The Swedish director team Tractor directed the video, which was filmed in the Hollywood Center Studios at the end of August 2002, with a budget of nearly $6 million (3 times more than Express Yourself, making it by far her most expensive video, and the 2nd most expensive music video ever, right after Michael & Janet Jackson's 'Scream'). It doesn't contain imagery of the Bond movie, but it refers to Madonna's cameo as a fencing instructor: the video shows a 'Good Madonna' (dressed in white) and 'Evil Madonna' (dressed in black) in a fencing duel. The fight happens in a museum, filled with Bond collectibles. In a second story line, the wounds from the duel between the two ego's are inflicted on a battered and bruised Madonna, who's being tortured by Korean guards. She keeps on kicking, spitting and laughing, so the guards decide to put her in the electric chair. But Madonna wraps phylactery (leather strips) around her left arm to make her immune from the ego's desire. Before she sits in the electric chair she fights against her own ego. The Hebrew letters "Lamed-Alef-Vav" (burned in the chair and tattood on her arm) can be translated as 'shall not do' or simply 'not' ("it's NOT my time to go" - maybe a tongue-in-cheek remark to her critics who predicted her retirement). The Hebrew signs also symbolize the certainty and lack of doubt; she truly believes that she can disappear from the chair and as you can see in the video, she does. MTV premiered the video simultaneously worldwide on October 10th. During the day MTV blurred out some of the blood in the video.
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