Madonna on Sean Penn: He Has a Fire Under His Ass

Does Madonna ever age? At 51 years-old Madge looks like she did when she was in her 30's!

In a rare interview with Interview magazine Madge talks about her work in Malawi, her new movie project and why she thinks her ex hubby Sean Penn has a "fire under his ass." Here are some highlights from the interview:

On Trips to Malawi:
"I go to Malawi twice a year. It's where two of my children were adopted from, and I have a lot of projects there that I go and check up on and children who I look after. It's sort of a commitment that I've made to this country and the hundreds of thousands of children there who have been orphaned by AIDS. I made a documentary about it ['I Am Because We Are,' 2008], and it's just become part of my life. I'm going to meet with Jeffrey Sachs [the economist]. I'm sure you've heard of him. He's starting a global education initiative, and I'm going to be his Girl Friday, so to speak. We're going to hold a press conference to talk about the school for girls that I'm building in Malawi. It's kind of our way of making sure that every kid has a chance to have an education -- more specifically girls, but boys as well. Girls, though, in a lot of developing countries don't have the opportunity to go to school, nor are they encouraged to go to school, so what we're doing is the beginning of a dream. But I'm going to Malawi for lots of reasons."

On Sean Penn's Work in Haiti:
"He's got a fire under his ass, that's for sure. A bee in his bonnet."

On Her New Film, 'Filth and Wisdom':
"I guess it is intimate. I never thought of it like that. It's kind of a small story. But really, if you break it down, it's about the struggle of being an artist. I feel like the three main characters in the film are basically me."

On writing the script with Alek Keshishian:
"I started writing it on my own, and then I realized that I needed help. It's just too big a subject. I quite like the idea of collaborating in general. Not only is it lonely to do things on your own creatively, it's also kind of arrogant. I guess some people are brilliant enough to be brilliant on their own and never doubt anything and come up with fabulous things."

On Balancing Script Writing and Family:
"I tend to write during the day so I can see my children at night. But if my kids aren't with me and I have a chunk of time when I'm a single woman living in my house for a miraculous week, I will get to write at different hours. I mean, we've burned the candle. We've stayed up all night. We've done it every which way. But generally we schedule chunks of time to be together and work on it."