There are two different music videos for "American Life", the first of which was not released by Madonna. It was shot in the first week of February 2003 at Los Angeles Center Studios in Los Angeles, California by Swedish director Jonas Ã…kerlund , who worked with Madonna in the videos for " Ray of Light " (1998) and " Music " (2000). Madonna had the idea for the music video in November 2002, then she and Ã…kerlund developed the idea to make an anti-war and anti-fashion mini-movie. With "American Life", she took her music videos to a different level by focusing on war, politics and, according to media interpretation, the then-upcoming invasion of Iraq. "It is an antiwar statement..." she subsequently clarified, "but it's not necessarily against this war . At any given moment there's at least 30 wars going on in this world and I'm against all of them." Shortly after it was filmed, Warner Bros. Recor