One of the most famous lines from the beloved 1992 film A League Of Their Own, "there's no crying in baseball," seems to have held true to this day -- but there have never been any rules on the books about quitting when Madonna joins the team.
Actress Debra Winger, best known for her award-winning starring roles in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Terms of Endearment (1983), and Shadowlands (1993), said recently that she dropped out of the production 30 years ago after the "Material Girl" was added to the cast.
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Winger, 66, tells The Telegraph, that she quit after spending three months in training with the Chicago Cubs preparing for the role ultimately filled by Geena Davis. The decision taken by famed director Penny Marshall to cast Madge gave Winger the feeling it would become "an Elvis [Presley] film," so she walked. "The studio agreed with me because it was the only time I ever collected a pay-or-play on my contract," Debra says, meaning she was paid for her time even though she did not complete the movie. "That's very hard to get in a court," she added.
As for Madonna's performance, Debra's answer was sharp: "I think [her] acting career has spoken for itself," she said, while Davis "did OK," adding "I certainly don’t begrudge any of them."
In all, Debra says she doesn't think the film was successful in telling the actual athletes' incredible stories. "As entertaining as [the final film] was," Winger added, "you don't walk away going, 'Wow, those women did that,'" she says. "You kind of go, 'Is that true?'"
Back in 2017, Geena Davis shared her own, similar thoughts about Madonna being cast. "She was Madonna. We wondered if we were going to be able to talk to her. Was she going to have an entourage? Were they going to put up walls around her where she stands?" Davis remembered, but her fears were quickly alleviated. "She was so game. She was a trooper," Davis said.
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