Nervous Madonna ready to prove herself as a director

Madonna is growing nervous ahead of the release of her feature film directorial debut W.E. - because she feels she has to prove herself as a filmmaker the same way she did as a young singer.

The Like A Virgin hitmaker stepped behind the camera for the lavish royal drama, which documents the scandalous relationship between Britain's King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson. The monarch abdicated in 1936 after his love affair with the socialite became public.

The film, Madonna's second time in the director's chair but her first on a major release, was slammed by critics when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Italy earlier this month (Sep11), with many dismissing it as style over substance.

But the Material Girl told the press at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday (12Sep11) that she was prepared for a rough time from the film experts.

She says, “Of course I do (get nervous). Because it’s new. I had the same pressure when I began my music career, and I was nervous and I didn’t know what to expect and people didn’t know what to expect, and I had to earn my way in being taken seriously in the music department, and now I have to do that in film."