The Next Best Thing Put ‘Strain’ on Madonna Friendship

Rupert Everett is looking back at how his friendship with Madonna was strained due to The Next Best Thing movie flop.

The My Best Friend’s Wedding actor recently appeared on the How to Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast, where he reflected on the 2000 John Schlesinger-directed romantic comedy, which starred Everett, Madonna and Benjamin Bratt.

“It was not a failure as such really at the box office because of video sales in those days — Madonna sold a lot of videos — but the film itself didn’t work, even though for a long time, it was the only film that dealt with this issue that was actually then happening and being born,” he explained.

The Next Best Thing follows Abbie (Madonna) who has a one-night stand with her gay friend Robert (Everett) and they agree to raise the resulting baby together. But things get complicated when Abbie starts dating Ben (Bratt).

According to Everett, “everything went wrong” on set while filming, which he said, “completely finished things for me in Hollywood.” However, he still praises Madonna for her performance in the movie, despite the constant pressure she faced at the time.

“I think it’s very difficult for her to be in films because everyone has such a preconception,” he said.
“I don’t know how she could ever be good enough to make people say, ‘Oh God, that’s really good.’”

The Happy Prince actor continued, “I think it was great having her in the film. I think she was touching in the film, too, myself. I haven’t seen it for ages, though. I mean, every time that comes on, I kind of look the other way.”

As there were a lot of expectations for the movie to succeed, when it ultimately flopped, that’s when Everett said it put a “strain” on his relationship with the “Material Girl” singer. He added, “Friendships and failure in Hollywood are very difficult things to keep going.”