Madonna desperately seeking Oscar?

How seriously are we supposed to take Madonna as a film director?

Possibly, very seriously indeed. Her new film, enigmatically titled "W.E.," has been scheduled for release Dec. 9 by The Weinstein Company, placing it squarely in the middle of Oscar-contender season.

Brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have a long history, and a good track record, of pushing Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated films in December. To name a few: "Shakespeare in Love" (which won seven Academy Awards), "The Reader" (Kate Winslet, best actress), "A Single Man" (best actor nominee Colin Firth), "The Fighter" (supporting actor awards for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo) and, of course, "The King's Speech" (four Oscars, including best picture). The Weinsteins are often credited with inventing the Oscar campaign as we now know it.

What's more, Madonna's film doesn't appear to be a vanity project, like her abysmally reviewed 2008 directorial debut, "Filth and Wisdom," which starred her friend Eugene Hutz of the band Gogol Bordello. Rather, "W.E." appears to be a serious historical drama. It spans 60 years, contrasting a contemporary love story with the scandalous relationship between King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson (that relationship also figured into "The King's Speech"). Madonna's fairly impressive cast includes Abbie Cornish, Laurence Fox ("Gosford Park") and Oscar Isaac ("Robin Hood").

"I'm incredibly excited about this movie, and I wanted to give it a prominent release date," Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of TWC, said in a statement. He's so excited he apparently forgot about "Filth and Wisdom," calling Madonna's new movie "a stunning feature directorial debut."