This is from the July 12, 2004 New York Daily News

Heartsick at Madonna antics

The Material Girl was such a prima Madonna on the set of John Schlesinger's last film that she may have driven the Oscar-winning director to heart failure.

The director of "Midnight Cowboy" and "Billy Liar," who died in July 2003, blamed Madonna for his 1999 heart attack. That damning charge lives on in letters and production notes he wrote while directing Madonna in the $25 million flop "The Next Best Thing," the London Telegraph reported.

After suffering a heart attack just after finishing the film, an enraged Schlesinger fired off a missive from his hospital bed, laying some of the blame for his collapse on Madonna and producer Tom Rosenberg for agreeing to her demands.

"I am f---ing angry with Tom being influenced by Madonna," Schlesinger wrote to his agent. "I do not for one moment think that their behavior has not added to the reasons I have ended up here," he said.

In the film, Madonna plays a yoga instructor who is made pregnant by her gay best friend, played by Rupert Everett.

One memo hints that the actress wanted producers to "beautify" 34 shots of her with computer-generated wizardry.

Later, Madonna lobbied for the removal of a pivotal scene that she felt was too "gay" - much to the disgust of Schlesinger, who was a homosexual.

Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's publicist, told the Telegraph last week she was surprised by Schlesinger's remarks.