Madonna to guest judge on The Marriage Ref and direct Wallis Simpson biopic titled W.E.

Post-breakup with Guy Ritchie, Madonna seems awfully intrigued by marriage these days. We have a news combo today concerning the Material Girl in a marital world. Over the weekend it was announced that the twice-divorced Madonna would serve jury duty on Jerry Seinfeld’s new show The Marriage Ref in a rare television appearance. As the anti-Newlywed Game, The Marriage Ref will feature a celebrity panel mediating the he said/she said between feuding couples in order to declare a winner. The winner will then promptly rub the Madonna-sanctioned victory in his or her partner's face.

Today Cinematical (via Variety) brings us reports that Madge will step behind the camera to direct W.E., a biopic of twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. A controversial figure, Simpson's marriage to Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor was made possible by his abdication as King Of England. Drama continued to follow the pair during the war years as many suspected the royal couple of being Nazi sympathizers. Madonna is writing the script to W.E. with Alek Keshishian, whom she collaborated with on Truth Or Dare. Cinematical’s report also states Up In The Air’s Vera Farmiga is interested in the role.

This is not Madonna’s first foray into directing. In 2008 Madonna directed Filth And Wisdom, a little-seen London-set film that featured Richard E. Grant, the biggest name in the cast. Say what you will about Madonna’s acting abilities, Hollywood seems incapable of closing Madonna down. That being said, Anthony Lane from The New Yorker had this to say about Madonna’s directing debut: “In technical terms, more professional productions than this are filmed and cut on iMovie, by ten-year-olds, a thousand times a day.”