 It has also had an impact on reality television and celebrity culture inspiring parodies and other music related documentaries Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Tour 3 Background and production 4 Release and promotion 5 Box office and home media 6 Critical reception 7 Lawsuit 8 Legacy 9 In popular culture 10 References 10 1 Footnotes 10 2 Bibliography 11 External linksSynopsis EditThe film begins on August 6 1990 the day after the final show of the Blond Ambition World Tour in Nice France Madonna reminisces in her hotel room about the tour and how its completion would affect her In a flashback to April 1990 the tour is about to kick off in Japan Madonna did not realize that it was rainy season Because of this she and the dancers switch their tour costumes for warmer attire In a voice over Madonna confesses that the only thing keeping her from slashing my wrists is the thought of returning to North America and performing the show as it is meant to be In the United States she meets the families of her dancers Oliver Crumes one of the dancers sees his father for the first time in several years In Los Angeles sound problems arise despite reassurances Madonna focuses on the technical problems and yells at her manager Freddy DeMann for allowing so many people from the music industry in the front rows After the show she meets with several celebrities Kevin Costner offends her by calling the show neat and she pretends to gag after he leaves 2 On the final Toronto show the crew receives a visit from the local police who threaten to arrest Madonna for lewd and indecent display specifically the masturbation scene during the performance of Like a Virgin she refuses to change the show DeMann believes the threat of arrest will only make Madonna go further 3 According to a news report Toronto police decide not to arrest her claiming that no threats were made 4 The next stop is Madonna s hometown of Detroit In a voice over she expresses the difficulty she has going back home At the end of Holiday Madonna calls her father Tony on stage and sings Happy Birthday to You Backstage Tony and his wife Joan compliment the show though Tony expresses his displeasure at some of the more burlesque aspects Madonna and Christopher wait for their older brother Martin to show up while they discuss his substance abuse problems Later she reunites with her childhood idol Moira McFarland Messana who gives her a painting she made entitled Madonna and Child and asks her to be godmother to her unborn child Before leaving Detroit Madonna visits her mother s grave for the first time since she was a child as Promise to Try plays in the background She lies down beside the grave as Christopher watches from afar As the tour continues Madonna s throat problems worsen while Warren Beatty becomes more fed up with the cameras During a throat examination in Madonna s hotel room Beatty chastises her for the documentary telling her the atmosphere is driving everyone insane Madonna ignores him and when she declines to have the rest of her examination done off camera he starts laughing saying She doesn t want to live off camera much less talk What point is there of existing off camera Due to her throat problems she cancels some of her shows In New York City her doctor instructs her not to talk and she finds herself isolated in her apartment with only her assistant Melissa Crowe Madonna is upset at losing contact with the dancers The third and final leg of the tour kicks off in Europe with everyone in better spirits As the tour nears Italy Pope John Paul II attempts to have it banned forcing Madonna to cancel one of two shows in Rome Sandra Bernhard appears to cheer up Madonna Madonna tells Sandra that she s interested in meeting Antonio Banderas When Pedro Almodovar throws a party in Madrid Madonna spends a week thinking up ways to seduce Banderas but it turns out that he is married While Madonna works in her hotel room voice overs from her family friends and co workers describe the star Though she is happier now than she was on her last tour Sandra does not think that she takes enough time to enjoy her successes Others describe her in unflattering terms As the tour winds down the group plays a game of truth or dare and Madonna is dared to perform fellatio on a glass bottle She s then asked who has been the love of your life for your whole life to which she replies without hesitation Sean Sean She then invites her dancers and backup singers one by one to join her in bed where she imparts words of wisdom to each While the show s closing act Keep It Together plays a montage of Madonna saying good bye to her dancers is shown The film ends with a clip of Madonna telling director Alek Keshishian to go away and Cut it Alek Cut it Goddamnit Tour EditMain article Blond Ambition World Tour nbsp Madonna performing Express Yourself as the opening number of the Blond Ambition World TourThe Blond Ambition World Tour was Madonna s third concert tour It supported her fourth studio album Like a Prayer and the Dick Tracy soundtrack I m Breathless In January 1989 Pepsi Cola announced that they had signed a US 5 million deal with Madonna to feature her and her single Like a Prayer on a television commercial 5 The deal also included Pepsi sponsoring Madonna s next world tour announced then as the Like a Prayer World Tour 6 7 After the release of the music video for Like a Prayer which featured a church and Catholic symbols such as stigmata Ku Klux Klan style cross burning and Madonna kissing a black saint religious groups worldwide including the Vatican immediately protested due to its blasphemous use of Christian imagery and called for a national boycott of Pepsi and PepsiCo s subsidiaries 8 9 The company revoked the commercial and canceled Madonna s sponsorship contract 10 11 Sire Records officially announced the Blond Ambition World Tour on November 16 1989 12 The concert which was directed and choreographed by Vincent Paterson was divided into five segments Metropolis inspired by the 1927 German expressionist film of same name Religious by religious themes Dick Tracy by the film of the same name and cabaret Art Deco was inspired by early Hollywood films using the works of artist Tamara de Lempicka and the fifth was an encore 7 The art direction was developed by Madonna s brother Christopher Ciccone while the costumes were created by designer Jean Paul Gaultier 13 14 It received positive reviews from contemporary critics who praised its fashion and theatricals and received the Most Creative Stage Production at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards 15 It was also a commercial success grossing over US 62 7 million 140 44 million in 2022 dollars 16 from 57 concerts 17 18 Background and production EditThe documentary was directed by Alek Keshishian from Propaganda Films who had previously worked on music videos by Elton John and Bobby Brown 19 David Fincher who had previously directed Madonna s music videos for Express Yourself Oh Father and Vogue was originally attached to direct but pulled out shortly before the tour started 20 Madonna became interested in working with Keshishian after seeing his Harvard senior project a short film titled Wuthering Heights 5 According to author J Randy Taraborrelli her gut instincts told her that the handsome long haired film maker with fresh ideas was the kind of hip cool artist who could lend the film the right edge 5 She approached Keshishian about doing an HBO special on her Blond Ambition World Tour and flew him to Japan where the tour kicked off in April 1990 21 Initially to be a traditional concert film Keshishian rented everything that had been done in the music documentary and concert arena but decided to not watch any of them as he came to the conclusion that he wanted to do something different 22 He found the backstage scene to be a Fellini esque dysfunctional family and persuaded Madonna to do an actual film focusing on that with some performances interspersed when I realized it could be more everyone was telling her Don t be crazy Look at what happened with Rattle and Hum and how it didn t make money She decided to go with my opinion rather than the others the director recalled 21 23 Madonna herself funded the project and served as its executive producer 24 During an interview with James Kaplan from Entertainment Weekly she explained It s something that I felt compelled to do I was very moved by the group of people I was with I felt like their brother their sister their mother their daughter and then I also thought that they could do anything And that we could do anything on stage Because the show was so demanding so complex whenever you go through something really intense with a group of people it brings you closer together And ultimately though I d set out to document the show just to get it on film when I started looking at the footage I said This is so interesting to me There s a movie here There s something here 24 She later told Good Morning America that her main intention was to explode the myth that we raise up on a pedestal people we turn into icons We make them inhuman and we don t give them human attributes so they re not allowed to fail they re not allowed to make mistakes 25 Taraborrelli pointed out that Madonna gave Keshishian full access to her world complete entree to her life during the tour s four months 5 To record Madonna and those around her with ease the director would place the cameras behind one way mirrors he would have his crew wear black at all times and gave them specific orders not to interact with the subjects Each night after filming he would log the day s events on a computer to keep track of the footage 26 The interviews with the tour s dancers and staff were done the first two weeks in Japan while the performances were shot during the three Paris shows in July this allowed Keshishian to plan the numbers to sit where I wanted them to be 27 The backstage footage was edited to be in black and white to give it a verite look while the performances were edited to be in full color Keshishian explained that it seemed like an interesting division the color for the artifice of the performance versus the reality of documentary and yet each reflected the other 22 He also recalled that New Line Cinema the film s original distributor dropped it because of this 23 28 29 27 Over 200 hours of footage were shot which took the director over a month and a half to edit and trim down to a reasonable length 23 The first cut was over 3 hours long but Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein said that it was still too long and forced Keshishian to reduce it 23 Locations shot included the Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum at Kawkawlin Michigan It counts with appearances by Al Pacino Mandy Patinkin Olivia Newton John Antonio Banderas Sandra Bernhard Kevin Costner and Warren Beatty whom Madonna was dating at the time 30 31 Madonna recalled that Beatty didn t take the whole thing seriously while it was being made he just thought I was making a home movie 24 Release and promotion Edit nbsp nbsp Madonna performing Like a Virgin left and Holiday right on the Blond Ambition World Tour The performances were released as music videos to promote Truth or Dare In August 1990 after the film was finished Madonna invited a group of friends including Warren Beatty to watch a rough cut in the screening room of Beatty s home 32 According to Taraborrelli Beatty did not approve of the film the next day Madonna received a letter from his attorney demanding that certain scenes featuring Beatty be cut from the final version of the film otherwise she would be sued they came to an agreement in private and the scenes in question were removed from the movie 32 In tribute to the games of truth or dare Madonna and her entourage played during their breaks between shows the working title was Truth or Dare On the Road Behind the Scenes and In Bed with Madonna but Madonna felt it was too long and shortened it to Truth or Dare 33 24 Outside North America the title was changed by Miramax Films to In Bed with Madonna due to the game being relatively unknown in other countries 34 In a 2005 interview with Dermot O Leary Madonna said she disliked that title calling it really naff 35 The film was distributed by Miramax Films 21 It was rated R by the MPAA due to profanity brief nudity and sexual suggestiveness 36 It was given a limited release on May 10 1991 Five days later Madonna attended the 44th Cannes Film Festival where it was selected to be screened out of competition 32 37 She wore a white silk bra with tap shorts and a pink overcoat designed by Gaultier 38 For Vincent Canby fromThe New York Times both the film and Madonna were canny and entertaining and brought this year s festival spontaneously to life for the first time 37 Truth or Dare had its worldwide release on May 24 1991 39 To promote the film Madonna made a guest appearance in the recurring sketch of Saturday Night Live Wayne s World 40 Additionally the performances of Holiday and Like a Virgin included on the documentary were released as music videos and received nominations at the 1991 and 1992 MTV Video Music Awards 41 42 43 In several malls across the United States the film was heavily promoted with tie in products big visuals and video displays 44 Box office and home media EditUpon release the film was an immediate commercial success In the United States it entered the box office at number 13 when it had a limited release the weekend of May 10 12 1991 earning a total of US 543 250 from being shown at 51 theaters 45 On its first weekend of nationwide release it grossed US 2 8 million bringing its total box office receipts to 3 3 million and making it the third highest grossing film only behind F X2 and What About Bob 46 47 According to Jack Matthews from the Los Angeles Times Truth or Dare grossed over 4 3 million during its first week of release surpassing Woodstock 1970 as the most commercially successfully music documentary up until that time 47 The film remained in theaters for 33 weeks and collected a total revenue of 15 012 935 million in the United States 39 With an additional gross of 14 million internationally Madonna Truth or Dare earned a total of 29 million an estimated 62 31 million in 2022 dollars 16 from its theatrical release against a budget of 4 5 million 39 It held the record for the highest grossing documentary of all time for eleven years before being surpassed by Michael Moore s Bowling for Columbine 2002 48 49 The film was first released on home video by LIVE Entertainment in North America on October 9 1991 50 In the United Kingdom an additional 15 certificate edited version was released in November 1991 over 57 seconds of footage were cut to make it appropriate for younger audiences 51 It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry BPI and Gold in Germany by Bundesverband Musikindustrie BVMI denoting shipments of 25 000 copies for both countries 52 53 By January 1992 the video had sold 155 000 units in the United States according to The Hollywood Reporter 54 In 1992 it was re released on VHS in the United States with two additional performances from the Blond Ambition Tour Like a Prayer and Hanky Panky which played after the end credits 55 56 The DVD version was released on August 26 1997 by LIVE Entertainment in North America but did not get a worldwide release until January 6 2003 by MGM Entertainment 57 On April 3 2012 it was released on Blu ray for the first time 58 This release was remastered for 1080p presented in a 1 78 1 aspect ratio with 5 1 DTS HD Master Audio it included the film s theatrical trailer as its sole bonus feature 59 Critical reception EditMadonna Truth or Dare received generally positive reviews 60 The documentary was one of the most highly praised films of 1991 61 It has an 86 approval rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes from 35 critics 62 Peter Travers from Rolling Stone deemed it the most revealing and outrageously funny piece of pop demythologizing since Dont Look Back praising its freshness and snap but criticizing Madonna s lost lamb routine in the scene when she visits her mother s grave He concluded his review you may not leave Truth or Dare loving Madonna but you ll respect her as a force of nature 63 Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars He wrote that unlike most rock documentaries the real heart of this film is backstage and the onstage musical segments while effectively produced seem obligatory they re not the reason she wanted to make this film 64 Ebert was particularly impressed by Madonna s work ethic 64 Writing for The New York Times Janet Maslin noted that Madonna has succeeded in taking on real importance Truth or Dare combines galvanizing well photographed color scenes of her onstage act with grainy black and white glimpses of her offstage one sometimes making interesting efforts to reconcile the two 36 Also from The New York Times Joe Coscarelli felt that some of the film s best moments were Madonna s interactions with other celebrities 30 Gawker s Rich Juzwiak opined it was sometimes infuriating but it s rarely less than fantastically entertaining A relic of a time before grueling media training when pop stars didn t hang on the approval of their publicists before talking 25 Bustle s Amy Roberts called it raw and honest it never felt cynical and still doesn t 65 Part of the alchemy of a great music documentary is catching the subject at exactly the right moment and Alek Keshishian couldn t have trained his cameras on Madonna at a better time In the midst of the inventive and influential Blonde Ambition sic tour he finds a self possessed genius who is a magnet for controversy as well as for other stars Ryan Gilbey from The Guardian on his list of the 20 best music documentaries where Madonna Truth or Dare came in first 66 For The Washington Post s Martha Sherrill It s fresh It s outrageous It s unreality in black and white And it s certainly more entertaining than Madonna in person 67 Louis Virtel from Paper praised the live footage as some of Madonna s most exhilarating live work and the way the movie incorporates the stories of Madonna s dancers most of them gay is one of its richest features 68 Slant Magazine s Keith Watson called it less of a concert film than an elaborately constructed exegesis on pop mythmaking and the construction of identity awarding it three stars 69 Noel Murray from The A V Club praised some of the film s raunchy parts compared to the increasingly brittle cautiously patrician Madonna of recent years it s a kick to see her so playful Murray also highlighted the scenes in which Madonna talks to her father on the phone and meets an old childhood friend as the times when we do seem to be seeing the real real Madonna 70 Spectrum Culture s Erica Peplin felt that it humanizes Madonna like nothing else has 71 Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave it an A and wrote the most daring and revelatory aspect of the movie is how candidly it depicts Madonna s symbiotic relationship with her dancers almost all of whom are gay She does more than show us the backstage life of a pop star With inspiring frankness she reveals the roots of her style 72 In 2002 the same publication concluded that Madonna gets the role she was born to play 73 Writing for The Backlot Virtel called it damn rewatchable with legendary concert sequences and nutty celebrity cameos and simply recalls Madonna at her prime 74 Similarly The Guardian s Guy Lodge deemed it an exhilarating snapshot of the star in her godly don t give a fuck prime well before Kabbalah and Guy Ritchie the film s concert sequences may be its least interesting material almost by design yet they capture the brazen cocksure performance presence that well ahead of her vocal chops as she herself admits made her a phenomenon to begin with 75 David Denby from New York magazine pointed out that the film is often lewd but she s never sexual Madonna offers a public personality that is completely eroticized Nonetheless he criticized her for having virtually nothing of interest to say because the notion of a private self has long ceased to exist for her She s so much a one note person that Truth or Dare for all its skill is often a little boring 76 On a more mixed review Ty Burr from Entertainment Weekly wrote that even if Truth or Dare is artfully made and entertaining it s no less an act for being a good one like everything Madonna has her hand in the film proclaims style as content He continued his review Madonna is so controlling of her public self that when the cameras are whirring she doesn t know how to do realistic and criticized the cemetery scene for being awkward and forced 77 Writing for Pitchfork Emma Madden pointed out that for what should have been a tour documentary little attention is paid to the world outside of Madonna s dressing and hotel rooms While most music documentaries today don t seem to exist for any other purpose than to say wait this pop star s a good person cut them some slack Truth or Dare makes her look like a straight up megalomaniac She concluded her review by referring to the film as one of the most morally contentious documents of the spoiled rich white girl fantasy 78 PopMatters Bill Gibron deemed it hollow and calculated and Bill Wyman from the Chicago Reader panned it as the most baldly manipulative and scarily dishonest piece of propaganda to be recorded on celluloid since at least the Reagan campaign s Morning in America commercials and possibly since Triumph of the Will and called it Madonna s big lie 28 79 At the 12th Golden Raspberry Awards Madonna was nominated for Worst Actress but lost to Sean Young for A Kiss Before Dying 80 At the 1992 Homer Awards organized by the Video Software Dealers Association Truth or Dare won in the category of Best Documentary 81 Lawsuit EditOn January 21 1992 dancers Oliver Crumes Kevin Stea and Gabriel Trupin sued Madonna and her production company Boy Toy Inc Miramax and Propaganda Films for invasion of privacy fraud and deceit misrepresentation and intentional infliction of emotional distress The suit claimed the three men had been shown in nonperformance scenes discussing intimate facts about their personal lives making them the subject of contempt and ridicule 82 83 One of the scenes in question showed Trupin kissing Salim Gauwloos the former claimed Keshishian had told him he would delete any footage he believed invaded his privacy but when he asked that that particular scene be cut Madonna yelled at him and told him to get over it 83 82 A spokesperson for Warner Bros Madonna s label stated that the parties in the suit have been handsomely compensated They did sign releases and they were all paid 83 In a commercial for MTV s Rock the Vote campaign later that year Madonna joked about the lawsuit saying You re probably thinking that s not a very good reason to vote So sue me Everybody else does 84 The trio eventually reached an out of court settlement in 1994 and the lawsuit was dismissed Debra Johnson Trupin s lawyer said that we could have settled this thing without 2 1 2 years of litigation and the related expense if Madonna had just recognized that dancers have rights too 85 In 2015 Keshishian talked about the lawsuit and defended Madonna All the dancers were asked to sign releases It came with the gig you know They all signed them What happened was when the time was coming for it to be released some didn t want it to be revealed they were gay some wanted money Legally it was extortion in my mind They d signed the releases and it wasn t as if we were filming it in secret The cameras were there all the time They did the interviews What did they think was being filmed a home movie I didn t respect that I felt bad for Madonna because she really did love those kids and they turned around and did that That s why celebrities grow more and more weary of getting close to anybody 23 While recalling their involvement on the lawsuit on the film s 30th anniversary Stea and Crumes said they felt no animosity toward Madonna and merely wanted to get the money that was written out and agreed to in our contracts the former said that his involvement was completely a contractual issue and that my agents should have been the ones to sue not me 86 Crumes on the other hand said that despite being so much of a vulnerable movie We should have all gotten paid because it s still making money Nonetheless he dismissed the whole situation as water under the bridge No matter what I m always going to still love her I have nothing but love for her and I wish one day I ll get to see her again 86 Legacy Edit I had no idea I was going to inspire so many gay men to A give blowjobs to Evian bottles or B be free and take a stand and say this is who I am like it or not When I look back and watch that film I am horrified by my brattiness but I m also proud that it gave so many people hope Madonna talking about the film at the 30th GLAAD Media Awards 87 Writing for Billboard Louis Virtel said Truth or Dare was one of the first documentaries that featured gay dudes just hanging out and called it one of the reasons Madonna is an eternal inspiration to the LGBTQ community 88 Similarly Samuel R Murrian from Parade said that it inspired many gay men to come out 89 On their book Film Theory Goes to the Movies Cultural Analysis of Contemporary Film authors Jim Collins Ava Preacher Collins and Hilary Radner compared Truth or Dare to the documentary Paris Is Burning 1990 as both films provide access to the comments and performances of black and Latino gay men 90 Melissa Anderson from The Village Voice said that just like Paris Is Burning Truth or Dare is an essential investigation of queerness race and stardom 91 Keith Watson from Slant Magazine pointed out that the film was the first time many Madonna fans and the public in general saw two men kissing 69 Similar thoughts were shared by the HuffPost s Daryl Deino who stated that Truth or Dare was the first mainstream gay film that many people saw and that it led to the acceptance of future films and television shows with gay themes 92 The Metrograph deemed it crucial for the LGBTQ community as it exhibited a degree of honesty and non judgment towards homosexuality rarely seen in mass market entertainment at the time 93 For Jeremy Kinser from Queerty it changed a generation of gay people 23 Keshishian said he was very happy that so many gay adults and young people from all over the United States credit Truth or Dare with helping them see gay men in a positive and casual way 23 The documentary Strike a Pose premiered in the Panorama section of the 2016 Berlinale Directed by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan the film chronicles the lives of six of the Blond Ambition Tour s seven dancers who appeared on Truth or Dare including Kevin Stea Carlton Wilborn Luis Xtravaganza Camacho Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza Salim Gauwloos and Oliver Crumes 94 95 Gauwloos opined that Truth or Dare showed being gay when it was not cool 96 Sue Trupin the mother of dancer Gabriel Trupin who died of AIDS in 1995 said that she had no idea just how important Truth or Dare had been to gay men s self acceptance and validation and that her son who led the lawsuit against Madonna would have come to be extremely proud of the role that film played in helping gay men around the world 97 Trenton Straube from POZ magazine concluded This was 1991 Before the Internet before gay marriage before Will amp Grace Truth or Dare was some revelatory groundbreaking shit It changed lives 98 Joe Coscarelli from The New York Times felt that Truth or Dare has transcended cult classic status and been elevated to the modern canon by pop obsessives and queer audiences of a certain generation It also in many ways presaged the celeb reality complex 30 Nina Metz from the Chicago Tribune noted an impact on reality television as it was released just a year before MTV s The Real World premiered 99 Lee Barron wrote on his book Celebrity Cultures An Introduction that the film was a precursor to the confessional technique many reality shows would go on to adopt 100 A similar opinion was shared by The Daily Telegraph s Matt Cain who also added that it predated the modern wave of manipulated and structured reality TV 101 According to Benjamin Halligan Robert Edgar and Kirsty Fairclough Isaacs authors of The Music Documentary Acid Rock to Electropop echoes of this particular documentary can be seen throughout contemporary celebrity culture particularly in reality TV It answered or reflected or engendered an intense public fascination with all facets of celebrity life 102 These thoughts were shared by Jason Baily from Flavorwire who concluded that it s impossible to imagine something like Keeping Up with the Kardashians without the precedent of Truth or Dare 103 Nina Metz also said Madonna was foreshadowing what was going to happen with social media 99 For Amy Roberts Truth or Dare was ahead of its time in many respects as it raised vital questions about culture and society that were crucial for the time it was made concluding that its legacy remains to make an impact and its influence helped change the pop music industry for the better 65 Noel Murray said that it can be seen as a study in marketing 70 Keshishian concluded that it takes a very special type of person at a very special time in their lives to want to do that kind of movie There aren t many who pull off what Madonna pulls off in Truth or Dare 30 Further influence can be seen in other music related documentaries such as White Diamond A Personal Portrait of Kylie Minogue 2007 Justin Bieber Never Say Never 2011 One Direction This Is Us 2013 and Homecoming A Film by Beyonce 2019 104 71 105 106 Singer Katy Perry cited Truth or Dare as a major inspiration for her 2012 film Katy Perry Part of Me 107 Both Gaga Five Foot Two 2017 and Miss Americana 2020 were compared to Truth or Dare 108 109 110 Lorraine Ali from the Los Angeles Times wrote that while Truth or Dare was an orchestrated look into Madonna s life Five Foot Two is too amateurish to do any of that let alone cut its own path 108 Rolling Stone s David Fear said that thirty years later it remains as the template for the modern pop star documentary 111 In 2016 Selena Gomez hired Keshishian to direct the music video for her song Hands to Myself because of his work on Truth or Dare 112 Director Brady Corbet cited Madonna s performance in the documentary as one of the inspirations for the main character of his 2018 film Vox Lux played by Natalie Portman 86 In 2018 The Guardian named Truth or Dare the greatest music documentary of all time 66 Amy Roberts said it was doubtful that we ll ever see a music documentary make the same visceral impact 65 In popular culture EditAired in November 1991 the ninth episode of the second season of American sitcom Blossom Rockumentary revolved around Truth or Dare the titular character Mayim Bialik falls asleep while watching the movie and dreams she s a famous singer starring in her own documentary 113 Neil Patrick Harris guest starred as a character based on Warren Beatty who convinces Blossom to fire her father manager 114 One month later comedian Julie Brown directed and starred in the mockumentary Medusa Dare to Be Truthful 115 In the film Brown plays Medusa a manic depressive pop sensation with an unrelenting ego and an insatiable sex drive who allows a documentary crew to follow her on her Blonde Leading the Blonde Tour 116 Kathy Griffin and Donal Logue played supporting roles 117 It included parodies of several Madonna songs such as Party in my Pants Like a Prayer Expose Yourself Express Yourself and Vague Vogue 118 119 It received positive reviews from critics Joe Rhodes from Los Angeles Times wrote that because Madonna s act so often seems like a parody itself there are moments when it s hard to distinguish Medusa from the real thing 118 In an interview with Michael Musto of The Village Voice Brown recalled Madonna s reaction when she first saw the film At first I heard she really liked it Then I heard she didn t like the scene where I rolled around on my dog s grave She d rolled around on her mother s like that wasn t offensive enough Then she didn t like the scene with the dancers suing me because that really happened to her Madonna then sent Brown a half finished bottle of warm champagne as a gift which Brown allegedly drank 120 In March 1993 British sketch comedy television series French amp Saunders did a parody of the film titled In Bed with French amp Saunders with both Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders playing Madonna 121 Another parody was done by RuPaul during the 1997 Christmas special of his VH1 talk show The RuPaul Show with guest appearances by Hall amp Oates Suzanne Somers and En Vogue 122 References EditFootnotes Edit Truth or Dare 1991 AFI Catalog of Feature Films Retrieved 22 June 2023 Guilbert 2002 p 149 Cross 2007 p 51 Harrington Richard June 3 1990 Essay The Washington Post Retrieved September 15 2019 a b c d Taraborrelli 2002 p 172 Bignell 2007 p 123 a b Mackie Drew April 3 2015 25 Reasons Madonna s Blond Ambition Tour Still Rules 25 Years Later People Retrieved September 14 2019 Romero Frances October 20 2010 Top 10 Vatican Pop Culture Moments Madonna Over and Over Time Archived from the original on September 23 2016 Retrieved November 21 2016 Taraborrelli 2002 p 174 Wollenberg Skip March 1 1989 Pepsi expecting millions to view new Madonna ad Kentucky New Era Retrieved February 1 2010 Pepsi cancels Madonna ad The New York Times April 5 1989 Retrieved September 18 2019 Inglis 2006 p 136 Ciccone amp Leigh 2008 p 182 Hirschberg Lynn July 8 2001 The Way We Live Now 07 08 01 Questions for Jean Paul Gaultier An Artist Moi The New York Times Retrieved September 14 2019 Pollstar Awards Archive 1990 Pollstar Live Pollstar Archived from the original on 28 April 2019 Retrieved 20 September 2019 a b 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved May 28 2023 Beck John August 24 2003 Sticker Shock Astronomically Outpacing Inflation Concert Ticket Costs Continue Upward But Fans Continue To Pay The Price The Press Democrat Retrieved September 15 2019 Bruenger 2016 pp 186 Taraborrelli 2002 p 173 O Brien 2008 p 226 a b c Higgins Bill August 18 2018 Hollywood Flashback Madonna Caused Near Riots With Truth or Dare in 1991 The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved September 17 2019 a b Bender Abbey August 29 2016 Truth or Dare Turns 25 But of Course Madonna Is Timeless The New York Observer Retrieved 14 January 2020 a b c d e f g Kisner Jeremy July 11 2015 Madonna s Truth Or Dare Changed A Generation Of Gay People The Director Takes Us Behind The Scenes Queerty Retrieved 5 November 2019 a b c d Kaplan James May 17 1991 Madonna The naked Truth Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 6 November 2019 a b Juzwiak Rich March 4 2012 Truth or Dare How Madonna s Documentary Changed the Next 20 Years Gawker Retrieved 22 December 2019 Ryan James June 1 1991 In Bed With Madonna The Face 4 2 ISSN 0028 6362 a b Manning Emily August 26 2016 Revisiting Madonna s 1991 Truth or Dare documentary with its director i D Retrieved 6 November 2019 a b Gibron Bill May 17 2012 Media Whore Madonna Truth or Dare Blu ray PopMatters Retrieved 6 November 2019 Steim Janine May 8 1991 Reel Adventures Fans and Media Rock and Flock to Premiere of Madonna s Truth or Dare Los Angeles Times Retrieved 6 November 2019 a b c d Coscarelli Joe August 26 2016 After 25 Years How Well Has Madonna s Truth or Dare Aged The New York Times Retrieved 6 November 2019 Simone 2016 p 123 a b c Taraborrelli 2002 p 190 Guilbert 2002 p 144 Taraborrelli 2002 p 178 Madonna November 27 2005 Confessions of Madonna Interview Interviewed by Dermot O Leary London Channel 4 In Bed with Madonna which is a really naff title It wasn t my idea a b Maslin Janet May 10 1991 Review Film No One Ever Called Her Shy The New York Times Retrieved 7 November 2019 a b Canby Vincent May 15 1991 Madonna and Film Enliven Cannes Festival The New York Times Retrieved 7 November 2019 Cusumano Katherine May 15 2019 The Best Looks of the Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet A Visual History W Retrieved 7 November 2019 a b c Madonna Truth or Dare Box Office Mojo Retrieved 15 December 2019 Bego 2000 p 198 Goodlum Jeff December 4 2000 Truth or Dare Rolling Stone Vol 1079 no 19 ISSN 0035 791X Hastings Deborah July 19 1991 R E M gets most nominations for MTV Awards Bangor Daily News Retrieved 7 November 2019 Rusell Deborah July 18 1992 Peppers En Vogue Van Halen hot with MTV noms Billboard Vol 104 no 29 p 10 ISSN 0006 2510 Massey Sujata May 17 1991 Will R rating stop young teens from taking Dare The Baltimore Sun Retrieved September 14 2019 Domestic 1991 Weekend 19 May 10 12 1991 Box Office Mojo IMDb Retrieved 15 December 2019 Domestic 1991 Weekend 20 May 17 19 1991 Box Office Mojo IMDb Retrieved 15 December 2019 a b Mathews Jack May 21 1991 The Big Winners at Cannes Movies Madonna drives the media hordes wild not a pretty sight But her Truth or Dare cleans up at box office Los Angeles Times Retrieved 15 December 2019 Munoz Lorenza January 3 2003 Little pictures have a big year Los Angeles Times Retrieved August 12 2017 Box Office Mojo Documentary Box Office Mojo IMDB Archived from the original on August 24 2019 Retrieved 15 December 2019 Madonna 1991 Madonna Truth or Dare Media notes LIVE Entertainment 68976 Home Releases In Bed With Madonna British Board of Film Classification Retrieved 20 December 2019 Select Platinum on the Certification filter and select July 31 2015 on Certification Date BRIT Certified British Phonographic Industry BPI July 31 2015 Retrieved 26 December 2019 Interpret Madonna gt In Bed With Madonna in German Bundesverband Musikindustrie BMVI Retrieved 18 January 2021 Parisi Paula 8 January 1992 T2 makes LIVE video s 4Q shine The Hollywood Reporter 320 35 50 3 Retrieved 18 January 2021 Other notable fourth quarter releases included Madonna Truth or Dare at 155 000 units Madonna 1992 Madonna Truth or Dare Media notes LIVE Entertainment 69021 Madonna Truth or Dare VHS Tower com July 15 1992 Archived from the original on April 27 2014 Retrieved 20 December 2019 Martin amp Porter 2003 p 423 Truth or Dare tour documentary released on Blu ray tomorrow Icon Official Madonna Website April 2 2012 Retrieved 15 December 2019 Katz Josh January 31 2012 Madonna Truth or Dare Blu ray Blu ray com Retrieved 20 December 2019 Cross 2007 p 56 Rettenmund 1995 p 14 Madonna Truth or Dare Rotten Tomatoes 10 May 1991 Retrieved 2 August 2023 Travers Peter May 10 1991 Movie reviews Truth Or Dare Rolling Stone Retrieved September 17 2019 a b Ebert Roger May 17 1991 Madonna Truth or Dare RogerEbert com Retrieved 7 November 2019 a b c Roberts Amy August 25 2016 Why Madonna s Truth Or Dare Continues To Inspire amp Influence Audiences 25 Years Later Bustle Retrieved 15 December 2019 a b Gilbey Ryan September 20 2018 The 20 best music documentaries ranked The Guardian Retrieved September 17 2019 Sherill Martha May 14 1991 25 years ago Madonna was hitting peak Madonna and sharing every last secret The Washington Post Retrieved 7 November 2019 Virtel Louis August 22 2016 A Q amp A with Alek Keshishian Director of Groundbreaking Madonna Documentary Truth or Dare Paper Retrieved 7 November 2019 a b Watson Keith August 24 2016 Review Madonna Truth or Dare Slant Magazine Retrieved 7 November 2019 a b Murray Noel November 4 2012 Madonna Truth Or Dare The A V Club Retrieved 7 November 2019 a b Peplin Erica July 17 2015 Revisit Madonna Truth or Dare Spectrum Culture Retrieved 18 November 2019 Gleiberman Owen May 10 1991 Truth or Dare Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 7 November 2019 We rate Madonna in Madonna Truth or Dare Entertainment Weekly October 10 2001 Retrieved 7 November 2019 Virtel Louis March 7 2012 Best Movie Ever Madonna Truth Or Dare NewNowNext Retrieved 17 November 2019 Lodge Guy May 10 2021 Madonna Truth or Dare at 30 the most revealing pop star documentary ever The Guardian Retrieved 31 January 2022 Denby David May 20 1991 Movies Nothing To Hide New York 24 20 58 ISSN 0028 7369 Retrieved 7 November 2019 Burr Ty October 4 1991 Madonna Blond Ambition World Tour Live Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 7 November 2019 Madden Emma July 9 2020 Madonna Showed Us Her Elite Head Games in Truth or Dare Pitchfork Retrieved 13 July 2020 Wyman Bill June 20 1991 Truth or Dare Madonna s big lie Chicago Reader Retrieved 7 November 2019 Wilson John 2005 The Official Razzie Movie Guide Enjoying the Best of Hollywood s Worst Grand Central Publishing ISBN 0 446 69334 0 LIVE Hits A Home Run At Homer Awards PDF Billboard Vol 104 no 34 August 22 1992 p 88 ISSN 0006 2510 Retrieved 2 October 2020 a b Staff January 22 1992 Madona s dancers threaten to sue The Buffalo News Retrieved 5 November 2019 a b c Morris Chris February 8 1992 Truth Consequences Dancers Sue Madonna PDF Billboard Vol 104 no 6 2510 p 86 ISSN 0006 2510 Retrieved 2 October 2020 Riggs 2006 p 473 Dancers settle lawsuit against Madonna Hartford Courant October 2 1994 Retrieved 6 November 2019 a b c Jacobs Matthew May 6 2021 The Oral History of Madonna s Truth or Dare The groundbreaking pop documentary s participants look back 30 years later Vulture Retrieved 13 May 2021 Gilchrist Traci May 5 2019 Madonna Pays Homage to Gay People amp Those She Lost to AIDS at GLAAD The Advocate Retrieved 17 November 2019 Virtel Louis June 6 2017 10 Reasons Madonna Is An Eternal Inspiration to the LG Billboard Retrieved 17 November 2019 Murrian Samuel R June 14 2019 How Madonna Became an LGBTQ Icon and Why Her Activism Matters Even More Today Parade Retrieved 17 November 2019 Collins Preacher Collins amp Radner 1992 p 155 Anderson Melissa August 23 2016 Justifying Our Love 25 Years Later the Madonna Doc Still Delights And Confounds The Village Voice Retrieved 24 December 2019 Deino Daryl December 6 2017 Madonna s Groundbreaking Truth or Dare Helped the LGBT Community at Its Most Vulnerable Time HuffPost Retrieved 18 November 2019 The Metograph Madonna Truth or Dare Metrograph Retrieved 6 April 2020 Hilversum January 26 2016 Big news Strike a Pose premieres at Berlinale 2016 CTM Entertainment Retrieved 17 November 2019 Nolfi Joey February 16 2017 Logo sets release date for Strike a Pose doc on Madonna s dancers Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 17 November 2019 Nelson Jeff April 15 2016 Madonna s Dancers Look Back on That Iconic Same Sex Kiss in Truth or Dare People Retrieved 17 November 2019 Hemlin Jesse June 26 2016 The famous Truth or Dare kiss in new film SFGate San Francisco Chronicle Retrieved 17 November 2019 Straube Trentom April 14 2016 Madonna s Blond Ambition Dancer Slam Is Ready to Talk About His HIV Just Don t Ask Him to Vogue POZ Retrieved 15 October 2020 a b Metz Nina August 30 2018 Before reality TV and social media there was Madonna Truth or Dare Chicago Tribune Retrieved 17 November 2019 Barron 2014 p 132 Cain Matt August 16 2018 Eight ways Madonna changed the world from exploring female sexuality to inventing reality TV The Daily Telegraph Retrieved 1 February 2020 Edgar Fairclough Isaacs amp Halligan 2013 p 149 Bailey Jason August 25 2016 How Madonna Truth or Dare Peeked into the Future of Celebrity Culture Flavorwire Retrieved 22 December 2019 Edgar Fairclough Isaacs amp Halligan 2013 p 219 Jacobs Matthew October 18 2015 Watching Truth Or Dare Makes Madonna Gag Huffpost Retrieved 16 January 2020 Bahr Robyn April 17 2019 Homecoming A Film by Beyonce Film Review The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 16 January 2020 Dihn James June 4 2012 Katy Perry s Part Of Me film inspired by Madonna MTV Retrieved 18 November 2019 a b Ali Lorraine September 22 2017 Lady Gaga gets personal in her new documentary Gaga Five Foot Two but can t overcome cliches Los Angeles Times Retrieved 14 January 2020 Kenny Glenn September 21 2017 Review Lady Gaga Unplugged Sort Of in Gaga Five Foot Two The New York Times Retrieved 14 January 2020 Bundel Ani January 31 2020 Netflix s Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana is a revealing reinvention NBC News Retrieved March 5 2020 Fear David May 10 2021 Blonde on Blonde Madonna Truth or Dare at 30 Rolling Stone Retrieved 13 May 2021 Subscription required Vain Madison December 22 2015 Selena Gomez s Hands to Myself video director talks Madonna inspiration Entertainment Weekly Retrieved December 23 2015 McG Ross April 27 2015 Blossom is 25 Here s 25 things you didn t know about the very special 90s TV show Metro Retrieved 14 January 2020 Harris 2014 p 182 O Connor John December 4 1991 Julie Brown skewers Madonna in Medusa Chicago Tribune Retrieved 18 November 2019 Collum 2005 p 167 Griffin 2016 p 122 a b Rhodes Joe December 1 1991 Who s That Girl Julie Brown MTV s redhead gets to really express herself in Madonna parody Los Angeles Times Retrieved 18 November 2019 Griffin amp Strong 2008 p 102 Musto Michael June 14 2000 La Dolce Musto The Village Voice Archived from the original on September 6 2007 Retrieved 18 November 2019 Guilbert 2002 p 223 Flick Larry November 29 1997 RuPaul dives into spate of new projects Billboard Vol 109 no 48 p 24 ISSN 0006 2510 Retrieved 8 December 2019 Bibliography Edit Barron Lee 2014 Celebrity Cultures An Introduction SAGE Publishing ISBN 978 1446249260 Bego Mark 2000 Madonna Blonde Ambition Cooper Square Press ISBN 0 8154 1051 4 Bignell Jonathan 2007 Postmodern Media Culture Edinburgh University Press ISBN 978 81 89833 16 9 Bruenger David 2016 Making Money Making Music History and Core Concepts University of California Press ISBN 978 0520292598 Ciccone Christopher Leigh Wendy 2008 Life with My Sister Madonna Simon Spotlight Entertainment ISBN 978 1 4165 8762 0 Collins Jim Preacher Collins Ava Radner Hillary 1992 Film Theory Goes to the Movies Cultural Analysis of Contemporary Film Routledge ISBN 978 0415905763 Collum Jason Paul 2005 Assault of the Killer B s Interviews with 20 Cult Film Actresses McFarland amp Company ISBN 0786418184 Cross Mary 2007 Madonna A Biography Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 33811 3 Edgar Robert Fairclough Isaacs Kristy Halligan Benjamin 2013 The Music Documentary Acid Rock to Electropop Routledge ISBN 978 0415528016 Griffin Kathy 2016 Kathy Griffin s Celebrity Run Ins My A Z Index Flatiron Books ISBN 978 1250115638 Griffin Brendon Strong Martin Charles 2008 Lights Camera Soundtracks Canongate Books ISBN 978 1847670038 Guilbert Georges Claude 2002 Madonna as postmodern myth McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 1408 6 Harris Neil Patrick 2014 Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography Crown Publishing Group ISBN 978 0385347013 Inglis Ian 2006 Performance and Popular Music History Place and Time Ashgate Publishing Ltd ISBN 978 0 7546 4057 8 Martin Mick Porter Marsha 2003 DVD and Video Guide 2004 Ballantine Books ISBN 0345449940 O Brien Lucy 2008 Madonna Like an Icon Bantam Press ISBN 978 0 593 05547 2 Rettenmund Matthew 1995 Encyclopedia Madonnica St Martin s Griffin ISBN 978 0312117825 Riggs Thomas 2006 Encyclopedia of major marketing campaigns Volumen 2 Gale Group ISBN 978 0787673567 Simone Alina 2016 Madonnaland And Other Detours into Fame and Fandom University of Texas Press ISBN 978 0292759466 Taraborrelli J Randy 2002 Madonna An Intimate Biography Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 0 4251 8669 5 External links EditMadonna Truth or Dare at IMDb Madonna Truth or Dare at Box Office Mojo Madonna Truth or Dare at Miramax Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Madonna Truth or Dare amp oldid 1168475773, 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