A Certain Sacrifice
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A Certain Sacrifice is the singer Madonna's first movie, made in September 1979, written and directed by Stephen Jon Lewicki. Madonna starred with Jeremy Pattnosh and Charles Kurtz.
The movie itself is an "oddball" indie, shot on-and-off over two years for a paltry sum of $20,000 (with virtually all of the actors in the film unpaid) in New York City. Madonna played the part of Bruna, a Lower East Side resident who lives with three "love slaves" (one male, one female, one transgender). Bruna meets Dashiell (Pattnosh) in the water fountain in Washington Square Park and the two "fall in love". Later, Bruna is raped (by Kurtz) in a bathroom at a coffee shop. To exact retribution, Bruna enlists her love slaves and Dashiell to abduct the rapist. They dress up as hookers and lure him into a limo and "sacrifice" him, hence the film's title.
In 1985, A Certain Sacrifice was going to be released and Madonna tried to ban the release of this movie unsuccessfully. Madonna achieved wide success five years after the making of this movie. Jon Lewicki invited her to view it and at the conclusion of the screening session Madonna reportedly was not happy with the result. Subsequently a representative from Madonna offered to buy the rights for $5000 which Lewicki refused.
Despite Madonna's second thoughts about having participated in this movie, Lewicki had nothing but compliments for her. One of his oft-repeated stories was how he "discovered" Madonna and was amazed that she hand-wrote a three-page letter for a part that didn't even pay. To author Christopher Andersen, who wrote the 1991 biography "Madonna Unauthorized", Lewicki said: "That woman has more sensuality in her ear than most women have anywhere on their bodies."
Madonna starred in this film when she was 21. She was 27 when it was released.
Madonna was paid $100 for playing Bruna.
A Certain Sacrifice was released on video in 1985 and on DVD in 2006 (Europe Only.) This film is out of print and can be bought only online.
