Madonna Received Death Threats Filming ‘Evita

Madonna’s “You Must Love Me,” a song from the film version of Evita, may have won its composers an Oscar when the movie came out, but love wasn’t compulsory for everyone.Thirty years ago this week, Madonna was receiving death threats for even attempting to portray Eva Perón, the musical’s titular Evita, as she was a revolutionary hero to many in her home country of argentina.

In February 1996,more than four decades after the death of Perón,who was the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón,the onetime first lady still had ardent followers who didn’t like the idea that a film was being made out of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Tony award-winning 1978 musical. Walls between the airport and the city sported graffiti that proclaimed “¡Viva Evita! ¡Fuera Madonna!“ (that last line means “Madonna, get out!”).

Perónism, a unique populist political movement, was still strong then (Argentina’s then-president Carlos Menem called the film “a disgrace”), and has echoes in the country today. But even then it was shocking for Variety to report on Jan. 25, before Madonna arrived, that clara Marin, which the paper reported was one of Perón’s former secretaries, had proclaimed: “We want Madonna dead or alive. If she does not leave I will kill her.”

Freddy DeMann,who managed Madonna,was so worried he told Variety, “I’m one minute away from calling her out of that country.” But he might not have had to even consider that if a Perónist congresswoman got her way. The Washington Post reported at the time that a lawmaker in the country wanted to introduce a bill that woul

Madonna’s “Evita” Faced Protests and Presidential Intervention in Argentina

Production of Alan Parker’s 1996 film “Evita,” starring madonna, encountered critically important opposition in Argentina, culminating in protests and a last-minute reversal from then-President Carlos Menem regarding filming at the Casa Rosada.

By February 12, 1996, a group of Madonna’s argentine fans organized a demonstration in her support. According to a report by the Associated Press, 62% of Argentines believed Madonna was a suitable choice for the role of Eva Perón. “I think she is the best actress, and she’s got the right to make it, and nobody has the right to threaten her life or say that they are going to burn her alive, as that lady said she would do,” fan Sandra Matos told the AP. “If that lady is a Perónist and does what Evita would have done, then she should love her neighbors, and follow the exmaple of a good woman rather of threatening Madonna.”

Despite initial resistance, the film crew successfully shot scenes in Buenos Aires’ federal district and at a train station. President Menem initially denied permission to film at the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, but ultimately changed his decision, allowing the iconic “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” sequence to be filmed there.