what is a biography movie called

What is a Biopic — Definition & Best Examples Explained

D o you ever wonder what is a biopic, or what counts as a biopic? In contemporary cinema, biopic movies seem to be everywhere. Old historical figures, musicians, politicians, as well as “regular” people dealing with extraordinary events. There have been more biopic films in recent decades, but they’re nothing new. Biopics have been a staple in the cinema landscape dating back to its earliest days. So, what is a biopic, what do they usually entail and how has the genre evolved to be where it is today?

Watch: How to Make a Biopic

Subscribe for more filmmaking videos like this.

Defining Biopic    

What does biopic mean.

The spectrum of what qualifies as a biographical film is rather wide, leaving room for creative expressions of true life. For example, consider how Tarantino adapted Sharon Tate's story in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood . Before getting into the real complexities of biopic films, let’s first provide a biopic definition that all these films share. 

BIOPIC DEFINITION

What is a biopic.

A biopic is a movie that dramatizes the life of a real, non-fictional individual. Short for “biographical motion picture,” a biopic can cover a person’s entire life or one specific moment in their history. Topics for biopics are nearly endless, with famous figures from history, along with popular celebrities of late, being covered.

When pronouncing “biopic,” you should be saying it “BYE-oh-pic” and not “bi-YAW-pic.” This incorrect pronunciation of biopic can sometimes get confused with “bioptic.”

Biopic characteristics include:

• Covering the life of a real individual
• Taking "creative license" with parts of the individual’s life or character for dramatic purposes
• Covering multiple years in their life or focusing on very specific moments
• Featuring a “Where are they now?” section that covers what happened to the individual(s) after the events portrayed in the film

While all biopics are essentially movies about a real-life person, they can differ in many other ways. This video provides a great breakdown of biopics; they not only define biopics but provide excellent examples from the subgenre , just one of the many movie genres .

A quick but thorough biopic definition

The most obvious way a biopic differentiates itself is in how accurate it is to the subject’s history. Depending on the story you want to tell, a biopic can be almost wholly fictional, using only surface facts to create a mostly made-up narrative .

If the biopic is about someone who has a great myth around them, a filmmaker might be more interested in making a movie about the legend of the person instead of the facts.

Unfortunately, a 100% accurate biopic is impossible. If you are basing the movie on someone who existed centuries ago, filmmakers will only have so much to work with. In some of those cases, even if the facts are available, the myth surrounding a person might be a bigger draw or a more interesting story.

Take Todd Haynes  I'm Not There , which casts multiple actors to portray Bob Dylan. More than simply a marketing stunt, this varied cast accentuates Dylan's own constantly shifting personas. 

I'm Not There  •  Watch Todd Haynes define biopic

20th century biopics about 20th century individuals are often caught embellishing the facts for the sake of making the subject look better or worse than they really were. So if you make a biopic about someone who is still alive, you will absolutely get told about how right or wrong your biographical film is.

More often than not, though, biopics fudge the truth for the sake of making a better movie. This is nothing new, as artworks and plays have stretched the truth in some way for the sake of the art itself. After all, movies are not real life, and if someone really wanted to know the facts of an individual’s life, they could look up a written biography.

Biopic Early Days

The emergence of biopics.

It may surprise some to learn that biographical movies have always been popular. Some of the first films ever made were biopics, often focusing on historical figures such as Peter the Great, Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, and even Jesus of Nazareth.

George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln are two historical figures, alive around the same time, who managed to get several biopics in cinema’s early years. For Custer, these include Custer’s Last Fight (1912), The Plainsman (1936 and 1966), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941). Many of these films were criticized for fabricating and romanticizing the history and facts of Custer’s life.

Abraham Lincoln also got his fair share of many, many biopics before 1950. Of these many biopics, Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) is probably the most well known and revered, having been directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Lincoln. Unlike most movies about US Presidents, Young Mr. Lincoln exclusively focuses on Lincoln’s days as a young lawyer in Illinois, working on a murder case.

An interview with Henry Fonda on playing Lincoln

Aside from historical figures, early biopics would also feature celebrities of the day. Possibly the most significant and well known of these is Yankee Doodle Dandy (1943), starring James Cagney, focusing on George M. Cohan, otherwise known as “The Man Who Owned Broadway.” Regardless of how accurate it is, it proved to be a huge success, getting awards attention and critical acclaim.

Yankee Doodle Dandy also sheds light on a very important aspect of biopics, which is their popularity. On top of people wanting to see a dramatization of a real life person, biopics require actors to more or less “be” the real life individual, which can prove to be a challenge. As a result, it can be very impressive to see how an actor pulls off being so much like the real life subject.

This success can also bring with it awards, which many biopics receive. Regardless of the plot’s quality, the main draw for a biopic movies is often the acting, which ends up either being the most notable part.

Biopics Changes

The changing world of biopics.

As cinema began to change, so did the biopic meaning. While still retaining similar act structures and an air of romanticism, biopic films started to cover a greater swath of subjects. Additionally, the rate of biopics being released began to increase, particularly after the 1940s.

Auditioning actors is hard enough — trying to find a perfect match for the subject of a biopic is an entirely different challenge. The debate of choosing someone who looks like the person over whether they can act like the person is a never-ending debate, with various arguments for either side. While some believe what matters most is the performance, others think that looking like the subject is what’s important.

Additionally, if the film does not represent the subject in a way that others deem fair, it can cause problems for the actor doing the portrayal.

Some biopic movies have eliminated this issue by having the subjects star in the movie their lives were based on. Notable examples of this include Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) and Howard Stern in Private Parts (1997).

Biopics can really run the gamut of all movie genres . While biopics such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Cleopatra (1963) used their subjects to tell grand narratives, other types of biopics were beginning to crop up. 

Spartacus (1960), while being a traditional epic biopic about the Third Servile War (73-71 BC), also worked as a commentary on the recent Communist witch hunt that led to The Hollywood Blacklist .

Andrei Rublev (1966), though set in the 15th century, uses its setting to criticize the then Soviet Union’s suppression of artistic and spiritual freedoms. Since the film was directed by Andrei Tarkovsky in the Soviet Union, the country had it banned and then censored.

Andrei Rublev  •  Watch Tarkovsky define biopic 

One of the most controversial films of the 1960s was also a (simplified) biopic: Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the classic crime couple, the film featured shameless sex and violence that broke new barriers in American cinema. It is now recognized as one of the first films to come from the burgeoning and vital New Hollywood era.

Later in the 1980s, Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) took a highly artistic approach to the biopic. Balancing its focus between the last day of Yukio Mishima’s life and recreations of some of his stories, Schrader created a biopic that dared to be way more artistic than factual. This film truly complicates the answer to "What is a biopic?"

Biopic Meaning Today

The modernization of biopic movies.

As the 20th century raged on into the 21st, the subjects of biographical films expanded to include lesser known figures alongside famous ones. Film critic David Edelstein digs into some recent and classic biopic examples in this video, along with the genre’s continued popularity.

What is a Biopic  •  Biopic definition from critic David Edelstein  

In the last few decades, politicians and musicians have strongly dominated the biopic scene. Whether it’s a recent US president or someone else working in Washington D.C., plenty of notable biopics have been about American political figures.

Using Richard Nixon as one example, he managed to get two different movies made about him in the 1990s. The first was Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), starring Anthony Hopkins, which was a sprawling, three-hour-plus drama that touched upon his personal life and politics.

The other was Dick (1999), which starred Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams as two teenagers who somehow get involved with the Watergate scandal. While Dick is more obviously a comedy, it’s still about a real historical event and has an actor playing a real politician (Dan Hedaya as Nixon).

While politicians are fun to watch, no other industry seems to get as much biopic attention as music. Elvis Presley got a made-for-television biopic in 1979 (simply titled Elvis ), starring Kurt Russell and directed by John Carpenter (their first collaboration).

Elvis  •  Watch John Carpenter define biopic

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart got a stage play that was adapted into the film Amadeus (1984), directed by renowned Czech filmmaker Milos Forman . And Selena Quintanilla-Perez got one with Selena (1997), starring Jennifer Lopez, which also brought with it some casting controversy.

Many more music biopics between the 1970s and now have been released, proving their popularity and saturation. Some very recent and famous examples include Straight Outta Compton (2015) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), the latter of which became the highest grossing biopic of all-time as of this writing.

Also of note is how formulaic biopic movies can be, especially when music is the subject. Watch the video below to see a deep analysis of music biopics, courtesy of Patrick (H) Willems.

Patrick (H) Willems analyzing the common music biopic meaning 

There is no shortage of biopic movies out there, and there likely never will be. Movies now have even more technology to reproduce worlds and people, thus enhancing the authenticity of any given film.

Make-up artists continue to make sure their actors look like the subject while the actors themselves still need to convince the world with their performance. And with the amount of subjects that can be chosen from, there will never be a shortage for a movie based on a real life person.

Creating Biopics

How to write a biopic.

Writing a screenplay is hard. Writing a screenplay for a biopic can be even harder. A script for a biopic will have to walk a fine line, both telling the story truthfully and also taking creative liberties.

The first, and arguably most crucial, part of writing a biopic is research. A biopic writer will have to research, research, and then research again. They should not only understand the subject of the biopic as well as the people they regularly interacted with, but they should also understand the time and world in which they existed. 

Say you’re writing a biopic about Leon Trotsky. You’d have to read as much of his writing as you could, as well as the cornucopia of biographies that have been written about him. But you should also research his contemporaries—Lenin, Stalin, Martov, etc.— and also the larger context of the October Revolution and Russia in the beginning of the 1900s. That’s a lot of reading.

The star of our hypothetical feature

You will also have to decide how much of a person’s life you want to cover. Plenty of successful biopics keep the timeframe tight, but others want to cover most of a person’s existence. The biopic Jackie largely focuses on the days surrounding the assassination of JFK, creating a claustrophobic feeling that lasts the entire runtime.

Walk the Line , meanwhile, tackles a large portion of Johnny Cash’s life, allowing events of his childhood to clearly affect his actions later in the film.

It took his whole life to get to this moment

Remember: writing a biopic isn’t the same thing as writing a biography. First and foremost, you’re writing a compelling film. Ideally, it will capture the essence of its subject.

Creative ways to adapt a true story

Now that you have a solid understanding of "what is a biopic," their history, and what they can entail, let's turn our attention to how a few notable films adapt those real life stories. Using the scripts themselves, along with various clips, we dig into how filmmakers like Tarantino, Charlie Kaufman and the Safdie Brothers adapted their source material to make engaging cinema.

Up Next: Adapting a true story →

Showcase your vision with elegant shot lists and storyboards..

Create robust and customizable shot lists. Upload images to make storyboards and slideshows.

Learn More ➜

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Pricing & Plans
• Product Updates
• Featured On
• StudioBinder Partners
• The Ultimate Guide to Call Sheets (with FREE Call Sheet Template)
• How to Break Down a Script (with FREE Script Breakdown Sheet)
• The Only Shot List Template You Need — with Free Download
• Managing Your Film Budget Cashflow & PO Log (Free Template)
• A Better Film Crew List Template Booking Sheet
• Best Storyboard Softwares (with free Storyboard Templates)
• Movie Magic Scheduling
• Gorilla Software
• Storyboard That

A visual medium requires visual methods. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques.

We’re in a golden age of TV writing and development. More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? We’re here to help.

• Making It: From Pre-Production to Screen
• What is a Light Meter — Understanding the Photographer's Tool
• What is Metonymy — Definition, Examples & How to Use It
• What is a Short Story — The Art of Brevity in Literature
• What is an Action Hero — Best Examples & Defining Traits
• What is a Movie Spoiler — Types, Ethics & Rules Explained
• 30 Facebook
• 1 Pinterest

What Is a Biopic? Definition, Examples & Historical Impact

• Documentary
• Auteur Theory
• Exploitation Films
• Coming of Age
• Kitchen Sink Drama
• Period Piece
• Portmanteau Film
• Slasher Film
• Slice of Life
• Spaghetti Western
• Blaxploitation
• Slapstick Comedy
• Social Commentary
• Non-Narrative Film

A biopic, short for biographical picture, brings real-life stories to the silver screen, immortalizing the tales of historical figures, celebrities, and unsung heroes alike.

It’s a genre that offers us a lens into the complexities and triumphs of a person’s life, often leaving us inspired or more informed.

In this article, we’ll jump into what sets biopics apart from other film genres, explore their significance in cinema, and highlight how they shape our understanding of history and culture.

Stay tuned as we unpack the art of biographical storytelling and its impact on audiences around the world.

WHAT IS A BIOPIC

What is a biopic.

There are many different types of films, but one type that is especially popular these days is the biopic.

A biopic tells the story of a person’s life or a significant event in their lives through film. Biopics can be dramatic, comedic, and even more rarely – documentary-style.

What Is A Biopic?

Biopics, short for biographical pictures, are a genre of film that dramatizes the life of a real individual.

These films go beyond mere factual recounting, weaving in creativity and dramatic elements to bring depth to the portrayal of a person’s life journey.

Often, they shine a light on notable figures who have had a remarkable impact on society, culture, or history.

The allure of biopics resides in their dual purpose – to entertain and educate.

Audiences get a glimpse into the events and personal experiences that shaped a historical figure’s contributions and legacy.

What sets biopics apart from documentaries is the focus on emotional engagement, drawing viewers into the world of the subject through compelling narratives and cinematic techniques.

Key Attributes of Biopic Films Include:

• A focus on a specific individual’s life story,
• A blend of factual detail with dramatized scenes,
• The casting of actors who often physically resemble the real-life subjects.

Films like  The King’s Speech  and  Lincoln  exemplify the genre’s power to immerse audiences in the personal struggles and triumphs of influential leaders.

Biopics don’t just retell history; they offer a cinematic interpretation of a life, fraught with all its complexity and nuance.

Our appreciation for biopics stems from their ability to humanize icons and present their stories with a unique artistic flair that resonates on a deeply personal level.

By engaging with biopics, we’re often invited to reflect on the vast tapestries of lives that have carved out significant corners of our collective consciousness.

Whether it’s  Frida  exploring the vibrant life of artist Frida Kahlo, or  The Social Network  depicting the controversial ascent of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, biopics serve as a conduit for powerful storytelling.

They provide a lens through which we can explore the human condition, redefining our perceptions of the figures we thought we knew.

The Origins Of Biopics

Biopics stem from a long tradition of biographical storytelling that predates cinema itself.

Initially, stage plays and literature provided the primary means for exploring the lives of intriguing figures, honing a narrative artform that would later find its perfect canvas in film.

As the motion picture industry blossomed, filmmakers seized the opportunity to bring these complex, real-life narratives to the silver screen.

The inception of biographical films can be traced back to the early days of cinema.

The Story of the Kelly Gang , released in 1906, is often cited as one of the first feature-length biopics, dramatizing the life of the notorious Australian outlaw Ned Kelly.

This pioneer in the biopic genre laid the groundwork for future films to tell the stories of historical figures and icons.

Key Features In Early Biopics

The evolution of the biopic genre introduced several key features that became indicative of these types of films:

• Historical Context  – Biopics often set their narrative against the backdrop of important historical events to add authenticity and gravity to the protagonist’s story.
• Character Depth  – Early biopics put a strong emphasis on character development, striving to depict the protagonist’s personality, motivations, and struggles.
• Cinematic Liberty  – Filmmakers embraced the creative latitude to add drama and flair, weaving in fictional elements to highlight emotional truths over strict factual accuracy.

As storytelling traditions intersected with the expressive possibilities of cinema, biopics continued to evolve.

Directors and screenwriters found innovative ways to engage audiences with the defining moments and inner lives of historical figures, delivering experiences that resonate on both a personal and collective level.

The ongoing fascination with individual legacies ensured that the biopic remained a staple in the film industry, showcasing not only the accomplishments but the very humanity of those whose lives are depicted on the screen.

The Significance Of Biopics In Cinema

Biopics hold a mirror up to society, providing viewers with intimate access to the lives of influential figures and events that have shaped history.

Through meticulous research and artistic interpretation, these films offer an avenue for audiences to engage with the past in a deeply human way.

It’s not only about recounting events but also about exploring the psyche of individuals who’ve made a mark on the world.

By bringing historical characters to life, biopics serve as both educational tools and sources of inspiration.

• Highlight lesser-known aspects of famous personalities,
• Illuminate social issues through the lens of a single individual’s experience,
• Encourage viewers to reflect on their own lives in relation to those on screen.

The storytelling power of biopics is enhanced by their ability to resonate with contemporary issues.

While set in the past, the themes of struggle, innovation, and resilience remain evergreen, bridging the gap between then and now.

Films like  Gandhi  and  The King’s Speech  have not only entertained but also enriched our collective consciousness.

Also, the genre’s flexibility in narrative style allows directors and writers to explore various filmmaking techniques.

The use of visual elements, non-linear timelines, and dramatic recreations gives each biopic a unique voice.

As film historians, we recognize that the relationship between the featured individual’s life and the contextual history they belong to is pivotal in crafting a biopic that stands the test of time.

Biopics also contribute significantly to the legacy of their subjects, often renewing interest in their life stories and, in some cases, introducing them to new generations.

The cinematic portrayal of these figures can also catalyze discourse around their impact and the accuracy of their representation, ensuring that the dialogue around these iconic individuals continues to evolve.

Biopics As Historical And Cultural Artifacts

Biopics hold a mirror to the times they represent, offering reflections that go beyond mere storytelling.

They serve as historical and cultural artifacts, capturing the essence of an era or the spirit of a movement through the lens of an individual’s life.

Our fascination with history and culture is satiated by these films, which weave factual elements with artistic interpretation.

Watching  The Imitation Game , we’re not just learning about Alan Turing’s life, we’re diving into the complexities of World War II cryptography.

The influence of biopics extends into various domains, including education, politics, and social discourse.

By embodying the struggles and triumphs of real people, biopics encourage us to draw parallels with current affairs and recognize repeating patterns in history.

• They spur dialogue about past events and their significance today,
• They can challenge or reaffirm cultural beliefs and societal norms,
• They create a space for marginalized stories to be heard and understood.

Creators of biopics have a unique responsibility – to honor the truth while creating compelling cinema.

Films like  Selma  and  12 Years a Slave  bear the weight of accurately portraying the civil rights movement and the brutality of slavery, respectively.

While these films aim to entertain, their greater achievement lies in educating audiences, fostering empathy, and demanding reflection on the fabric of society.

Balancing entertainment with authenticity, contemporary biopics often blur the lines between documentary and dramatization.

This hybrid approach garners wider audiences, bridging the gap between those seeking knowledge and those simply looking for a powerful cinematic experience.

Biopics like  A Beautiful Mind  or  Bohemian Rhapsody  exemplify this trend, captivating viewers while shedding light on the intricacies of genius and the nuances of cultural revolutionaries.

We understand that the cultural imprint of a well-crafted biopic can be immense.

Its capacity to influence public perception and rekindle interest in historical figures or events is a testament to the genre’s potency.

By meticulously reconstructing the past, biopics provide potent stimuli for today’s conversations and tomorrow’s artworks.

The Power Of Biographical Storytelling

Biographical storytelling, often known as the biopic genre, unlocks a treasure trove of immersive narratives that engage audiences on a deeply personal level.

These powerful tales Help a profound connection between viewers and the subjects, allowing us to experience the world through the eyes of some of history’s most intriguing individuals.

The heart of biopics lies in their ability to humanize figures that have, until now, been confined within the pages of history books or the silent annals of time.

Our fascination with biopics stems from an innate desire to understand the human condition.

Films like  A Beautiful Mind  and  The Theory of Everything  provide intimate glimpses into the lives of extraordinary minds, spotlighting their triumphs and challenges.

Biopics have the unique capability to transcend time and place, crafting narratives that are both universal in emotion and specific in their cultural context.

• Biopics demystify the legend,
• They bring nuance to public perception,
• They uncover the threads that connect us all.

By delving into personal histories, biopics underscore the power of individual agency within the larger tapestry of societal progress.

Films such as  Selma  showcase the impact one person can have on the movements that shape our collective experience.

Through dynamic storytelling, the genre emphasizes the single person’s potential to enact profound change.

The rich canvas of biopics presents filmmakers with the opportunity to experiment with artistic expression, engaging in a dialogue between past and present.

Telling these stories through the audiovisual medium reinforces the relevance of forgotten or underrepresented individuals.

Whether it’s the color palette chosen to depict a period piece or the soundtrack that accompanies a protagonist’s journey, every creative decision serves to breathe life into once-distant figures.

Our understanding of heritage and identity is often expanded through the lens of biopics.

These films act as conduits for cultural reflection, offering insights into the complexities that define various eras.

Powerful narratives in  Lincoln  and  Gandhi  not only recount historical events but also encourage us to contemplate the broader implications of leadership, morality, and social responsibility.

What Is A Biopic – Wrap Up

We’ve explored the captivating realm of biopics and their profound impact on storytelling.

These films don’t just recount history—they breathe life into it allowing us to walk in the shoes of the remarkable individuals who’ve shaped our world.

Through the artful blend of fact and creative liberty biopics offer a unique lens on the human condition.

They’re not just films; they’re windows to the past and mirrors reflecting our shared humanity.

As we continue to seek out these stories let’s cherish the way they enrich our understanding of both the legends they portray and the legacy we carry forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main focus of biopics.

Biopics focus on humanizing historical figures, letting viewers see the world through their eyes, and showcasing the universal emotions and specific cultural contexts of their stories.

How Do Biopics Affect The Perception Of Historical Figures?

Biopics demystify legends and introduce nuances to public perceptions, revealing the shared human experiences that connect us across time.

What Do Biopics Offer To Filmmakers?

Biopics provide filmmakers with the opportunity to explore artistic expression while delving into the life stories of significant individuals.

Why Are Biopics Important For Understanding Heritage And Identity?

Biopics allow us to gain deeper insights into the complexities of different eras, thereby expanding our understanding of heritage and identity.

Ready to learn about more Film History & Film Movements?

Best Bane Quotes: Top Quotes From The Batman Character

How To Add VHS Effect To Video: The Complete Guide

Matt Crawford

Related posts, 8 best ping bin lee movies that epitomize visual poetry, 8 best todd haynes movies: the stylist of american subcultures, what is a picaresque in media rogues and misfits on whimsical adventures, 9 best dusan makavejev movies: top dusan makavejev films, best movie sex scenes: 19 steamiest film moments, 5 best tunisian movies: a tribute to cinema from tunisia.

Aw, this was a very nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to make a top notch article on how to make a biopic… but what can I say… I put things off a whole lot and never manage to get anything done.

Thanks for the kind words, Devin.

Check out our stuff on productivity!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Username or Email Address

Remember Me

Registration is closed.

Pin It on Pinterest

• Screenwriting \e607
• Cinematography & Cameras \e605
• Directing \e606
• Editing & Post-Production \e602
• Documentary \e603
• Movies & TV \e60a
• Producing \e608
• Distribution & Marketing \e604
• Fundraising & Crowdfunding \e60f
• Festivals & Events \e611
• Sound & Music \e601
• Games & Transmedia \e60e
• Grants, Contests, & Awards \e60d
• Film School \e610
• Marketplace & Deals \e60b
• Off Topic \e609
• This Site \e600

What is a Biopic? (Definition and Examples)

The genre is sweeping hollywood and getting more popular by the day..

Have you noticed a trend in Hollywood lately? It seems like every time you go to the movies or see a new trailer; it's an ad for a movie about someone famous' life.

Biopics are all the rage.

But what's the definition of biopic, and what are some of the best biopics of all time?

Today, we're going to answer those questions.

If you're looking to get the attention of an agent or manager , writing a biopic might be right for you. And it's not just Hollywood; even Bollywood is going biopic crazy .

Let's dive in.

What's A Biopic? 

A biographical film, or a biopic for short, is a film that tells the story of the life of a non-fictional or historical person.

Biopics use the central character(s) to show an important discovery, period in history, or dramatically relevant period within their lives to tell a contemporary lesson. That all seems straightforward, but there are some serious discrepancies in how you should pronounce biopic as well.

Biopic Definition

A biopic is a movie about someone's life.

There are music biopics, true story, presidential profiles, and breakdowns of military leaders. So many different ideas to choose from!

How Do You Pronounce Biopic?

You pronounce "biopic"...bio-pick. Not bi-opic. Let's just confirm that. I can't sit in any more meetings and hear bi-opic. It's a biographical picture. Biopic. This is not complicated, people. So let's get it right moving forward.

Key Characteristics of Biopics

Biopics are designed to dramatize the key events, experiences, and achievements of the subject's life, offering audiences insight into their personal and professional journey.

These films often focus on notable individuals such as political leaders, artists, musicians, athletes, scientists, and other influential figures.

• Real-Life Subject: Biopics are centered around a real person, whether they are a historical figure, a contemporary personality, or someone from the recent past.
• Narrative Structure : They follow a narrative structure similar to traditional storytelling, with a beginning, middle, and end. The story typically covers significant milestones and events in the subject's life.
• Character Study : Biopics aim to provide a deep character study of the subject, exploring their motivations, struggles, successes, and failures.
• Authenticity : Biopics often strive for authenticity by recreating the historical period, locations, and circumstances in which the subject lived.
• Casting : Actors are chosen to portray the subject, often undergoing physical transformations to resemble them and capture their mannerisms.
• Research : Filmmakers conduct extensive research to ensure accuracy in depicting the subject's life, including consulting historical records, biographies, and firsthand accounts.
• Dramatization : While biopics are based on real events, they may take creative liberties to enhance the storytelling or condense events for cinematic purposes.

Why Are Biopics Are Oscar Bait?

Typically, biopic scripts attract bigger actors looking to take on a role that the audience already understands. These bigger actors help movies get bigger budgets, meaning wider releases. If the movie is good and seen by a lot of people or both, it can usually generate Oscar buzz.

We also have a disproportionate amount of Oscar wins for biopics. Or, at least it feels that way. Part of that has to do with why so many biopics are being made.

Examples of Biopics

'BlacKkKlansman'

• “12 Years a Slave” (2013) dir. Steve McQueen
• “20th Century Women” (2016) dir. Mike Mills
• “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) dir. Ron Howard
• “A Cry In The Dark” (1988) dir. Fred Schepisi
• “Adaptation” (2002) dir. Spike Jonze
• “Ali” (2001) dir. Michael Mann
• “American Sniper” (2014) dir. Clint Eastwood
• “American Splendor” (2003) dir. Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman
• “Arrival” (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve
• “At Eternity’s Gate” (2018) dir. Julian Schnabel
• “Beyond The Sea” (2004) dir. Kevin Spacey
• “Black Panther” (2018) dir. Ryan Coogler
• "Blackkklansman" (2018) dir. Spike Lee
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018) dir. Bryan Singer
• “Boys Don’t Cry” (1999) dir. Kimberly Peirce
• “Braveheart” (2005) dir. Mel Gibson
• “Capote” (2005) dir. Bennett Miller
• “Catch Me If You Can” (2002) dir. Steven Spielberg
• “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013) dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
• “Darkest Hour” (2017) dir. Joe Wright
• “Dreamgirls” (2006) dir. Bill Condon
• “Eighth Grade” (2018) dir. Bo Burnham
• “Ex-Machina” (2015) dir. Alex Garland
• “First Man” (2018) dir. Damien Chazelle
• “Florence Foster Jenkins” (2016) dir. Stephen Frears
• “Foxcatcher” (2014) dir. Bennett Miller
• “Frida” (2002) dir. Julie Taymor
• “Gandhi” (1982) dir. Richard Attenborough
• “Green Book” (2018) dir. Peter Farrelly
• “Hacksaw Ridge” (2016) dir. Mel Gibson
• “Hidden Figures” (2016) dir. Theodore Melfi
• “Hotel Rwanda” (2004) dir. Terry George
• “I, Tonya” (2017) dir. Craig Gillespie
• “I’m Not There” (2007) dir. Todd Haynes
• “Invictus” (2009) dir. Clint Eastwood
• “Jackie” (2016) dir. Pablo Larraín
• “Jobs” (2013) dir. Joshua Michael Stern
• “Joy” (2015) dir. David O. Russell
• “Julie & Julia” (2009) dir. Nora Ephron
• “La Vie En Rose” (2007) dir. Olivier Dahan
• “Les Miserables” (2012) dir. Tom Hooper
• “Lincoln” (2012) dir. Steven Spielberg
• “Loving” (2016) dir. Jeff Nichols
• “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) dir. George Miller
• “Milk” (2008) dir. Gus Van Sant
• “Monster” (2003) dir. Patty Jenkins
• “Mudbound” (2017) dir. Dee Rees
• “Music of the Heart” (1999) dir. Wes Craven
• “My Week With Marilyn” (2011) dir. Simon Curtis
• “One True Thing” (1998) dir. Carl Franklin
• “Out of Africa” (1985) dir. Sydney Pollack
• “Patton” (1970) dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
• “Queen Christina” (1933) dir. Rouben Mamoulian
• “Raging Bull” (1980) dir. Martin Scorsese
• “Ray” (2004) dir. Taylor Hackford
• “Selma” (2014) dir. Ava DuVernay
• “Silkwood” (1983) dir. Mike Nichols
• “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012) dir. David O. Russell
• “Snowden” (2016) dir. Oliver Stone
• “Steve Jobs” (2015) dir. Danny Boyle
• “Swiss Army Man” (2016) dir. Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
• “The Blind Side” (2009) dir. John Lee Hancock
• “The Danish Girl” (2015) dir. Tom Hooper
• “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) dir. David Frankel
• “The Disaster Artist” (2017) dir. James Franco
• “The Elephant Man” (1980) dir. David Lynch
• “The Florida Project” (2017) dir. Sean Baker
• “The Imitation Game” (2014) dir. Morten Tyldum
• “The Iron Lady” (2011) dir. Phyllida Lloyd
• “The King’s Speech” (2010) dir. Tom Hooper
• “The Last Emperor” (1987) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
• “The Last King of Scotland” (2006) dir. Kevin Macdonald
• “The Lobster” (2016) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
• “The Master” (2012) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
• “The Post” (2017) dir. Steven Spielberg
• “The Queen” (2006) dir. Stephen Frears
• “The Revenant” (2015) dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
• “The Social Network” (2010) dir. David Fincher
• “The Theory of Everything” (2014) dir. James Marsh
• “The Witch” (2015) dir. Robert Eggers
• “Trumbo” (2015) dir. Jay Roach
• “Unbroken” (2014) dir. Angelina Jolie
• “Vice” (2018) dir. Adam McKay
• “Walk The Line” (2005) dir. James Mangold

What Defines A Biopic?

'Lincoln'

The Academy Awards loves biopics. that's why we see so many nominated. Whether you cover a character's entire life the way Malcolm X does, or just a few long weeks the way Selma maneuvers its tale, biopics are centered around interesting historical characters. We want to follow a famous person or historical figures through their personal life!

Many people quibble over whether or not Apollo 13 can be a biopic because it's truly an ensemble, versus First Man, which centers around one guy, so you have to take care not to mislabel historical dramas biopics. I'm more focused on writing the best thing possible, but let's entertain what the classical definition of a biopic must be.

I think the clearest way to define a biopic is to look at the central plot. If the story revolves around one person and their actions, then it's a biopic. If it revolves around a group of people trying to do one thing, then it's probably just a historical drama. That means movies like Vice are biopics. But movies like Game Change would be historical dramas.

Biopic Tropes

'Hidden Figures'

While each biopic is unique in its own right, there are several common tropes and conventions that tend to appear in many biographical films.

These tropes help to structure and dramatize real-life stories for the big screen. Here are some common biopic tropes:

• Rise to Fame: Many biopics start by showing the subject's humble beginnings and follow their journey as they rise to fame or prominence in their field. This often includes scenes of early struggles, setbacks, and determination.
• Conflict and Obstacles : Biopics frequently highlight the challenges and obstacles that the subject faced throughout their life. These could be personal, professional, or societal challenges that they had to overcome.
• Personal Relationships: Biopics often delve into the subject's personal relationships, including family, friends, and romantic partners. These relationships can provide insight into the subject's character and motivations.
• Historical Context: Biopics often place the subject's life within a broader historical or cultural context. This helps viewers understand the significance of the subject's achievements or actions.
• Flashbacks : Flashbacks are a common narrative device in biopics to provide insight into the subject's past. These flashbacks can reveal formative experiences or key moments in the subject's life.
• Iconic Moments: Biopics often include reenactments of iconic moments from the subject's life, such as historical speeches, performances, or pivotal events. These moments are often recreated with great attention to detail.
• Transformation : Actors in biopics often undergo physical transformations to resemble the subject. This can include changes in appearance, such as makeup and prosthetics, as well as changes in mannerisms and speech patterns.
• Struggles and Addictions: Many biopics explore the subject's struggles with personal demons, such as addiction, mental health issues, or other challenges. These struggles add depth and complexity to the character.
• Triumph and Redemption : Biopics often conclude with a triumphant or redemptive moment in the subject's life. This can be the culmination of their efforts or a resolution to a long-standing conflict.
• Narrator or Framing Device: Some biopics use a narrator or framing device to provide context or commentary on the subject's life. This can help guide the narrative and provide perspective.
• Music and Soundtrack: Music plays a significant role in many biopics, especially if the subject is a musician or performer. The soundtrack often features the subject's music or music from the era they lived in.
• Awards and Recognition : Biopics often depict the subject's receipt of awards, accolades, or recognition for their achievements. This can serve as a climactic moment in the film.
• Text at the End: Many biopics conclude with text that provides updates on what happened to the subject or other key characters after the events depicted in the film. This helps to tie up loose ends and provide closure.

Why Are Biopics Popular?

'Sleepwalk With Me'

We talked about intellectual property in our Public Domain post and our how to adapt a screenplay post; intellectual property rules Hollywood. People want ideas that already have a certain public recognition, so they're easier to get clicks or to sell tickets. It's really expensive to option huge books or news articles. And it's competitive.

But as you know, the Public Domain contains lots of free ideas. And you know who's part of the Public Domain? Most historical figures or famous people.

Screenplays that cover the lives of famous people are free intellectual property. They're great ways to build a story and to highlight story structure , without having to make up everything that happens.

Sure, you have to be truthful, but writing about a famous figure and chronicling their lives or a moment in their lives gives you less to pitch. Usually, these people are part of the cultural lexicon already. So you don't have to do much, just add drama and reasoning to the internal and external conflict provided by history.

That's easier said than done, but you understand the gist.

This makes writing biopics very attractive to writers.

Summing Up Biopic Films In Hollywood

So there you have it - biopic films are all the rage now. They're easy to sell, end up on a lot of the year-end lists, and can be popular with agents, managers, and audiences alike.

Got a great biopic idea?

Consider joining our Free Screenwriting Seminar to flesh out your idea.

We have lots of tips on dialogue , pitching , and treatments to get your idea together, too.

Senior Post is an award-winning Brooklyn-based post house that provides full post production services for film and television. Their work has screened at Sundance, Slamdance, Tribeca and SXSW and they've worked with clients such as HBO, Hulu, A24, Apatow Productions, Comedy Central, Vice, Vevo and Refinery 29. Their latest project, the second season of 2 Dope Queens , airs Fridays on HBO at 11pm.

• How to Write an Adapted Screenplay ›
• Read the Screenplay for Spike Lee's Unmade Jackie Robinson Biopic ›
• The Flamin' Hot Cheetos Biopic Just Got Weirder ›
• Martin Scorsese Super Bowl Commercial ›
• 20 Best Biopic Movies of the 21st Century (So Far) ›
• Biopic Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster ›
• Biographical film - Wikipedia ›

Is Achieving the American Dream Possible Through Cinematography?

“this is not a speed race. this is a marathon. we are long-distance runners.”.

How do you build a career as a cinematographer when the odds are against you? How do you create opportunities for yourself, when dealing with rejection, financial barriers, and prejudice? Is it possible to pursue your dream without conforming and becoming someone you are not?

Alejandro Mejía

From Landing the Job to Boosting Morale: Sundance DP Roundtable Dives into Filters & More

More about Bruce

More about Alejandro

Subscribe to the No Film School Podcast on:

• Apple Podcasts

Listen to more episodes of the No Film School podcast right here:

This episode of The No Film School Podcast was produced by GG Hawkins .

What Are The Best Thriller Movies of All Time?

Greig fraser explains how he used unreal engine for 'dune: part two', what are the best action movies of all time, first impressions of openai’s sora are looking scary good, canon improves servo zooming and cfexpress usage in latest r5 and r3 updates, are king kong and godzilla friends, soderbergh talks using the sony a9 iii on his sundance short "presence", how this austrian director told his great-grandfather's true war story, the best dark comedies, what are parallel storylines in film and tv.

• 1-800-611-FILM
• Industry Trends

What Does Biopic Mean? Examples of Great Biographical Performances

Biopics, or biographical films, play a significant role in storytelling and cultural representation. From preserving historical events and figures to celebrating diverse stories, a well-executed biopic can capture the essence of complex, interesting individuals.   

What Does Biopic Mean?

“Biopic” combines the words “biographical” and “picture” and refers to a film that dramatizes the life of a real person. Biopics capture significant achievements, challenges, and personal aspects of political leaders, musicians, artists, athletes, and scientists. Biopics can be informative and entertaining, shedding light on the complexities of real-life personalities. Exceptional biopics have also earned accolades such as nominations and awards at film festivals and prestigious award shows .

A few examples of well-known biographical performances include:

Sofía Vergara, Griselda (2023)

Griselda, the latest biographical crime drama miniseries on Netflix, delves into the captivating life of Griselda Blanco, the notorious Colombian drug lord known as the “Godmother of Cocaine. Portrayed by Sofía Vergara, the miniseries directed by Andrés Baiz and written by Doug Miro and Ingrid Escajeda follows Blanco’s rise in the Miami drug scene, showcasing her relentless pursuit of power and wealth, which ultimately lead her to paranoia, betrayal, and tragic downfall.

Sofia Vergara, known for her comedic roles, delivers a career-defining performance as Griselda Blanco in her first Spanish-language project. Her portrayal highlights her versatility and depth as an actress, as she skillfully embodies the complexities of this compelling and multifaceted character, earning well-deserved acclaim. The main cast includes  Matthew Bellows , a faculty member at NYFA Los Angeles, portraying DEA Special Agent Bob Palombo, NYFA Miami Acting for Film alum Sally Nieves, and  Orlando Pineda , an NYFA Alum, who plays Dixon Blanco, Griselda’s eldest son.

In a recent Q&A with NYFA, Pineda described his experience preparing for his role in the film.

“I read absolutely everything there is on Griselda Blanco and her legacy, including family, business, and private life. I worked on my character’s intentions, motivations, obstacles to build an arc, I asked my dad (retired General in Colombia’s Military) so many questions about that world and all of that helped me find the essence of Dixon, who is a very different persona from myself.”

Header image via Netflix.

David Oyelowo, Selma (2014)

Directed by the iconic Ava DuVernay, Selma follows Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign to secure equal voting rights. Following the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, this film is considered one of the best movies about Martin Luther King, Jr ., offering a powerful and poignant portrayal of the civil rights movement and King’s pivotal role. The film won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song.

Kingsley Ben-Adir, Bob Marley: One Love (2024)

Bob Marley: One Love, hitting theaters on February 14, 2024, is a cinematic celebration of the reggae legend’s life. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, the film stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley and Lashana Lynch as his wife, Rita. The biopic traces Marley’s journey from overcoming adversity to becoming a trailblazer in reggae music. Ben-Adir, known for roles in One Night in Miami and The Comey Rule, masterfully embodies Marley’s persona, tackling the challenge of adopting Jamaican patois.

The film unfolds in 1976 Kingston as Marley plans a peace concert amid political turmoil. It follows his move to London after surviving an assassination attempt and recording the iconic “Exodus” album. Flashbacks provide glimpses into Marley’s formative years, capturing his Rastafarian beliefs reflected in influential songs like “Redemption Song.” The movie succinctly encapsulates Marley’s enduring influence and cultural impact through his timeless music. NYFA Filmmaking camp alum Michael Gandolfini stars in the film as Howard Bloom.

Natalie Portman, Jackie (2016)

In Jackie, May December , star Natalie Portman portrays Jacqueline Kennedy. The story follows the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and provides an intimate look at Jackie’s grief and strength. Portman’s compelling performance earned her critical acclaim, capturing the nuances of Jackie’s complex emotions and resilience during one of the nation’s most tragic moments. The film was nominated for three Oscars.

Bradley Cooper, Maestro (2023)

Maestro , a biographical romantic drama, explores the relationship between the American composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre. Directed by and starring Bradley Cooper, the film is based on a screenplay co-written by Cooper and Josh Singer. NYFA Guest Speaker Carey Mulligan plays Montealegre.  Image via People.

Lex Scott Davis, Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart (2016)

Based on Braxton’s book Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart a Memoir and her hit song, this biopic stars NYFA alum Lex Scott Davis as Toni Braxton. Directed by Vondie Curtis Hall, the film shows the life of the famous singer. Using the book as source material, the biopic has Braxton’s own spin on it, providing a raw and in-depth view of her life.

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Hidden Figures (2016)

Hidden Figures tells the untold story of three African-American women mathematicians—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—who played pivotal roles at NASA during the Space Race. The film sheds light on their remarkable contributions, breaking barriers of both race and gender, and celebrates their resilience and brilliance in the face of adversity. Their achievements, crucial to the success of historic space missions, are finally brought to the forefront in this inspiring narrative. The film was nominated for three Oscars.

Austin Butler, Elvis (2022)

Austin Butler, recipient of a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama award for his role in Elvis, brought the famous singer’s legacy to life. The movie was filmed in Gold Coast, Australia, with the assistance of some hardworking NYFA Australia students . The film itself garnered eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The nominations carried a bittersweet tone for the Elvis team, as Lisa Marie Presley, the real-life daughter of the legendary singer, tragically passed away shortly after the Golden Globes ceremony that year. Image via IMDB.

Ana de Armas, Blonde (2022)

Directed by Andrew Dominik, Blonde stars Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. The film, which received an NC-17 rating, delves into the complexities of Monroe’s life, examining both her public persona and private struggles. Per Variety magazine, Ana De Armas received a standing ovation for her performance. The film received one Oscar nomination.

Salma Hayek, Frida (2002)

Directed by Julie Taymor, Frida stars Salma Hayek as the iconic artist Frida Kahlo. The film explores Kahlo’s tumultuous life, art, and relationships. Hayek’s compelling performance captures Kahlo’s passion, pain, and unapologetic spirit, offering a visually stunning and emotionally resonant portrayal of the celebrated Mexican painter. The film won two Oscars for Best Music, Original Score, and Best Music, Original Song. Image via IMDB.

Jennifer Lopez, Selena (1997)

Selena is a biographical musical drama film directed by Gregory Nava. The movie chronicles the life and career of Tejano music superstar Selena Quintanilla, played by Jennifer Lopez, showcasing her rise to fame, cultural impact, and tragic death at a young age. The film received critical acclaim for Lopez’s performance and portrayal of Selena’s legacy . It remains a poignant tribute to the iconic singer, capturing the essence of her spirit and her lasting influence. Lopez was nominated for an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.

A documentary rather than a traditional biopic, RBG focuses on the life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film highlights her impact on gender equality and the law. Through interviews, archival footage, and a nuanced portrayal of her legal battles, RBG offers a comprehensive and inspiring look at Justice Ginsburg’s enduring legacy as a trailblazer for women’s rights and a champion for justice. RBG was shot by director of photography and NYFA Documentary and cinematography instructor Claudia Raschke . The film was nominated for two Oscars.

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody (2019)

Bohemian Rhapsody depicts the journey of the rock band Queen and their legendary frontman, Freddie Mercury . This film joins a rich tradition of biopics centered on renowned musicians, such as Ray, Walk the Line, La Vie en Rose, Get on Up , and Straight Outta Compton. Starring Oppenheimer actor Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, the film won four Oscars, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Malek, who is the son of Egyptian immigrants, beat out several other established actors for his first Oscar.

Madina Nalwanga, Queen of Katwe (2016)

Queen of Katwe follows Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl from a slum who becomes a chess prodigy. Lupita Nyong’o stars as Phiona’s mother. The film highlights Phiona’s remarkable journey in chess and explores her family’s resilience, determination, and unwavering support, making it a heartwarming and inspiring tale. Image via Business Standard.

Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game (2014)

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, a mathematician who played a crucial role in breaking the Enigma code during World War II. The film, titled The Imitation Game , delves into Turing’s genius, personal struggles, and the impact of his groundbreaking work on modern computing, offering a poignant tribute to his legacy. The film won an Oscar for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay.

Additional Biopic Films 

• Erin Brockovich (2000)
• Cesar Chavez (2014)
• Wild (2014)
• Get on Up (2014)
• Malcolm X (1992)
• The Iron Lady (2011)
• The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Bring Characters to Life at NYFA

Ready to step into the shoes of an icon or fictional character? Learn more about making your own film or performing in a film or television show in one of  NYFA’s filmmaking  or  acting for film programs !

Film Genres

• Introduction
• Streaming services
• Action films
• Amateur films
• Stop-motion animation
• Biographical films
• Blaxploitation films
• Children's films
• Gangster films
• Detective & mystery films
• Documentary films
• Ethnographic films
• Experimental films
• Exploitation films
• Historical films
• Slasher films
• Independent films
• Indigenous films
• James Bond films
• Mockumentary films
• Newsreels This link opens in a new window
• Police films
• Bible films
• Star Trek films
• Star Wars films
• Science films
• Shakespeare on film
• Short films
• Silent films
• Sports films
• Superhero films
• Anti-war films
• Vampire films
• Zombie films

Film Studies Librarian

Other library resource(s)

Internet resource(s)

Keeping up with the journal literature

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here . The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

A quick definition for biographical films

Biopic (biographical picture; biographical film)

A film that tells the story of the life of a real person, often a well-known monarch, political leader, or artist. Thomas Edison’s Execution of Mary Queen of Scots (US, 1895) prefigures the genre but perhaps the earliest biopic is Jeanne d’Arc/Joan of Arc (Georges Méliès, France, 1900). Biopics were popular with audiences in Europe in the early 20th century, including Queen Elizabeth (Henri Desfontaine and Louis Mercanto, France, 1912), Danton (Dimitri Buchowetski, Germany, 1920), Anne Boleyn (Ernst Lubitsch, Germany, 1920), Napoleon (Abel Gance, France, 1927), and The Private Life of Henry VIII (Alexander Korda, UK, 1933). Beyond Europe and North America, biopics celebrated anti-colonial figures and continue to do so ( see Philippines, film in ). The biopic was a staple of US cinema during the studio period, with some 300 films released between 1927 and 1960. The work of director William Dieterle, including The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), Juarez (1939), and The Life of Emile Zola (1937), is particularly worthy of note. It is common for films from this era to start in media res and proceed by way of flashbacks through a ‘stages of life’ structure, with details from a person’s early life often prefiguring the events they subsequently became known for ( see plot/story ). This structure allows the biopic to move between public and private knowledge pertaining to the film’s subject: the revelation of a private self is one of the genre’s key pleasures. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941), generally agreed to be one of the greatest films ever made, is a scathing and thinly disguised biopic of newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst. US versions of the genre display a shift from celebratory studio-era films to a ‘warts and all’ approach in the late 1960s and 1970s; as, for example, in the Woody Guthrie biopic, Bound For Glory (Hal Ashby, US, 1976). From the 1990s, a number of films, such as 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (François Girard, Portugal/Canada/Finland/Netherlands, 1993) and the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There (Todd Haynes, US, 2007), actively sought to deconstruct the genre. The lives of entertainers, film stars, and artists comprise some 36 per cent of all Hollywood biopics, a tendency that continues in the contemporary cinema with films showing the rise to fame of Freddie Mercury ( Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)) and Elton John ( Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher, 2019)).  ...

Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020).  Biopic . In  A Dictionary of Film Studies . Oxford University Press. Retrieved 19 May. 2023

Finding library resources for biographical films

The Jones Media Center has a collection of biographies for viewing. To find them, you can do a subject search for " biographical films ." To find books about biographical films, look at the subject headings that contain " history and criticism ." These books will discuss historical films in general or those produced in different countries. To find film resources on a specific person, you can do a subject search and add " drama " with your other search terms.

• biographical films Call number range PN 1995.9 .B55 on Baker Level 4 .
• biographical films [ ... insert name of country ... ]
• autobiographical films

Introductory reading(s)

Selected book title(s)

Finding scholarly articles & journal titles

Articles and other writings about movies can be found in many publications. We don't have any periodicals that look exclusively at biographies in our collections. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find articles. You can also search in America, History & Life or Historical Abstracts depending on which historical figure you want to research.

Selected list of biographical films

Find more biographical films in the online catalog .

• << Previous: B movies
• Next: Blaxploitation films >>
• Last Updated: Mar 25, 2024 1:57 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmgenres

Is Career Training in Film Right for You?

Biopic – Everything You Need to Know

Do you ever wonder what a biopic is or what qualifies as one? Biopic films appear to be omnipresent in today’s cinema. Old historical figures, musicians, politicians, and “normal” individuals dealing with exceptional situations are featured. Biopic films have been more popular in recent decades, but they are not new. Biopics have been a feature of the cinematic world since its inception. So, what is a biopic? What does it usually involve? How has the genre progressed to its current state?

Let’s explore.

 Robert Downey Jr in & as “Chaplin.”

Image Source: IMDB

What is a Biopic?

A biopic is a movie that tells the story of a real, non-fictional person’s life. A biopic, which stands for “biographical motion picture,” might chronicle a person’s entire life or a single event in their history. Biopics can cover a wide range of subjects, including historical people as well as contemporary celebrities.

Biopics – Explained

Features of a Biopic

Revolves around a single character.

Biopics are focused on a single character, which is why the title of so many biographical films is simply the protagonist’s name: Ali, Gandhi, Malcolm X, Patton, and Selena are just a few examples. 

Will Smith in & As “Ali.”

In some cases, the main character is a small group of genuine people—usually a band. For example, the protagonist in F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton is the rap group N.W.A.

Paints a Striking Picture of the Protagonist’s Life

A biopic doesn’t have to depict the protagonist’s complete life from birth to death, but it should represent a significant amount of it. A biopic is not a film that portrays the story of one event in a genuine person’s life. The actual narrative of the three real astronauts who flew the Apollo 13 mission to the moon, for example, is told in Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 . This film is not technically a biopic because it concentrates entirely on that one event and does not record more of the astronauts’ lives.

Being Subjective

Biopic filmmakers frequently take artistic license with the subject’s life story. To heighten the tension and create a more engaging film, they may condense dates, delete information, and rework critical conversations. Some biopics, such as Steve Jobs, directed by Danny Boyle and scripted by Aaron Sorkin, may employ surface-level facts about a person as a framework for a somewhat fictional narrative.

Michael Fassbender in &as “Steve Jobs.”

Image Source: Variety

Genre Fluidity in Biopics

While all biopics are essentially films about real people, they differ in a variety of ways. A western outlaw; a criminal; a musical composer; a religious figure or leader of a movement; a war-time military hero; an entertainer; an artist; an inventor, scientist, or doctor; a politician or President; a sports hero or celebrity; or an adventurer are all examples of big-screen biopics and they cover a lot of genres.

Accuracy in Biopics

The most obvious way in which a biopic distinguishes itself is in its historical accuracy. A biopic can be nearly entirely fictional, employing only surface facts to construct a primarily made-up narrative, depending on the story you portray.

A director may be more interested in making a film about the person’s mythology rather than the facts if the biopic is about someone who has a tremendous mystique surrounding them.

Unfortunately, a biopic that is 100 percent accurate is impossible. Movie Directors will only have so much to work with if the picture is based on someone who lived centuries ago. Even though the facts are known in some of these circumstances, the mystique surrounding a person may be a stronger pull or a more compelling story.

Take Todd Haynes’s ‘ I’m Not Th ere , for example, in which many performers play Bob Dylan. This diverse cast is more than just a marketing trick; it highlights Dylan’s own continually fluctuating personas.

I’m No t There Trailer

Biopics of people from the twentieth century are frequently detected, embellishing the facts to make the subject appear better or worse than they were. So, if you make a biographical film on someone who is still living, you will undoubtedly be informed how good or bad it is.

Biopics, on the other hand, frequently distort reality to make a better film. This is nothing new; artworks and plays have twisted reality in some fashion for the art. After all, movies are not exactly real life, and if someone truly wanted to know the details of someone’s life, they could read a biography.

The Rise of Biopics

Biographical films have always been popular, which may surprise people. Biopics, which generally focused on historical people such as Peter the Great, Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, and even Jesus of Nazareth, were the first films ever made.

Abraham Lincoln and George Armstrong Custer are two historical individuals who lived around the same time and had multiple biopics made about them during the early years of cinema. Custer’s Last Fight , The Plainsman , Santa Fe Trail , and They Died with Their Boots On are among them. However, many of these films have been chastised for embellishing and romanticizing Custer’s life narrative.

Before 1950, Abraham Lincoln was the subject of a slew of biopics. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Lincoln, is undoubtedly the most well-known and revered of these numerous biopics. However, unlike other films on US presidents, Young Mr. Lincoln concentrates solely on Lincoln’s early years as a young lawyer in Illinois. He worked on a murder case.

Young Henry Ford on Mr. Lincoln

Aside from historical personalities, early biopics featured current-day celebrities. For example, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1943), starring James Cagney, centers on George M. Cohan. Known as “The Man Who Owned Broadway,” it is perhaps the most famous early-day biopics. Regardless of how realistic it is, it was a great hit, garnering numerous prizes and critical acclaim.

Yankee Doodle Dandy also highlights one of the most crucial aspects of biopics: their appeal. Aside from the fact that viewers want to witness a dramatization of a real person, biopics demand actors to “be” the genuine person, which can be difficult. As a result, seeing how an actor manages to look so much like a real-life subject can be rather impressive.

This success can lead to prizes, which numerous biopics have received. However, regardless of the quality of the plot, the main pull for biographical films is frequently the performance, which ends up being either the most significant element or the least significant part.

Changes in the World of Biopics

As cinema began changing, so did the meaning of biopics. While they still retain similar act structures and an air of romanticism, biopic films started to cover a more significant variety of subjects. Additionally, the rate of biopics being released rocketed, especially after the 1940s.

Casting in a Biopic

Finding the right person to play the subject of a biopic is difficult enough; finding the right person to play the subject of a biopic is a very different difficulty. It is a never-ending dispute on whether you choose someone because they look like the person or act like the person. While some believe that the most crucial factor is performance, others argue that it is more necessary to appear like the subject.

Furthermore, suppose the film does not portray a subject that others consider fair. In that case, it may generate issues for the actor showing the subject.

Some biopic films have avoided this problem by having the subjects star based on their lives. Howard Stern in Pri vate Parts (1997) and Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Ro binson Story (1950) are two notable instances.

Biopics can cover a wide range of film genres. While films like Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Cleopatra (1963) exploited their themes to convey big stories, new forms of biopics began to emerge.

While Spartacus (1960) was an epic movie about the Third Servile War (73-71 BC), it also critiqued the recent Communist witch hunt that resulted in The Hollywood Blacklist.

Andrei Rublev (1966), while being set in the 15th century, criticizes the Soviet Union’s restriction of artistic and spiritual freedoms at the time. First, the picture was prohibited and then suppressed in the Soviet Union because Andrei Tarkovsky directed it.

Tarkovsky on Biopic

Bonnie and C lyde , a (simplified) biopic, was one of the most divisive films of the 1960s (1967). The picture contained unabashed sex and brutality that broke new ground in American cinema and starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the quintessential crime couple. It is now widely acknowledged as one of the earliest films to emerge from the budding and crucial New Hollywood period.

Mishi ma: A L ife in Four Chapters (1985), directed by Paul Schrader, takes a more artistic approach to the biopic later in the 1980s. Schrader devised a biopic that dared to be far more creative than factual. It balances its focus between the final day of Yukio Mishima’s life and redoing some of his stories. The answer to the question “What is a biopic?” is profoundly complicated by this film.

Biopic in the Modern Day

As the twentieth century gave way to the twenty-first, biographical films evolved to incorporate lesser-known personalities with well-known ones. In this video, film critic David Edelstein examines some recent and classic biopic instances, as well as the genre’s enduring popularity.

David Edelstein on Biopics

Politicians and entertainers have dominated the biopic landscape for the past few decades. As a result, many significant biopics have been about American political personalities, be it a recent US president or someone working in Washington, D.C.

For example, in the 1990s, Richard Nixon was able to have two different movies created about him. Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995) was the first. As a result, a massive three-hour-plus drama starring Anthony Hopkins focused on his personal life and politics.

Dick (1999), starring Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams as two adolescents who become embroiled in the Watergate crisis, was the other. While Dick is a comedy, it is still based on a true story. Moreover, it portrays a genuine politician (Dan Hedaya as Nixon).

While politicians are entertaining to watch, it appears that no other industry receives as much biopic attention as music. For example, in 1979, a made-for-television biopic of Elvis Presley (simply titled Elvis) starring Kurt Russell and directed by John Carpenter was released (their first collaboration).

Elvis DVD Trailer

A stage play about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was transformed into the film Amadeus (1984), directed by acclaimed Czech filmmaker Milos Forman. Finally, Selena Perez got one with Selena (1997), which starred Jennifer Lopez and sparked debate due to the casting.

Many more music biopics have been released since the 1970s, demonstrating their popularity and saturation . Two recent and well-known examples are Straight Outta Compton (2015) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), two recent and famous examples, with the latter becoming the highest-grossing biopic of all time.

It’s also worth noting how predictable biographical films may be, especially when the subject is music. Patrick (H) Willems provides a detailed study of music biopics in the video below.

Patrick H Willems Analyzes Music Biopics

There is no scarcity of biographical films, and they probably never will be. Moreover, movies now have even more technology to recreate environments and people, boosting the realism of any specific film.

Make-up artists continue to ensure that their actors resemble the subject. In contrast, the actors must still persuade the audience with their performance. As a result, there will never be a shortage of movies based on real people with so many subjects to choose from.

Criticism Against Biopics

The celebrity biopic is the genre with the most risk. When it goes well, especially in the twenty-first century, it fills theatres and wins prizes. But, on the other hand, a biopic may be dreadful in its own unique, torturous way when things go wrong.

Actors believe it’s worth the risk, which is understandable. Since 2000, just one short of a dozen Oscars for the best actor has been given to actors portraying other personalities, including Jamie Foxx for Ray , Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote , Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln , Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything , Gary Oldman for The Darkest Hour , and, of course, Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody . During the same 20-year period, ten of the best actress Oscars have gone to actresses who have portrayed real-life characters, including Charlize Theron for Monster , Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line , Helen Mirren for The Queen , Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady, and Renée Zellweger for Judy last year .

However, not everyone has been so fortunate. Gotti (2018), starring John Travolta as crime leader John Gotti, is one of the few films on Rotten Tomatoes with 0%. In the New York Post, Johnny Oleksinski stated, “I’d sooner wake up next to a severed horse head than ever see Gotti again.” Beyond the Sea (2004), Kevin Spacey’s biopic of musician Bobby Darin, did not fare any better.  He made the film on a budget of $25 million. However, it only made a third of that at the box office. The movie was co-written and directed by Spacey. Also, he is credited for singing the songs and playing Darin, even though he was in his 40s. The singer died at the ripe age of 37.

Take a look at four examples from two directors to understand how dangerous the modern biopic can be.

Downfall (2004), directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, is about Adolf Hitler’s final days. While a clip of the Führer’s bunker speech is frequently jokingly re-subtitled on YouTube, the film is one of the most lauded of all cinematic depictions of the Nazi era. So, you’d think that if Hirschbiegel went on to film another drama on a twentieth-century icon, it’d have to be at least acceptable.

Downfall – Steiner’s Attack

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Downfall/0RE6P9FQ94D14NJWPVAWMFM5JD” watchon=”Amazon”]

However, Diana (2013), starring Naomi Watts as a besotted Princess Diana, was so ridiculous in so many ways. Tim Robey wrote a piece for The Daily Telegraph titled “The 10 Most Ridiculous Moments in Diana.” The only problem, according to Robey, was that the picture had “so many crazy, tonally odd, and unintentional-LOL moments that picking just ten is a significant job.”

Naomi Watts in & as “Diana.”

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81323667″ watchon=”Netflix”]

La Vie en Rose

Similarly, Olivier Dahan directed La Vie en Rose (2007), a biopic of Edith Piaf, and Marion Cotillard became the first actress to win an Oscar for a performance in a language other than English.

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Vie-en-Rose-Marion-Cotillard/dp/B00CDJS84Q” watchon=”Amazon”]

Grace of Monaco

The Grace of Monaco (2014), featuring Watts’ friend Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly, was Dahan’s next biopic. Unfortunately, the film was “awe-inspiringly wooden [and] incredibly boring, like a 104-minute Chanel ad, only without the subtlety and depth,” according to Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian.

Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly in “Grace of Monaco.”

Gra ce of Monaco

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Monaco-Nicole-Kidman/dp/B086PH151V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JVVMEK9DN6OV&keywords=Grace+Of+Monaco&qid=1674031870&s=instant-video&sprefix=grace+of+monaco%2Cinstant-video%2C339&sr=1-1″ watchon=”Amazon”]

How did the two filmmakers go from such dazzling heights to such ominous depths? Robey tells BBC Culture, “It’s nuts, isn’t it?” “In the biopic, I believe the line between excellence and camp is alarmingly thin. Something about the genre’s excessive seriousness appears to invite ridicule. But, then, when the directors are not in command of the farce, they may let things go completely awry.”

One of the key reasons why some biopics are adored – while others are mocked – is because of their “high seriousness.” According to Yannis Tzioumakis, author of American Independent Cinema: An Introduction , “biopics have been mainly considered as a prestige picture, not something which is common.” “They abound in the Hollywood studio era of the 1930s, and 1940s biopic story depicting reality was regarded as superior to a western or a musical at the time. It was enticing viewers to go back in time.”

A biopic, unlike a western or a musical, has “a kind of all-boxes-ticked attraction.”According to Robey: “You have a true story on your hands. You have a historical foundation to work with, as well as a backdrop that lends grandeur or importance. You’ve had a life arc that has been great or meaningful in some way.” People who go to the movies once or twice a year believe that such magnificence and significance are more worthy of their time than the cheap thrills of a Gerard Butler action film. However, when a film’s sense of grandeur and importance is exaggerated, it’s like a balloon that’s about to burst. One blunder and the entire venture are doomed.

Hollywood’s Obsession with Biopics

The pin that blew the balloon in Clint Eastwood’s biopic of the FBI’s founder, J Edgar (2011), was the old-age make-up that transformed Armie Hammer (playing J Edgar Hoover’s right-hand man Clyde Tolson) into a newly uncovered Egyptian mummy. Likewise, when Lee Krasner commented on Jackson Pollock’s first action painting in Ed Harris’s biopic Pollock (2002), it was the on-the-nose phrase given by Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner: “Pollock, you’ve done it. You’ve shattered the seal.”

It was also the famous scene in The Darkest Hour (2017). Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) is cheered up by a subway carriage full of adoring, poetry-quoting Londoners.

Leonardo Di Caprio and Armie Hammer in J.Edgar.

“That’s when the movie went for broke,” says Ellen Cheshire, author of Bio-Pics: A Life In Pictures. “It was so oppressive that you could not help but think, ‘Oh my God, what are they doing?”

Biopics are torn apart at their worst by the conflict between their highbrow, respectful tone and the genre’s inherent trashiness. In other films, screenwriters can choose the most dramatic path. In contrast, biopics must follow an existing life story, cram its key events into two hours, and bring about the “eureka” moment for which the hero or heroine is famous. 

The Dilemma of Imitation

Similarly, the performers, hair, and make-up artists cannot create the most intriguing characters. This is because they must impersonate specific persons, which necessitates wigs, prosthetics, and unique accents. Nevertheless, the success of the imitation is straightforward to assess. We can see when the hard work pays off, which is why actors who star in biopics win Oscars regularly. “You view it with a checklist in your head,” says Cheshire. “Have they put on lots of weight? Have they lost a lot of weight? Are they singing? How much do they resemble the person they are playing? How much do they sound like the subject?”

But we can all see when our efforts haven’t paid off. “It is like an unstoppable force meets an immovable object if they can get a big-name actor to play a famous person,” Bradshaw adds. “They want to maximize the actor’s star quality, but they also want the star quality of the character they’re portraying, so they end up with a crazy composite figure.” Amelia Earhart ” always feels exactly like Hilary Swank putting on artificial teeth and talking in a weird voice, as Anna Smith put it in her Metro review of Amelia (2009).

Hilary Swank in & as “Amelia.”

Image Source: Roger Ebert

The biopic’s contradiction is that it prides itself on being faithful to life. Still, no genre is more clearly fake than this one, thanks to the cleverly disguised performers and intrinsically predictable screenplays. And that artificiality is becoming increasingly apparent. We can now fact-check someone’s biography on Wikipedia and watch their mannerisms on YouTube with a single click. We can also express our discontent more swiftly and loudly than ever before, thanks to the internet. Nina Simone’s admirers complained that Zoe Saldana’s skin was too light and her nose was too small when cast as the singer in Nina (2016). Simone’s estate stated that her portrayal was “gut-wrenching, sickening, soul-crushing” — not exactly a quote for a poster. The film went on to receive a 2% Rotten Tomatoes rating, prompting Saldana to apologize in 2020, saying, “I should never have portrayed Nina.”

Image Source: Fox Source

Examples of Biopics

A beautiful mind (2001).

A Beautiful Mind , which represented American mathematician John Nash’s life (played by Russell Crowe), won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

A Beautiful Mind

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Mind-Russell-Crowe/dp/B00ENYKBD0″ watchon=”Amazon”]

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Rami Malek received the Academy Award for Best Actor for depicting Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in this musical biopic.

Bohemian Rhapsody

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Bohemian-Rhapsody-UHD-Rami-Malek/dp/B08GYK261S/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3NHLSGT3K2HCS&keywords=Bohemian+Rhapsody+%282018%29&qid=1674030339&s=instant-video&sprefix=bohemian+rhapsody+2018+%2Cinstant-video%2C1004&sr=1-1″ watchon=”Amazon”]

I’m Not There (2007)

Todd Haynes selected six different actors to represent Bob Dylan in his unorthodox way to show his multiple personalities.

I’m Not There

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Im-Not-There-Christian-Bale/dp/B017PG8FFI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=HGAVMQEJI9BZ&keywords=I%E2%80%99m+Not+There+%282007%29&qid=1674030390&s=instant-video&sprefix=i+m+not+there+2007+%2Cinstant-video%2C333&sr=1-1″ watchon=”Amazon”]

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

This biopic received seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for David Lean, and is based on the life of British archaeologist and army commander  T.E. Lawrence.

Lawrence of Arabia

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Lawrence-Arabia-UHD-Peter-OToole/dp/B00SJUTL08/ref=sr_1_1?crid=V4EBTUO2AJJ&keywords=Lawrence+Of+Arabia+%281962%29&qid=1674030519&s=instant-video&sprefix=lawrence+of+arabia+1962+%2Cinstant-video%2C332&sr=1-1″ watchon=”Amazon”]

Lincoln (2012)

In this historical biopic produced by Steven Spielberg, Daniel-Day Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing former US President Abraham Lincoln.

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Daniel-Day-Lewis/dp/B00BOLE7X0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BV0V4Y98YR3Z&keywords=Lincoln+%282012%29&qid=1674030639&s=instant-video&sprefix=lincoln+2012+%2Cinstant-video%2C661&sr=1-1″ watchon=”Amazon”]

Nixon (1995)

Anthony Hopkins portrays former US President Richard Nixon’s real life in this biopic directed by Oliver Stone. Hopkins received four Academy Award nominations.

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Nixon-Anthony-Hopkins/dp/B004JOVMDC” watchon=”Amazon”]

Ray Charles, the iconic blues artist, is the subject of this biopic directed by Taylor Hackford. For his portrayal of Charles, Jamie Foxx received the Academy Award for Best Actor.

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Ray-Jamie-Foxx/dp/B001NMLMAQ/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1OYQEE85ZIE0W&keywords=Ray+%282004%29&qid=1674030826&s=instant-video&sprefix=ray+2004+%2Cinstant-video%2C325&sr=1-2″ watchon=”Amazon”]

Selena (1997)

Jennifer Lopez has a breakout performance as Mexican-American singer Selena in Gregory Nava’s musical biopic.

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Selena-Jennifer-Lopez/dp/B0091XFP6G/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3AG9VCSAADF9C&keywords=Selena+%281997%29&qid=1674030911&s=instant-video&sprefix=selena+1997+%2Cinstant-video%2C322&sr=1-2″ watchon=”Amazon”]

The Social Network (2010)

This biopic, directed by David Fincher, tells the story of how Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook. The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin, who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Social Network

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Social-Network-Jesse-Eisenberg/dp/B0B677T6FT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1D00Q57869K4G&keywords=The+Social+Network+%282010%29&qid=1674030971&s=instant-video&sprefix=the+social+network+2010+%2Cinstant-video%2C327&sr=1-1″ watchon=”Amazon”]

The Theory of Everything (2014)

This biopic is based on a memoir by Stephen Hawking’s ex-wife, Jane Hawking. It follows the great theoretical physicist’s life and relationships. For his portrayal of Hawking, Eddie Redmayne earned the Academy Award for Best Actor.

The Theory of Everything

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Everything-Felicity-Jones/dp/B00SNEGFNG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2KQMLIHKKBM4X&keywords=The+Theory+Of+Everything+%282014%29&qid=1674031028&s=instant-video&sprefix=the+theory+of+everything+2014+%2Cinstant-video%2C328&sr=1-2″ watchon=”Amazon”]

The Imitation Game (2014)

During World War II, Alan Turing, an English mathematical genius, attempts to crack the German Enigma code with the help of colleagues and mathematicians.  Also, he tries to come to terms with his tumultuous personal life with the war and its principles at the back end.

The Imitation Game

[Jwatchnow link=”https://www.amazon.com/Imitation-Game-Benedict-Cumberbatch/dp/B00R7FRTWI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=30WX8SYXNU516&keywords=The+Imitation+Game+%282014%29&qid=1674031078&s=instant-video&sprefix=the+imitation+game+2014+%2Cinstant-video%2C302&sr=1-1″ watchon=”Amazon”]

Biopics still attract much intrigue and discussion because they are about real-life stories that are stranger than fiction. However, there are many instances when the biopic’s subject has been shortchanged, as their story was not handled well. Just because a biopic is being made on a colorful life, it does not mean that a filmmaker can get away with making a bad film. So, handle your techniques and watch for minute aspects in the person’s life to make the story as natural and engaging as possible.

Game Design – Everything You Need To Know

Game design involves employing your creativity and aesthetics to develop a game environment. It can be for entertainment, education, testing, exercise, or research and experiment.

What Is Crypto? Everything You Need To Know

“Crypto,” an abbreviation for “cryptocurrency,” represents a digital or virtual currency safeguarded by cryptographic methods. In contrast to physical currency, cryptocurrencies solely exist in digital

Acting Tips – Everything You Need To Know

Acting tips can help an actor go from a novice to a maestro. Of course, an actor can claim to be a natural who knows

Film Marketing: Everything You Need To Know

Film Marketing moved past the era of posters and board signs that were used to promote movies and plays. The 2021 era demands Film marketing

How To Become An Influencer? – Everything You Need to Know

Who is a Social Media Influencer? Influencers are ordinary people who have excellent knowledge and expertise in their chosen field. They build and retain a

Boom Operator: Everything You Need to Know

On a film or TV set, a boom operator — also known as a boom person, a boom man, or a boom woman — holds

Over the Shoulder Shot: Everything You Need to Know

Over the Shoulder Shot: Everything You Need to Know Everything You Need to Know An over the shoulder shot, often referred to as a third-person

What is Panning? Everything You Need To Know

Panning in audio is the distribution of an audio signal into a new stereo or multi-channel sound field determined by a pan control setting. Each

How to Get Verified on YouTube? Everything You Need to Know

Getting verified on Youtube and receiving a verification badge adds a lot of credits to the channels that aspire to monetize their content. Still, getting

Fade to Black – Everything You Need To Know

FADE TO BLACK or FADE OUT is precisely what it sounds like: the image fades to black, and the screen darkens. This is usually done

Aerial Shot – Everything You Need to Know

An aerial shot is a classic camera angle captured from an elevated vantage point. Aerial photographs present a deeper understanding of the action happening below

“Abandoned” Premiering on Amazon Prime

“Abandoned” Premiering on Amazon Prime Congratulations to NFI’s very own graduating student, Christy Okugo (@christyjtv) whose new film, “Abandoned”, is premiering on Amazon prime! Chinonso

How to Make a Short Film: Things You Should Know

How to Make a Short Film – Things You Should Know           Short films are motion pictures that aren’t long enough

How to Create an NFT? Everything You Need To Know

NFTs are trending with popularity as it enables people to earn handsome financial rewards. If you wish to capitalize on NFT, this article enumerates the

Extreme Close Up: Everything You Need to Know

An extreme close-up is an incredibly useful cinematic tool. However, because they’re so noticeable to audiences, extreme close-ups require careful use. You need to know

What Is Social Media? – Everything You Need To Know

You must have recently heard more about “social media” and “social media marketing.” The term “social media” is used frequently to describe what we share

Blurry Pictures – Everything You Need to Know

Nothing is more annoying than realizing most of your travel photos have turned out blurry after reaching home from a trip. Yet, capturing clear images

What Is Minting an NFT? Everything You Need To Know

Minting an NFT means converting digital data into crypto collections or digital assets recorded on the blockchain. The digital products or files will be stored

10 Best Biographical Movies of All Time, According to IMDb

From 'Malcolm X' to 'Braveheart', these figures have certainly left us with quite an impression.

It's in our nature to show interest in prominent figures who have shaped the world we live in today. Whether those people are world leaders, musical prodigies, boxers, or activists, they have influenced and shaped our world in some way, shape, or form.

RELATED: 10 Best Biopic Movies of the 21st Century (So Far)

Over the years, filmmakers have taken a particular interest in retelling the stories of widely-known public figures to those who might not have known about their incredible impact and the stories that lie behind these legends or simply as a tribute to honor them.

‘Amadeus’ (1984) — 8.4/10

Released in 1984, Amadeus is a biographical film loosely based on the life of the Austrian musical prodigy , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . The film focuses on the personal struggles Mozart ( Tom Hulce ) faced in alcoholism, and his marriage, while simultaneously dealing with an envious rival, Antonio Salieri ( F. Murray Abraham ), who wants to destroy him at all costs.

Though there were many dramatized and fictionalized aspects of the film, the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri is loosely based on rumors dating back to the 1770s . Throughout the years, however, many published works suggest that historians have not been able to find any evidence of any signs of rivalry. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, of which it won eight, including the highly regarded Best Picture. It also won an additional 32 awards from other associations.

‘Gandhi’ (1982) — 8.1/10

Gandhi is a biographical film based on the events that occurred in the life of the adored Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi (more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi). After spending most of his life experiencing India under British rule, Gandhi ( Ben Kingsley ) tries to stand up for his country. Owing to his extensive accomplishments for India and the world, it's no wonder the film has a longer than average running time of 191 minutes (3 hours and 11 minutes).

His non-violent approach through civil disobedience and efforts against the British eventually led to India’s long-awaited independence and earned him an international reputation as one of the most beloved world leaders today. The film was nominated for numerous awards and won many, including eight wins from the Academy Awards.

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962) — 8.3/10

Lawrence of Arabia tells the story of a British Lieutenant T. E. Lawrence ( Peter O’Toole ), who, with extensive knowledge of Bedouin tribes (nomadic Arab tribes), is sent to Arabia to serve as the link between the Arabs and the British in their battle against the Turks. Against the order of his superior officer, Lawrence, along with Sherif Ali ( Omar Sharif ), commences on a long desert journey with the plan of attacking a Turkish port.

With a running time of nearly four hours (3 hours 42 minutes to be exact), most of the general audience would likely not want to commit to watching the film, but the film's commercial success has that proven wrong. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert noted that despite the lengthy running time, Lawrence of Arabia “is not dense with plot details. It is a spare movie in clean, uncluttered lines, and there is never a moment when we doubt the logistical details of the various campaigns.” The film won many accolades, including seven Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, and more.

RELATED: Elvis: 6 Best Music Biopics To Watch After Baz Luhrmann’s New Film

‘Schindler’s List’ (1993) — 9.0/10

Steven Spielberg ’s epic historical drama Schindler’s List is set in the Polish city of Kraków during World War II. The film is based on the heroic acts of a German industrialist, Oskar Schindler ( Liam Neeson ), and his vigorous attempts to save more than a thousand Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. When he sees how many refugees are ruthlessly killed by the heartless SS Amon Göth ( Ralph Fiennes ) in Kraków, Schindler begins to employ the Polish-Jewish refugees to work in his factories.

In 2018, The Los Angeles Times published an article titled “Why ‘Schindler’s List’ remains brilliant and troubling 25 years after its release”, noting that despite its brilliance, some were concerned about “whether it’s morally defensible to dramatize unspeakable horror and trauma via the language of mass entertainment.” Many stories, however, are asked to be told in a dramatized way movies are a more approachable and exciting medium for the general population to learn about history.

‘Malcolm X’ (1992) — 7.7/10

Spike Lee ’s self-titled biographical film, Malcolm X , is a tribute to the African-American activist Malcolm X (or Malcolm Little). The film explores X’s ( Denzel Washington ) whole life , from growing up in a poor household in rural Michigan to being arrested for performing robberies alongside his friend Shorty (Spike Lee) and a woman named Peg ( Debi Mazar ). While imprisoned, he meets another convict Baines ( Albert Hall ), who becomes a mentor to him and eventually converts him to Islam and consequentially as a member of the religious and political organization, the Nation of Islam.

Malcolm becomes highly invested in the group and idolizes its lifestyle teachings, such as resenting White people for mistreating his race. After being paroled from prison, Malcolm begins preaching and, years later, becomes the spokesperson of the Nation of Islam. However, after speaking out controversial statements and finding out that the group leader Elijah Muhammad ( Al Freeman Jr. ) is somewhat a hypocrite and has numerous children out of wedlock, he announces his loss of faith in Islam. Malcolm becomes the founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which is an organization that focuses on tolerance instead of racial separation.

‘Raging Bull’ (1980) — 8.2/10

The Hollywood biographical classic Raging Bull follows the story of an Italian-American middleweight boxer, Jake LaMotta ( Robert De Niro ). LaMotta's struggles were reflected in his career as a middleweight boxer. At age nineteen in 1941, he fell in love with a fifteen-year-old girl named Vickie ( Cathy Moriarty ), whom he married four years later in 1945.

LaMotta was always worried that Vickie was sleeping with other men, and this anxiety sent him into a downward spiral because that was the start of his uncontrollable rage. Ultimately, his life crumbles, leaving him with nothing but despair. Raging Bull has often been described as one of director Martin Scorsese ’s best directorial works , and the same goes for Robert DeNiro — one of his best performances as an actor.

RELATED: 10 Best Lookalike Actors In Biopics

‘The King’s Speech’ (2010) — 8.0/10

The King’s Speech is a historical drama film about Prince Albert and his journey to becoming King George VI ( Colin Firth ), who wanted to improve his speech impediment, a stammer. His wife, Queen Elizabeth I ( Helena Bonham Carter ), resorts to an Australian speech and language therapist, Lionel Logue ( Geoffrey Rush ), who she believed was the best person to help her husband.

Throughout the process, many doubted whether anyone would take his throne seriously, but with persistence and trust from the future King and Logue, they defied all odds. The future King finally gave his first radio wartime broadcast speech flawlessly. A first-class script, followed by the strong performances by Firth and Rush, led The King’s Speech to win 70 out of a staggering 185 nominations, including four Academy Awards, seven BAFTAs, and a Golden Globe Award.

‘GoodFellas’ (1990) — 8.7/10

GoodFellas follows the story of a mob associate named Henry Hill ( Ray Liotta ), who, having grown up in an environment amongst the mobs, becomes one himself. He begins working for a member of the Mafia, Paul Cicero ( Paul Sorvino ), along with his associates, Jimmy “the Gent” Conway ( Robert DeNiro ) and Tommy DeVito ( Joe Pesci ). Hill’s upbringing and those around him perhaps blur his moral values, and despite being a man who enjoys his money and the luxuries that come with it, he chooses to ignore the affliction he has caused others.

His morality worsens after struggling with drug addiction, and his carelessness causes him to lose everything he ever knew and had; money, luxury, self-respect, identity, and family. Master filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas has stood the test of time and earned the reputation of being one of the best gangster films ever made.

‘Braveheart’ (1995) — 8.4/10

The 1995 biographical film, Braveheart , is based on the history behind the late 13th-century Scottish warrior Sir William Wallace ( Mel Gibson ), who led his fellow Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence against England’s King Edward I ( Patrick McGoohan ). Wallace’s motivation started from a young age when King Edward I conquered Scotland and treated the Scottish disrespectfully. The English King later also executed Wallace's newly-married wife, Murron MacClannough ( Catherine McCormack ), after threatening to expose his soldiers who raped her.

Wallace’s long-pursued battle for Scottish independence led him to become the historic legend he is today. Braveheart went on to win many prestigious awards, including four Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

RELATED: 10 Best Award-Winning Historical Movies of All Time (in Chronological Order)

‘Patton’ (1970) — 7.9/10

Patton focuses on the life of the controversial American General, George S. Patton ( George C. Scott ). The film explores his accomplishments, starting from his first glory in the Battle of El Guettar in Tunisia and subsequently gaining the respect of the army officials and generals. It was his outspokenness and the controversial statements he made, however, which determined the consequential end to his career. He was removed from command for criticizing the US post-war military strategy and further comparing American politics to Nazism.

The epic historical drama became a cinema classic and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in the United States and the Academy Film Archive. Patton was nominated for ten Academy Awards, of which it won an impressive seven, and many more awards from other respected accolade associations.

KEEP READING: 7 Critically-Acclaimed Movies That People Might Not Realize Are Autobiographical

Home » Writing » Autobiography vs. Biography vs. Memoir

What is a Biography?

A biography, also called a bio, is a non-fiction piece of work giving an objective account of a person’s life. The main difference between a biography vs. an autobiography is that the author of a biography is not the subject. A biography could be someone still living today, or it could be the subject of a person who lived years ago.

Biographies include details of key events that shaped the subject’s life, and information about their birthplace, education, work, and relationships. Biographers use a number of research sources, including interviews, letters, diaries, photographs, essays, reference books, and newspapers. While a biography is usually in the written form, it can be produced in other formats such as music composition or film.

If the target person of the biography is not alive, then the storytelling requires an immense amount of research. Interviews might be required to collect information from historical experts, people who knew the person (e.g., friends and family), or reading other older accounts from other people who wrote about the person in previous years. In biographies where the person is still alive, the writer can conduct several interviews with the target person to gain insight on their life.

The goal of a biography is to take the reader through the life story of the person, including their childhood into adolescence and teenage years, and then their early adult life into the rest of their years. The biography tells a story of how the person learned life’s lessons and the ways the person navigated the world. It should give the reader a clear picture of the person’s personality, traits, and their interaction in the world.

Biographies can also be focused on groups of people and not just one person. For example, a biography can be a historical account of a group of people from hundreds of years ago. This group could have the main person who was a part of the group, and the author writes about the group to tell a story of how they shaped the world.

Fictional biographies mix some true historical accounts with events to help improve the story. Think of fictional biographies as movies that display a warning that the story is made of real characters, but some events are fictional to add to the storyline and entertainment value. A lot of research still goes into a fictional biography, but the author has more room to create a storyline instead of sticking to factual events.

Examples of famous biographies include:

• His Excellency: George Washington  by Joseph J. Ellis
• Einstein: The Life and Times  by Ronald William Clark
• Princess Diana – A Biography of The Princess of Wales  by Drew L. Crichton

What is an Autobiography?

An autobiography is the story of a person’s life written by that person. Because the author is also the main character of the story, autobiographies are written in the first person. Usually, an autobiography is written by the person who is the subject of the book, but sometimes the autobiography is written by another person. Because an autobiography is usually a life story for the author, the theme can be anything from religious to a personal account to pass on to children.

The purpose of an autobiography is to portray the life experiences and achievements of the author. Therefore, most autobiographies are typically written later in the subject’s life. It’s written from the point of view of the author, so it typically uses first person accounts to describe the story.

An autobiography often begins during early childhood and chronologically details key events throughout the author’s life. Autobiographies usually include information about where a person was born and brought up, their education, career, life experiences, the challenges they faced, and their key achievements.

On rare occasions, an autobiography is created from a person’s diary or memoirs. When diaries are used, the author must organize them to create a chronological and cohesive story. The story might have flashbacks or flashforwards to describe a specific event, but the main storyline should follow chronological order from the author’s early life to their current events.

One of the main differences between an autobiography vs. a biography is that autobiographies tend to be more subjective. That’s because they are written by the subject, and present the facts based on their own memories of a specific situation, which can be biased. The story covers the author’s opinions on specific subjects and provides an account of their feelings as they navigate certain situations. These stories are also very personal because it’s a personal account of the author’s life rather than a biography where a third party writes about a specific person.

Examples of famous autobiographies include:

• The Story of My Life  by Helen Keller
• The Diary of a Young Girl  by Anne Frank
• Losing My Virginity  by Richard Branson

What is a Memoir?

Memoir comes from the French word  mémoire , meaning memory or reminiscence. Similar to an autobiography, a memoir is the story of a person’s life written by that person. These life stories are often from diary entries either from a first-person account or from a close family member or friend with access to personal diaries.

The difference between a memoir vs. an autobiography is that a memoir focuses on reflection and establishing an emotional connection, rather than simply presenting the facts about their life. The author uses their personal knowledge to tell an intimate and emotional story about the private or public happenings in their life. The author could be the person in the story, or it can be written by a close family member or friend who knew the subject person intimately. The topic is intentionally focused and does not include biographical or chronological aspects of the author’s life unless they are meaningful and relevant to the story.

Memoirs come in several types, all of which are written as an emotional account of the target person. They usually tell a story of a person who went through great struggles or faced challenges in a unique way. They can also cover confessionals where the memoir tells the story of the author’s account that contradicts another’s account.

This genre of writing is often stories covering famous people’s lives, such as celebrities. In many memoir projects, the celebrity or person of interest needs help with organization, writing the story, and fleshing out ideas from the person’s diaries. It might take several interviews before the story can be fully outlined and written, so it’s not uncommon for a memoir project to last several months.

Memoirs do not usually require as much research as biographies and autobiographies, because you have the personal accounts in diary entries and documents with the person’s thoughts. It might require several interviews, however, before the diary entries can be organized to give an accurate account on the person’s thoughts and emotions. The story does not necessarily need to be in chronological order compared to an autobiography, but it might be to tell a better story.

Examples of famous memoirs include:

• Angela’s Ashes  by Frank McCourt
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings  by Maya Angelou
• Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S.  Grant by Ulysses S. Grant

Autobiography vs. Biography vs. Memoir Comparison Chart

Check out some of our blogs to learn more about memoirs:

• What is a memoir?
• 5 tips for writing a memoir
• Your memoir is your legacy

Ready to get started on your own memoir, autobiography, or biography? Download our free desktop book-making software, BookWright .

Autobiographies , Biographies , memoirs

This post doesn't have any comment. Be the first one!

This is a unique website which will require a more modern browser to work! Please upgrade today!

This is a modern website which will require Javascript to work.

Please turn it on!

Top 10 award-Winning biographical films you need to watch

Here are our favourite movies based on real-life personalities.

The best way to know about someone famous is if a movie was made about them. Over the years, we've seen multiple films depicting real-life personalities because sometimes, seeing their story through the lens can give us a deeper understanding of them.

• Check out the best TV shows to watch on Netflix this month

Filmmakers have tried (and also failed) to make several biopics that turned out to be some of the best movies ever made. However, since it is a movie, certain elements can be changed to make it more cinematic. These changes can be minor, but it sometimes alters the story to create a factual account that seems irrelevant.

As awards season has officially begun, we've curated some of the best award-winning biopics we've seen over the years, so read on!

Schindler's List

The movie tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a German member of the Nazi party that tried to save his Jewish employees from the Holocaust. Steven Spielberg directs this award-winning movie and showcases the most realistic depiction of one of the darkest moments in human history. Winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

The Social Network

David Fincher directs this movie about Facebook. It might not be interesting at first, but as it's now considered to be one of his best movies, it takes a look at the early days of Facebook as well as one of its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and how he brought up one of the largest social media sites in history. Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay.

Molly's Game

This crime drama centres on Molly Bloom, who became the subject of an FBI investigation after she becomes entangled in the underground poker empire. The problem is she wasn't just part of it. She started it. She begins to fear for her life when she unwittingly takes in players from the Russian mafia. Screenwriter Aaron Zorkin wrote the script and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Directed by Danny Boyle, this film chronicles the Apple co-founder in different periods as he prepares for significant product launches. He also struggles to deal with personal issues between those occasions, including his daughter Lisa, his estranged wife Chrisann and his marketing executive Joanna. Nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

The Favourite

When Queen Anne of England falls sick, it is up to her close aide Sarah to take care of her while she recovers. As Sarah oversees the Queen's tasks, she soon meets her cousin Abigail who starts serving the queen. The two of them soon starts fighting for the queen's attention, often leading to disastrous and scandalous results. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress (Oliva Colman).

Lawrence of Arabia

This historical epic depicts the story of British Army Colonel T. E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia, during his experiences in Hejaz and Greater Syria during World War I. Considered one of the greatest movies ever made, the movie shows Lawrence's struggles with war and violence and his allegiance between his native Britain and his newfound friends living in the Arabian desert. Winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

King Richard

Venus and Serena Williams are the biggest names in tennis today, but their story to fame comes with its struggles and obstacles. Critically acclaimed when released last November, the movie looks at the two sisters growing up under their father's coaching, Richard Williams, played by Will Smith, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

The Irishman

Martin Scorsese directs another epic crime drama starring some Hollywood heavyweights, including Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. It tells the story of Frank Sheeran, who becomes involved with a mobster and other prominent mafias. Nominated for ten Academy Awards.

Raging Bull

Based on the memoir by Jake LaMotta, this film depicts the boxer's self-destructive downturn. It showcases his mental state as he deals with rage, jealousy, and animalistic tendencies during competition, ultimately destroying his family relationship. Winner of two Academy Awards, including Best Actor.

12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen directs this movie based on the story of Solomon Northup, a free African American man kidnapped in 1841 and was sold into slavery. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Northup, who had to work for plantations for almost 12 years before he was released. Winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress.

Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox

Get the hottest deals available in your inbox plus news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more from the TechRadar team.

The best open ear headphones 2024: Stay aware of your surroundings

The best earbuds for small ears 2024, all tested by a petite-eared audio expert

Linux servers targeted by dangerous espionage malware as Windows threat makes the jump

Most Popular

By Barclay Ballard February 27, 2024

By Krishi Chowdhary February 26, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 26, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 24, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 23, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 22, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 21, 2024

By Jess Weatherbed, Dom Reseigh-Lincoln February 21, 2024

• 2 Android 14 powered Doogee T30 Max has a 4K IPS screen and retails for under $300
• 3 Early April Fools? Get a free Samsung 65-inch 4K TV, plus installation at Best Buy
• 4 Vizio’s latest 4K TV is its largest one yet and costs just $999
• 5 The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max may get a new polished titanium finish
• 2 The big Apple lawsuit explained: why Apple's getting sued and what it means for the iPhone
• 3 macOS isn’t perfect – but every day with Windows 11 makes me want to use my MacBook full-time
• 4 iOS 18 might break the iPhone's iconic app grid, and it's a change no one asked for
• 5 Samsung can't blame Apple's iPhone monopoly for a lifetime of terrible software

Archie: US release date, cast, plot and everything we know about the Cary Grant biopic

Archie will see Jason Isaacs star as Hollywood icon Cary Grant.

Archie is a four-part drama that explores the life of Hollywood legend Cary Grant.

The series sees Jason Isaacs take the role of the effortlessly suave film star. 

He says: "I had a notion of him and initially that made me not want the job because he was the epitome of sophistication, cool and suavity and I’m not that! 

"Then I read the script and every biography and thought, ‘That I can play, that's a very complicated, troubled, damaged and damaging human being.’ I was terrified because there's only one Cary Grant, but Cary Grant was a character he created and even he struggled to play him, so that made it easier." 

He adds: "He battled dark things but he also was funny and charming. When he arrived in Hollywood, he wanted to climb that greasy pole and stay there as long as he could, and he built a persona from scratch to succeed in the career he’d chosen, but also to build himself a wall of protection." 

Here’s everything we know about Archie …

Archie release date

Archie will be available on BritBox in the US from Thursday December 7.

Archie is now available on ITVX in the UK. The drama will also air at a later date on ITV1. 

• How to watch Archie online from anywhere

Archie — what is the plot?

The drama explores the private life of Cary Grant, who was born Archibald Leach in Bristol in 1904 to Elsie and Elias. It explores his difficult childhood in which he experienced poverty, the consequences of his father’s adultery and the fallout from the loss of his older brother John, which led his beloved mother to become depressed.

It looks at how a 14-year-old Archie auditioned for the music hall act and became an expert stilt walker. As the troupe went on tour to the US, teenage Archie stayed there and tried to make his way in show business. Veteran comic George Burns helped him get his first break as an actor and he was soon contracted to a movie studio, where he changed his name to Cary Grant.

The drama also examines Cary’s later life in 1961, when he is living in LA and his career has gone stratospheric after starring in hit films such as The Philadelphia Story, North by Northwest and To Catch A Thief . 

Cary’s private life starts falling apart after two failed marriages, but a young TV actress, Dyan Cannon, catches his eye. She initially rejects him, but Cary is determined to make her his wife and introduces her to his Hollywood pals Alfred Hitchcock and Doris Day before eventually marrying her in 1965. 

The series is penned by award-winning writer Jeff Pope, whose credits including Mrs Biggs , Cilla and A Confession .

“As with many of my projects, I started at the end and worked backwards. I discovered that, at the height of his fame, Cary Grant retired to look after his young daughter," says Jeff. "Intrigued, I started to dig into why he had become a single father. What had happened?  My journey led me to Bristol, and a young boy called Archie Leach. Cary Grant became one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century, beloved by presidents and paupers. The key to everything lay in his childhood.” 

Archie — who is in the cast?

The series sees Harry Potter and Good Sam star Jason Isaacs take on the role of Cary Grant.

"There was only one Cary Grant and I'd never be foolish enough to try to step into his iconic shoes," says Jason. "Archie Leach, on the other hand, couldn't be further from the character he invented to save himself. Jeff's brilliant scripts bring to life his relentless struggle to escape the demons that plagued him, his obsessive need for control, his fears, his weaknesses, his loves and his losses. It's the story of a man, not a legend, and those are shoes I can’t wait to walk in."

Meanwhile Gavin & Stacey and Waterloo Road star Laura Aikman plays Dyan Cannon and Harriet Walter ( Killing Eve , This Is Going to Hurt , Succession ) portrays Archie/Cary's mother Elsie. 

In flashbacks, former EastEnders , Mr Selfridge and Strictly star Kara Tointon plays the young Elsie and Dainton Anderson ( Patrick Melrose ), Calam Lynch ( Bridgerton ) and Oaklee Pendergast ( Home ) play younger versions of Archie Leach.

What else do we know?

The drama was made with the blessing of Cary Grant’s daughter, Jennifer Grant, and his ex-wife Dyan Cannon, who were both executive producers on the drama, and were interviewed by writer Jeff Pope as part of his research.

“My father was an extremely private man, so naturally, when Jeff Pope approached me with the idea to write Dad’s life story, I was trepidatious at best," says Jennifer.

"Jeff’s thoughtfully intelligent understanding of Dad’s boyhood won me over. My father’s formative years as Archie Leach in Bristol, England, and the extraordinary challenges he faced, lie at the heart of ‘Archie’. Cary Grant is emblematic of charm, wit and grace, but unknown to most are the enormous challenges he overcame to create himself.”

“Cary Grant touched the world with his charm, his grace and enduring vivacity, but few knew Archie Leach, the man I was fortunate to know intimately and marry,” adds Dyan. “I’m so grateful Jeff Pope has captured him so brilliantly on the page, and that Jason Isaacs will do the same on screen!”

Get the What to Watch Newsletter

The latest updates, reviews and unmissable series to watch and more!

Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times , TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.

Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.

Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife , Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot .

In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.

Coronation Street spoilers: Roy Cropper charged with MURDER!

Coronation Street spoilers: Toyah Habeeb CONFRONTS Rowan!

Hollyoaks spoilers: Carter Shepherd BRAIN WASHES Lucas Hay!

Most Popular

By Caren Clark March 28, 2024

By Nicholas Cannon March 28, 2024

By Elaine Reilly March 27, 2024

By David Hollingsworth March 27, 2024

By Grace Morris March 27, 2024

By Nicholas Cannon March 27, 2024

By Sean Marland March 27, 2024

By Martin Shore March 27, 2024

By Michael Balderston March 27, 2024

By Caren Clark March 27, 2024

• 2 Hollyoaks spoilers: Sienna Blake is STALKED by a MASKED GUNMAN!
• 3 Hollyoaks spoilers: Ste Hay is in GRAVE DANGER!
• 4 Hollyoaks spoilers: Sienna Blake sets a TRAP for Warren Fox!
• 5 Coronation Street spoilers: Roy Cropper charged with MURDER!

• Entertainment
• The True Story Behind the Movie <i>Rocketman</i>

The True Story Behind the Movie Rocketman

Rocketman , a musical film about Elton John that arrives in theaters on Friday, looks a lot like a biopic: It traces John’s life from a shy child in London through his stratospheric rise and addiction-fueled lows. But its creative team has repeatedly rejected the label: “Everyone thinks it’s a biopic. It isn’t,” Taron Egerton, who plays John, told Collider last year . “It’s a fantasy musical so it’s actually his songs used to express important beats in his life at emotional moments.”

But while many liberties are taken with factual details, the overall arc of the movie accurately captures John’s emotional and musical journey, according to the man himself. “It’s obviously not all true, but it’s the truth,” the 72-year-old musician, who is an executive producer for the movie, wrote in an essay for the Guardian this week.

Here are the movie’s truths and fictions, from the way it portrays John’s relationships to its depiction of his musical genius.

Is the chronology of Rocketman accurate?

Rocketman plays fast and loose with the timeline of John’s life, with songs appearing out of order and events condensed into tight timeframes. “Some of the elements and scenes in the film, of course they’re not going to be exactly as they happened,” Bernie Taupin, John’s songwriting partner and lyricist, who’s played by Jamie Bell in the movie, told TIME in an interview. “If we’d stretched it out, it would have taken up too much time.”

So the film kicks off with a childhood flashback in which a young John sings “The Bitch Is Back,” which wasn’t recorded until 1974. At an early audition in the 1960s, John belts a couple bars of “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” a song from 1983.

When John forms a bond with his soon-to-be wife, Renate Blauel, they duet to “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” in the studio. But while that song was released in 1974, the pair didn’t meet until the ’80s.

All of the film’s events lead up to an AA meeting that John attends instead of playing a Madison Square Garden show; he checks into rehab shortly thereafter. But while John did cancel an MSG show in 1984, it wasn’t until six years later that he went to rehab following the death of Ryan White —a teenager whose story of contracting AIDS through a blood transfusion sparked a national dialogue about the disease.

Was Elton John’s relationship with his family truthfully portrayed?

Rocketman portrays several of the relationships in John’s life as complicated, beginning with his parents. His father Stanley Dwight (played by Steven Mackintosh) served as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force and was often away on military duty. As in the film, Stanley was rather stern, and once sent a letter from overseas warning that a young John should pursue a career at a bank and must “get all this pop nonsense out of his head, otherwise he’s going to turn into a wild boy,” John’s mother, Sheila, told TIME for a 1975 cover story.

Several biographies of John back up the film’s depiction of his parents’ relationship as an unhappy one, and they divorced when John was 13. Two years later, John and Sheila (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) moved into a new flat with John’s stepfather, a local painter named Fred Farebrother (Tom Bennett). While in the film, scenes between John and Sheila are fiery and argumentative, John has not often spoken publicly about their relationship. The pair famously did not speak for eight years beginning in 2008, but they reconciled around the time of her 90th birthday in 2016, two years before she passed away.

Despite the rocky relations, John’s family was responsible for his early musical inclinations. John told Rolling Stone that his first interest in music stemmed from his parents’ extensive record collection, which is shown as a central part of family life in the early part of the film. “The first records I ever heard were Kay Starr and Billy May and Tennessee Ernie Ford…I grew up in that era,” John said. “I was three or four when I first started listening to records like that.”

In the film, John’s grandmother Ivy (Gemma Jones) is portrayed as a stable influence in his life, encouraging his musical endeavors and supporting his studies at the Royal Academy of Music. It seems this was a faithful depiction; in 2018, John partnered with popular British department store, John Lewis, for a widely viewed annual Christmas advertisement , calling it an opportunity to reflect on “how first playing my Grandmother’s piano marks the moment when music first came into my life.” TIME also reported that Sheila backed her son’s forays into pop music and allowed a teenage John to take up a job playing piano at a nearby pub. “If he would continue studying classics at the academy, she would permit him to spend as much free time as he wanted practicing the pops,” TIME reported in 1975.

Read TIME’s 1975 cover story about Elton John in the TIME Vault.

How did Reginald Kenneth Dwight become Elton John?

As depicted in the film, the beginnings of John’s career in the mid-1960s were spent as part of a backing band for American soul singers touring the U.K. In one scene, a young John appears cramped in the back of a van with his bandmates, reading a newspaper. Looking up, he says, “I’m thinking of changing my name to Elton.” “But that’s my name,” his bandmate replies. “Yeah, I know,” John says casually.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1973 , John said that really was the genesis of his stage name, and it happened on the way back from a gig in Scotland with former bandmates Elton Dean and John Baldry. “I said, I’ve got to think of a name,” John told Rolling Stone . “I’m fed up with Reg Dwight, I can’t be Reg Dwight. If I’m going to be a singer, I’ve got to think of a name. So Elton Dean’s name I pinched, and John Baldry’s name and I said, oh, Elton John, there you go.”

The scene in the movie in which the name “John” comes to him while looking at a photograph of John Lennon and the Beatles appears to have been added for narrative flair.

How pivotal was John’s show at the Troubadour?

John’s first U.S. performance at this Los Angeles club was as legendary and transformative as the film depicts. In 1970, John’s self-titled second album was floundering on the charts; he had yet to cross over to the states in any meaningful way.

On August 25, the little-known John took the Troubadour stage—reluctantly, as he suffered from stage fright, as the movie depicts—following an introduction from Neil Diamond. His performances, which included “Your Song,” “Border Song” and a cover of the Beatles’ “Get Back,” electrified the crowd of 300 people, who roared after he knocked down his piano bench and did a handstand on the piano. “The sound of the audience was the sound of a star being born,” T-Bone Burnett, who was at the show, told the L.A. Times this year .

John played six nights at the Troubadour to a slew of stars, from Quincy Jones to David Crosby to Linda Ronstadt. Word-of-mouth, plus a rapturous L.A. Times review written by Robert Hilburn, generated a frenzy around the British newcomer. (“Rejoice. Rock music, which has been going through a rather uneventful period lately, has a new star,” Hilburn wrote). “Your Song” would reach the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 later that year.

While the film captures the delirious spirit of the night, it takes liberties with some details. John did not play “Crocodile Rock” at the Troubadour—that song hadn’t been written yet, and wasn’t released until two years later. And while Rocketman places his future manager and lover John Reid at the show, Reid first saw John in performance a week later, according to a 1974 interview .

Was John’s relationship with his manager John Reid as turbulent as the movie suggests?

In the film, a youthful John embarks on a whirlwind relationship with Reid, played by Richard Madden. John recently wrote that he had been confused about his sexuality for most of his pre-fame years, and that the sex scene in Rocketman was as it really happened , when John lost his virginity to Reid at the age of 23 in San Francisco. The budding star and the smartly-dressed Scotsman did have a tumultuous five-year relationship in the 1970s. Some reports note that they physically fought on occasion, as depicted in the film when Reid slaps John in the street outside London’s Royal Albert Hall. Reid did serve three weeks in jail in 1974 for punching a journalist in New Zealand, but it’s not clear whether or not the specific on-screen altercation between him and John actually happened.

Reid acted as John’s manager for more than 25 years before the singer ended his management agreement in May 1998. During his time as a manager, Reid also worked with Queen; his character is played by Madden’s Game of Thrones castmate Aiden Gillen in the film Bohemian Rhapsody . While Reid and John part ways in Rocketman on less than good terms, the reality was perhaps even more acrimonious. After discovering that £20 million ($25.2 million) was missing from his accounts, John accused Reid of betrayal, “swindling” him and “having his fingers in the till,” in a court case in 2000 which the singer eventually lost.

“It’s not my place to villainize characters. At the same time, there’s a great deal of truth in that portrayal,” Bernie Taupin tells TIME, speaking of Rocketman ‘s depiction of Reid. “All I can say is, John Reid should be happy that someone as good-looking as Richard Madden got to play him.”

Did John have relationships with women?

While John is proudly gay , he did have at least two significant relationships with women. The first came at the beginning of his career, when he and Taupin were struggling songwriters in London. He met Linda Woodrow, who now goes by Linda Hannon, after a gig in Sheffield; the two began a relationship and soon were engaged. The affair was either placid or tempestuous, depending on who you ask. In an interview this year, Hannon said that “the relationship was going smooth” before John called it off abruptly after two years.

But in a 1973 interview , John had only disparaging things to say about her. “It was a very stormy six months, after which I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” he said. “She was six-foot and she used to beat me up.” The relationship is documented in John’s song “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” in which he describes himself as a “pawn outplayed by a dominating queen.”

In Rocketman , Hannon is replaced by a character named Arabella, with whom John enters into a casual affair despite doubts about his sexuality. Arabella is the ill-tempered landlady of John and Taupin’s apartment, perhaps a sly reference to their 1973 song “Social Disease”: “My landlady lives in a caravan/ Well, that is when she isn’t in my arms/ And it seems I pay the rent in human kindness/ But my liquor also helps to grease her palms.”

A decade later, John met the German sound engineer Renate Blauel while recording the 1983 album Too Low For Zero . Blauel became part of John’s inner circle during a bleak moment in his life, and they married in Australia months later. “I simply want to be a family man,” he told People in 1986 . “I’ve no regrets about giving up my bachelorhood.” But the pair divorced after four years of marriage. In 2017, John wrote in an Instagram post: “I wanted more than anything to be a good husband, but I denied who I really was, which caused my wife sadness, and caused me huge guilt and regret.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Elton John (@eltonjohn)

Could John actually write songs in a matter of minutes?

An early scene in Rocketman shows Taupin giving lyrics to John and then going upstairs to brush his teeth. By the time Taupin has rinsed and returned, John has all but finished writing “Your Song,” the pair’s first big breakout hit.

This lightning speed is barely an exaggeration. “It’s pretty much how it happened,” Taupin told TIME. “I remember his mother, in her very sort of dictatorial way, going, ‘that’s a good one!’”

John is renowned for working at a breakneck pace: “I get bored if it takes more than 40 minutes,” he told the New York Times in 2013 about songwriting. In the same interview, he said that Taupin’s imagery immediately unlocked melodies in his mind in a “twilight-zonish” way.

But Taupin’s words weren’t the only ones that could immediately summon melodies. John has turned his songwriting speed into a parlor trick, even creating a song to an oven manual on the spot during a 1997 performance.

Did he struggle with bulimia and addiction?

Rocketman opens with John entering rehab in characteristically flamboyant fashion. It’s a scene to which the film often returns as the singer reflects on the ups and the downs of his life. The audience learns that John is bulimic, and has become reliant on alcohol, drugs and sex. According to the singer himself, this is true. John recently wrote that some film studios “wanted to tone down the sex and drugs so [ Rocketman ] would get a PG-13 rating. But I just haven’t led a PG-13 rated life.” He also says there were moments in the film “where I’m completely disgusting and awful, but then, at my worst, I was disgusting and awful.” Towards the end of the film, Taupin visits John in rehab, a scene that did happen in real life.

And as for the shopping—a TIME correspondent got a first-hand look when he accompanied John on a shopping spree in central London as part of the magazine’s cover package on the singer in July 1975. The reporter notes that “for Elton, money long ago became as abstract as grain futures,” referring to recent acquisitions including an $80,000 yacht, a $2,300 raccoon coat and a Rembrandt artwork. In 2000, it was revealed that John spent almost £40 million ($50.6 million) over 20 months between 1996 and 1997. However, since 1990, John has been sober and is one of the U.K.’s most charitable donors , giving millions away in philanthropy to causes supporting HIV/AIDS programs and his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music.

More Must-Reads From TIME

• Jane Fonda Champions Climate Action for Every Generation
• Passengers Are Flying up to 30 Hours to See Four Minutes of the Eclipse
• Biden’s Campaign Is In Trouble. Will the Turnaround Plan Work?
• Essay: The Complicated Dread of Early Spring
• Why Walking Isn’t Enough When It Comes to Exercise
• The Financial Influencers Women Actually Want to Listen To
• The Best TV Shows to Watch on Peacock
• Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time

Contact us at [email protected]

You May Also Like

15 Best Biopics on Netflix Right Now

Biopics have now become a hot genre because there’s something about real-life stories of certain individuals that lure filmmakers. It may be an entire lifetime of a person or just a few crucial years that act as an amazing storyline for a film. It’s no surprise why biopics are able to do so well. Extraordinary stories of successful people or people who had a deeper cause to serve society, all of these inspire us to live a better life. But these stories become more impactful when they are based on the lives of real individuals. Some make us believe in ourselves and our goals while some restore our faith in humanity. The good news is that a great number of these movies are already available on Netflix. So all you have to do is scroll down and choose one of the few biopic movies that we have listed. Here’s the list of really good biopic movies on Netflix that are available to stream right now.

15. Roxanne Roxanne (2017)

Directed and written by Michael Larnell, ‘Roxanne Roxanne’ is an autobiographical musical drama film that stars Chanté Adams, Mahershala Ali, Nia Long, and Elvis Nolasco. Roxanne Shante, a young rapper from New York, has already made her reputation as one of the most feared battle emcees in the 80s. Whoever had seen her perform knew that she was all set to become a hip-hop legend. ‘Roxanne Roxanne’ recounts Shante’s inspiring story as she worked tirelessly to provide for her family and achieved musical success in the process.

14. Come Sunday (2018)

This film is based on an episode of the public radio series called ‘This American Life’. The biopic is about an internationally renowned pastor who went by the name Carton Pearson. When Carton defied the morals of the church and started preaching that there is no hell, he found himself being ostracized by his own church and the Christian community who labeled him as an unorthodox non-conformist. The film has a lot of mixed opinions when it comes to the reviews because it goes against the religious values of a lot of people. But don’t let the reviews fool you, this film is great and has some amazing cinematography with acting.

13. Milk (2008)

Starring Sean Penn and James Franco, ‘Milk’ tells the life story of Harvey Milk starting from his 40th birthday all the way up to his death. The film traces his journey as he struggles to fight for gay rights in the country as an activist and later becomes California’s first gay elected official. The biopic also highlights his relationships with two men along the way and how the death of one really moves him. ‘Milk’ is an extremely moving film and will make you truly feel the struggles of Harvey Milk and all the gay activists of that era.

12. First They Killed My Father (2017)

Directed by Angeline Jolie , this one is the true story of a 5-year-old girl named Loung Ung and her struggles with her family when the Khmer Rouge had taken over Cambodia in the year 1975. Their terrorizing rule led to the death of over 2 million Cambodians. The film shows how Ung and her siblings were sent to Labor Camps and were trained to become soldiers at such a young and delicate age. This film holds a great amount of historical accuracy and clearly, a lot of effort has been into portraying Loung Ung’s story. It does not focus too much on showing the violence and gore prevailing at that time and instead shows the underlying terror and chaos during the time which makes this one a great watch.

11. Christine (2016)

Christine Chubbuck was a TV reporter back in the 70s. This film tells her story by narrating her struggles as a working woman, pressures from her home and also her own depression . This film has been quite under the radar but deserves more appreciation. It tends to get inside your head with its depressing characters and storyline with uncomfortable slow burn throughout. Note that this movie can be triggering for those who are already going through something but overall, it’s a very good movie with some brilliant acting.

10. Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed (2021)

Featuring Bob Ross, Steve Ross, Vicky Ross, and John Thamm, ‘Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed’ is a biographical documentary film directed by Joshua Rofé. As the name suggests, the movie revolves around the rise of the titular protagonist, a brilliant painter and television host, who spread love, joy, and happiness to the millions of viewers glued to his programs on their television screens from around the world. With great success came significant financial burdens. While offering a touching overview of Bob’s inspiring life, the film immediately turns its attention towards the battle for his business empire that saddened and infuriated a lot of his fans.

9. Baggio: The Divine Ponytail (2021)

Written by Ludovica Rampoldi and Stefano Sardo, ‘Baggio: The Divine Ponytail’ is a biographical sports film that stars Andrea Arcangeli, Valentina Bellè, and Thomas Trabacch. The Letizia Lamartire directorial recounts the inspiring life story of Roberto Baggio, a former footballer who dedicated 22 years of his life to the sport. From successes to his failures and regretful mistakes, the movie captures everything. It also introduces viewers to the man behind closed doors and his relationship with his loved ones. Roberto’s affinity to Nichiren Buddhism and his adherence to its philosophy is also deeply discussed.

8. Sergio (2020)

Greg Barker’s ‘Sergio’ is a biographical drama movie produced by Wagner Moura, Brent Travers, and Daniel Dreifuss. The film focuses on Sérgio Vieira de Mello, a United Nations diplomat who, after working tirelessly on several international political programs for more than three decades, decides to do something about the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Despite warnings not to visit Baghdad in the middle of conflict, Sérgio tries to negotiate the withdrawal of American troops so that the country can achieve freedom. However, his attempts do not go as planned as he gets trapped in the basement of a hotel after a terrorist attack.

7. Mank (2020)

Directed by David Fincher, ‘Mank’ is a black-and-white biographical drama film that revolves around the development of the popular 40s film ‘Citizen Kane’ and its screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz. It is set in the 1930s and offers an exciting insight into the Hollywood of the time. However, the films’ focus remains on the development of the iconic movie and challenges faced by Herman along the way.

6. The Dirt (2019)

Written by Rich Wilkes and Amanda Adelson, ‘The Dirt’ is a biographical comedy-drama film that is based on Neil Strauss’s book ‘The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band.’ After spending several crucial years of his early life with his abusive mother, Frank Carlton Feranna Jr. ventures into the outside world in search of his father and eventually stumbles upon the purpose of his life. When he met Tommy Lee in 1980, the musician shared his plan to form a new band, and the two joined hands to include other members in the team. After the inclusion of Mick Mars and Vince Neil, the Mötley Crüe was formed and, in just a few years’ time, became one of the most popular rock bands on the planet.

5. Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Featuring stand-out performances by Eddie Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, and Craig Robinson, ‘Dolemite Is My Name’ is a biographical comedy film written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. It revolves around a struggling artist named Rudy Ray Moore, who is desperately trying to get his music on the air in the 1970s. Unfortunately, he has had little success, and his future is still clouded in uncertainty. However, on one ordinary night, an unexpected encounter with a homeless man changes Rudy’s life as he discovers his true calling and ends up entertaining the world, albeit in his own humble and small way.

4. A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018)

Inspired by Josh Karp’s 2006 non-fiction book of the same name, ‘A Futile and Stupid Gesture’ is a biographical comedy-drama film written by John Aboud and Michael Colton. The David Wain directorial follows Douglas Kenney, who, along with his classmate Henry Beard lays the foundations of a monthly magazine named the National Lampoon. The duo leaves the life-transforming opportunity of attending law school for their ambitious goal and, with Douglas’ big vision, manages to change the American comedy scene in innovative ways.

Read More: Best Christian Movies on Netflix

3. Schumacher (2021)

Directed by Hanns-Bruno Kammertöns, Vanessa Nöcker, and Michael Wech, ‘Schumacher’ is a German sports documentary film that focuses on the inspiring career of the titular protagonist and features Corinna Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Mika Häkkinen, Jean Todt among many others. The movie offers an intimate understanding of German Formula One racing driver Michael’s personal and professional life using unseen videos, archive footage, and interviews. From his early go-kart career to the struggle with the death of Ayrton Senna, ‘Schumacher’ paints a moving portrait of the legendary racer with an accurate depiction of his failures, successes, and fears.

Read More: Best Horror Movies on Netflix

2. Barry (2016)

Directed by Vikram Gandhi, ‘Barry’ is a drama movie that centers upon Barack Obama’s college days and gives viewers a unique perspective on his life. In the early 1980s, the 44th President of the United States reached New York as a 21-year-old exchange student to Columbia University, where he made friends with his roommate, Will. Barack participated in debates about philosophy and American society and took an active interest in political affairs. ‘Barry’ gives viewers an intimate understanding of what Obama was like during his early 20s and offers a closer look at the interests that eventually made him the leader he is today.

Read More: Best Black Movies on Netflix

1. The Most Hated Woman in America (2017)

Tommy O’Haver’s ‘The Most Hated Woman in America’ is a biographical drama film that stars Melissa Leo, Peter Fonda, Sally Kirkland, and Rory Cochrane. The film centers upon Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an activist, atheist, and proponent for the separation of church from the state who fiercely advocated for his beliefs despite the challenges in her path. Unfortunately, she gets kidnapped in the mid-90s along with her son Garth and granddaughter Robin by people who detest her ideas which eventually ends tragically.

Read More: Best Suicide Movies on Netflix

SPONSORED LINKS

• Movie Explainers
• TV Explainers
• About The Cinemaholic

Brian White, Brandon T. Jackson and Danielle Nicolet Star in ‘The Life of Me,’ Impact Network’s First Original Movie (EXCLUSIVE)

By Angelique Jackson

Angelique Jackson

• Brian White, Brandon T. Jackson and Danielle Nicolet Star in ‘The Life of Me,’ Impact Network’s First Original Movie (EXCLUSIVE) 9 hours ago
• Sundance CDMX 2024 By Cinépolis Reveals Official Lineup for First Mexico City Edition – Film News in Brief 11 hours ago
• UTA Signs Ashley Graham (EXCLUSIVE) 14 hours ago

As Impact Network rebrands from a faith and gospel-focused multiplatform channel to include family-friendly lifestyle entertainment designed for Black audiences, Variety can exclusively reveal its first “Impact Original” movie, “The Life of Me.”

Brian White (ABC’s “Scandal”), Brandon T. Jackson (BET’s “Family Business: New Orleans,” “Percy Jackson”) and Danielle Nicolet (CW’s “The Flash”) star in the film about a wealthy businessman, who “disillusioned by his family’s illicit business dealings, escapes to a small town and finds friendship, love, and a new focus on life until he must confront his past, reveal his identity, and redefine his future.”

The film’s synopsis explains:

Marcus becomes disgruntled with the family’s greedy tactics after learning his family would put the lives of innocent people in harm’s way to make a profit. He flees his big-time lifestyle to a small town where he assumes a new under-the-radar identity as a handyman named “Dom.”

Nicolet plays Kennedy, a single mother, dance instructor and owner of the local cafe (and love interest to Marcus/Dom). Kennedy and her brother try to keep their small business, which was passed down by their late parents, alive despite the economic devastation experienced from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marcus faces a moral dilemma when his family’s company comes to his small-town hideout and tries to snatch land from his newfound friends.

Jackson is Simon, the Banks family’s ruthless fixer, who informs Marcus of the plot. Rounding out the cast are Reece Odum (“Saints & Sinners”) who plays Jasmine, Marcus’ heartless and overly ambitious sister, and Mandela Van Peebles (“Reginald The Vampire”) as Kennedy’s brother Daniel.

Impact Network is a 100% Black-owned independent company, founded in 2010 by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson and wife Beverly Jackson as a channel airing sermons and religious talk shows. With the appointment of their son Royal Jackson to chief creative officer in 2022, Impact moved into entertainment programming with a strategic focus on religious content.

In February, the company announced plans to shift its lineup to encompass “family-friendly lifestyle entertainment, premium scripted and engaging non-scripted series in addition to programming initiatives around health/wellness/financial/cultural areas affecting Black communities.”

White is represented by Zero Gravity Management, Buchwald, Strategic PR and Eric Feig Entertainment & Media Law; Nicolet is represented by Link Entertainment, Vault Entertainment, Strategic PR and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher; and Jackson is represented by Zero Gravity Management, Buchwald and RMG.

More From Our Brands

U.s. aid experts warn of ‘unprecedented’ spread of hunger in gaza: report, how bovet’s newest watch solves the horological conundrum of daylight savings time, another ratings record falls as iowa advances to the final four, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, good doctor kills off [spoiler] in final season twist, verify it's you, please log in.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A boy, bruised by life, finds his salvation through the love of his dogs. A boy, bruised by life, finds his salvation through the love of his dogs. A boy, bruised by life, finds his salvation through the love of his dogs.

• Caleb Landry Jones
• Jojo T. Gibbs
• Christopher Denham
• 60 User reviews
• 92 Critic reviews
• 45 Metascore
• 1 win & 3 nominations

• Douglas Munrow

• Mike Munrow

• Salma Bailey

• Douglas' Mother

• Douglas Munrow (Teenager)

• Richie Munrow

• Lola Rodriguez

• Mrs. Rodriguez

• Drag Madonna
• Drag Annie Lennox
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Director Luc Besson said he first thought of the movie after reading a news story about a five-year old boy whose family put him in a cage. It made Besson think of the trauma the boy must have endured and how he must have overcome it.

Douglas Munrow : I always liked disguises. It's what you do when you don't really know who you are, right? You dress up, you make up a past to forget your own.

Evelyn : Did you know anyone else? Somebody that could show you some attention or affection?

Douglas Munrow : A child takes affection where he can get it. They're my babies. As far as I can tell, they only have one flaw: they trust humans.

• Soundtracks Ultrafox Music by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli Performed by Django Reinhardt

User reviews 60

• souaidsouraya
• Sep 28, 2023
• How long will DogMan be? Powered by Alexa
• April 5, 2024 (United States)
• Essonne, France
• Luc Besson Production
• TF1 Films Production
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $21,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 53 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

Early Breakfast with Gary King 4am - 6am

Now Playing

Sexual Healing Marvin Gaye

Bee Gees movie: Release date, plot and who will play Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb

16 February 2024, 11:42

Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive Music Video

By Mayer Nissim

After Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody, there's a new wave of music biopics on the way.

Listen to this article

The massive success of music movies about the likes of Elton John and Freddie Mercury has helped pave the way for some new biopics.

Baz Lurhmann's Elvis hits screens later this year, and also in production is a new film about the Bee Gees .

• Bee Gees: Excruciating moment trio walked off Clive Anderson TV show after host's music jibes

The 20 greatest Bee Gees songs of all time, ranked

• A timeline of Barry Gibb and Linda Gray's beautiful 50-year relationship

The band have already been the subject of a number of high-profile documentaries, including 2014's The Joy of the Bee Gees and 2020's The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.

But there's nothing quite like the drama of a proper music biopic.

The film is in its earliest stages at the moment so there's not an awful lot known about it.

But there have already been some big changes behind the scenes to update you with, and you can bookmark this page to keep up to date on everything you need to know about the Bee Gees film.

What is the new Bee Gees film called?

Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love (Official Video)

The Bee Gees film is as-yet untitled, but we're going to hazard a guess that they'll go with one of the group's many excellent song titles or lyrics, while avoiding anything that's been used before.

So probably not [Saturday] 'Night Fever', 'Stayin' Alive' or 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart'.

'Tragedy' would be a bit much, wouldn't it? We're having an early guess at 'How Deep Is Your Love', but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

What is the release date of the new Bee Gees film?

Again, it's a bit too soon to know the release date of the film. But given that it has a (new) director in the chair, we're going to take a punt on 2024.

Who is writing and directing the Bee Gees biopic?

Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly (Official Video)

Here's where things are already very interesting.

The first director bagged for the project in March 2021 was Oscar-winning thespian Kenneth Branagh , who won the 2022 screenwriting Academy Award for Belfast.

And the writer of the project was first announced as Ben Elton, who moved from stand-up to novel writing in the late 1980s before going on to write the book for stage musicals including Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Beautiful Game, Queen's We Will Rock You and Rod Stewart jukebox musical Tonight's The Night .

Watch Queen create 'We Will Rock You' in new Bohemian Rhapsody teaser

But a year later, it was all change.

In Branagh's place was John Carney , who has great musical experience with Once and Sing Street .

And Ben Elton is out, Tony Award-winning John Logan – who has three Oscars nods for Gladiator, Hugo and The Aviator – is in.

Then in February 2024, things changed again , and in a very significant direction.

Deadline reported that none other than Ridley Scott – who has made films as massive and diverse as Alien , Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise . Gladiator , Black Hawk Down and Napoleon – was in talks to direct the film.

Assuming this appointment sticks, it will have been built on Scott's relationship with longtime Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood, and will also see a reunion with screenwriter Logan after their successful work on Gladiator .

What is the Bee Gees biopic about?

Details are light on this one. We don't yet know if the film will cover the whole Bee Gees story, their rise to fame, or just their disco heyday.

What we do know is that the sole surviving Bee Gee Barry Gibb is "very involved" in the project, and will be an executive producer on the movie.

Who will play brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb – and Andy Gibb – in the Bee Gees film?

Again, we don't yet know who will be be cast in the film, or if the actors will have to be able to sing all those Bee Gees classics (like Taron Egerton in Rocketman ) or mime along to the original recordings (like Jessica Lange in Patsy Cline film Sweet Dreams ), lip synch to new versions of the classic songs (like Marion Cotillard did in La Vie en Rose) , or a mixture of all those methods (like Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody ).

At one stage, Bradley Cooper was linked to play Barry Gibb , which would be amazing.

What songs will feature in the Bee Gees film?

Still TBA, but we're hoping that most of our own Smooth top 20 will be in there.

Is there a trailer or poster for the Bee Gees movie yet?

Not yet, but as soon as there is we'll put it right here.

More from the Bee Gees

See more More from the Bee Gees

When Barry Gibb invited his son and Maurice's daughter on stage for emotional revival of 'Stayin' Alive'

When celine dion paid emotional tribute to the bee gees with poignant rendition of 'immortality'.

Celine Dion

The 100 greatest movie songs of all time, ranked

The night barry gibb and stephen gibb sang 'grease' as a sensational father-son duet, when barry gibb sang heartfelt 'to love somebody' on this morning after brother robin's death, latest music news.

See more Latest Music News

Michael Bolton shares health update following brain tumour surgery

Unreleased marvin gaye songs unearthed in belgium over forty years after they were recorded.

Marvin Gaye

June Carter Cash's daughter Carlene rejects Beyoncé criticism: 'She's one of us'

Mark owen shares new shaved look as take that release new single 'you and me', bruce springsteen joins zach bryan on stage in nyc for surprise guest performance, smooth playlists, smooth's all time top 500, smooth soul, smooth country hot hits, smooth chill concentration, smooth podcast picks, they don't teach this at school with myleene klass, take that: this life, runpod with jenni falconer, the news agents.

Louis Gossett Jr., Oscar-winning actor from 'An Officer and a Gentleman' and 'Roots,' dies at 87

Louis Gossett Jr., who became the first Black man to win the Oscar for best supporting actor for playing a no-nonsense drill sergeant in “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982), has died, his family said Friday.

"It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning," the actor's family said in a statement. "We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time."

In an acting career that spanned six decades, Gossett appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, including the film adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” (1961) and big-screen spectacles like “The Deep” (1977).

He won an Emmy for playing the old slave Fiddler in the seminal ABC miniseries “Roots” (1977), acting in three of the program’s eight episodes. He delivered a memorable late-career turn in HBO’s “Watchmen” (2019), playing a former vigilante known as Hooded Justice. But his portrayal of the tough-as-nails Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” a romantic drama co-starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger, cemented him deepest in the public consciousness.

“There’s a love-hate relationship between the sergeant and his trainees,” Roger Ebert wrote in his review . “Lou Gossett Jr. does such a fine job of fine-tuning the line between his professional standards and his personal emotions that the performance deserves its Academy Award.”

Gossett’s triumph at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983 made him only the second Black man to win an acting Oscar, 19 years after Sidney Poitier won for his leading role in “Lilies of the Field.”

Louis Gossett Jr. was born May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York. He was drawn to athletics as a kid, especially basketball, but an injury kept him from playing for a time and led him to another pursuit: stage acting.When he was in high school, a teacher encouraged him to try out for a play — and that audition resulted in his Broadway debut in the 1953 production of “Take a Giant Step,” a coming-of-age tale about a Black teenager growing up in a predominantly white community.

He graduated from high school a year later and then enrolled at New York University. He continued to pick up acting gigs along the way, including a role in the Broadway version of “The Desk Set,” as well as small parts on television shows.

Gossett’s most notable stage credit was in the original cast of “A Raisin in the Sun,” a classic play about a Black family searching for a better life. Gossett portrayed the wealthy and pretentious George Murchison, a role he reprised in the 1961 movie version directed by Daniel Petrie.

He continued to act in Broadway and off-Broadway productions during the 1960s. He made his second major film appearance in Hal Ashby’s dark comedy “The Landlord,” released in 1970. The same year, he co-starred on the short-lived TV series “The Young Rebels.”

Gossett landed roles in several lesser-known movies during the early ‘70s, including “Skin Game” (1971), George Cukor’s “Travels With My Aunt” (1972) and “The Laughing Policeman” (1973). He played a drug kingpin in “The Deep,” adapted from a novel by “Jaws” author Peter Benchley.

“Roots,” a sweeping chronicle of the evils of slavery, raised Gossett’s profile, landing him an Emmy in September 1977. Gossett’s fellow nominees in his category were all members of the “Roots” ensemble: John Amos, LeVar Burton and Ben Vereen. (The series itself claimed six awards, including best limited series.)

Gossett reprised the role of Fiddler in the 1988 television movie “Roots: The Gift.”

“An Officer and a Gentleman” propelled Gossett to national acclaim. He underwent rigorous training for the role, spending 10 days at a school for drill instructors at Camp Pendleton in California, where he marched, ran and practiced karate from 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.He was thrilled to receive an Oscar nomination, but he was convinced the supporting actor prize would go to industry veterans Robert Preston (“Victor/Victoria”) or James Mason (“The Verdict”). 

When presenters Christopher Reeve and Susan Sarandon called his name from the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Gossett’s agent jabbed him in the chest, the actor recalled in 2018. “They said your name,” the agent said.

“I got up as smooth as I possibly could, trying to figure out what I was going to say,” Gossett recalled in an interview with the Television Academy.

Gossett was disappointed that bigger film parts did not follow his Oscar victory.“I was left with a lot of time on my hands” after the Academy Award, Gossett told The New York Times in 1989 . “I thought I’d get a lot of offers — and they didn’t come.”

“I let myself become bitter, resentful,” he added. “I was my own worst enemy. I said to myself, ‘What more can I do? Where’s the light at the end of the tunnel?’ I started to self-destruct.”

He started to abuse alcohol, cocaine and marijuana. “I had an Oscar, an Emmy, and yet I had this big hole in my soul,” Gossett told the Times.

Eventually, Gossett entered a residential drug-treatment program in Los Angeles and stopped using drugs, according to the profile in the Times. The path to sobriety was “very humbling and necessary, a very positive time,” he said.

Gossett was a ubiquitous and dependable presence on the big and small screens for decades to come — quietly commanding, sometimes intimidating, sometimes soulful.

He acted in genre-spanning films such as “Jaws 3-D” (1983), “Enemy Mine” (1985), “The Principal” (1987), “The Punisher” (1989), “Toy Soldiers” (1991), “Diggstown” (1992), “Blue Chips” (1994) and a string of under-the-radar indie movies from 2000-2010.

He frequently cropped up on television, guest-starring on episodes of “Touched by an Angel,” “ER,” “Psych,” “Boardwalk Empire.” He recently played a small but pivotal role as a legendary attorney accused of sexual misconduct on the Paramount+ series “The Good Fight.”

“Watchmen,” Damon Lindelof’s celebrated limited series based on the landmark DC Comics series of the same name, gave Gossett one of his most distinctive late-period roles. He was the enigmatic Will Reeves, grandfather of the show’s hero, Angela Abar, played by Regina King.

Gossett's final run of roles included Ol' Mister Johnson in the 2023 film musical version of "The Color Purple" and a voice part in the John Krasinski-directed fantasy "IF," scheduled for release in May.

Daniel Arkin is a national reporter at NBC News.

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Credit card rates
• Balance transfer credit cards
• Business credit cards
• Cash back credit cards
• Rewards credit cards
• Travel credit cards
• Checking accounts
• Online checking accounts
• High-yield savings accounts
• Money market accounts
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Car insurance
• Home buying
• Options pit
• Investment ideas
• Research reports
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

A Condition Called Love Episode 1: What is Love?

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

Episode 1 of the upcoming anime A Condition Called Love will see Hotaru comfort Hananoi after his messy breakup. Moreover, the episode will also see Hananoi ask Hotaru out in front of her class.

｡*⑅୨୧┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈୨୧⑅*｡ 『 #花野井くんと恋の病 』 ?あらすじ＆場面写公開? ｡*⑅୨୧┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈୨୧⑅*｡ ?第1話 「はじめまして」 https://t.co/SZkRze2S1y 頭も顔も良いと噂の花野井くんが フラれる姿を目撃したほたる… ?4月4日よる11時56分から TBS系28局全国同時放送開始 pic.twitter.com/89kDcrOIiA — 花野井くんと恋の病【公式】 (@hananoikun_pr) April 1, 2024

A Condition Called Love episode 1 release date and time

The episode will premiere on local Japanese networks on Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 11:56 p.m. JST. It will air on AT-X, Tokyo MX, Sun TV, and several other Japanese networks. The episode will also be available for international fans on Crunchyroll and Netflix.

Here is the global release date and time for the upcoming episode:

Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 7:56 a.m. PST

Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 10:56 p.m. EST

Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 3:56 p.m. GMT

Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 4:56 p.m. CET

Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 8:26 p.m. IST

A Condition Called Love cast, plot & more

The highly anticipated anime is based on Megumi Morino’s original manga of the same name. The manga series was a nominee for the 64th Shogakukan Manga Awards in the shōjo category and won the Kodansha Manga Award for the shōjo category in 2021.

The story follows Hotaru, a 16-year-old high school girl who wants to spend time with her family. However, despite all that, Hotaru is clueless when it comes to love. So, when she sees Hananoi sitting in the snow after a messy breakup, she offers her umbrella. However, things take a surprising turn when he asks her out in public the next day.

The anime features an all-star cast. This includes Kana Hanazawa as Hotaru Hinase, Chiaki Kobayashi as Saki Hananoi, and Yurika Kubo as Hibiki Asami. Meanwhile, the opening “Kimi no Sei” will be performed by Sexy Zone, while Mina Okabe will perform the ending song “Every Second.”

The post A Condition Called Love Episode 1: What is Love? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More .

Recommended Stories

After reaching profitability, carpooling platform blablacar secures $108 million debt line.

BlaBlaCar is an iconic name in the French startup ecosystem. The carpooling and bus ticketing company has been around for so long that it’s hard to consider it a startup anymore. Today, the company is announcing that it's secured a €100 million revolving credit facility ($108M at today’s exchange rate).

Cooper Flagg and the East team edge Ace Bailey and the West in the 2024 McDonald's All-American Game

Flagg had a relatively quiet night as the East secured an 88-86 win Tuesday night.

Twins nearly lose Byron Buxton to Milwaukee sausage collision

Always look both ways before exiting the dugout.

Disney CEO Bob Iger, Nelson Peltz enter final days of proxy fight — here's what to know

Investors will soon learn whether Peltz has succeeded in his push to shake up Disney's board.

Kansas City ballot measure for new Royals stadium, Chiefs renovations fails hard at polls

The Royals are still looking for a new stadium.

Even Sacramento's mayor thinks the A's should stay in Oakland

After a meeting with Oakland, the A's are reportedly set to meet with Sacramento about a temporary move to the city.

Angie Harmon says Instacart driver fatally shot her dog: Here's where the investigation stands

Angie Harmon says her family is "traumatized" and "devastated" after an Instacart driver shot and killed her dog. The man claimed self-defense to police.

United Explorer Card review: Free checked bag, priority boarding, and miles on every purchase

Even occasional United flyers can get good use out of the airline's Explorer Card. See all its perks

Mercedes said to revamp plans for the EQS and S-Class

A new report says the Mercedes Benz S-Class will get more luxurious and easier to operate, the EQS will be remade to be more like the S-Class.

What can we expect from Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese at the next level?

Clark is a near lock to go No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft, but Reese’s draft picture and professional future — if she were to leave LSU — are much murkier.

MIT Technology Review

• Newsletters

How three filmmakers created Sora’s latest stunning videos

This week, OpenAI released a new series of videos made using its text-to-video generator. Here’s how they were made.

• Will Douglas Heaven archive page

In the last month, a handful of filmmakers have taken Sora for a test drive. The results, which OpenAI published this week , are amazing. The short films are a big jump up even from the cherry-picked demo videos that OpenAI used to tease its new generative model just six weeks ago. Here’s how three of the filmmakers did it.

“ Air Head” by Shy Kids

Shy Kids is a pop band and filmmaking collective based in Toronto that describes its style as “punk-rock Pixar.” The group has experimented with generative video tech before. Last year it made a music video for one of its songs using an open-source tool called Stable Warpfusion. It’s cool, but low-res and glitchy. The film it made with Sora, called “Air Head,” could pass for real footage—if it didn’t feature a man with a balloon for a face.

One problem with most generative video tools is that it’s hard to maintain consistency across frames. When OpenAI asked Shy Kids to try out Sora, the band wanted to see how far they could push it. “We thought a fun, interesting experiment would be—could we make a consistent character?” says Shy Kids member Walter Woodman. “We think it was mostly successful.”

Generative models can also struggle with anatomical details like hands and faces. But in the video there is a scene showing a train car full of passengers, and the faces are near perfect. “It’s mind-blowing what it can do,” says Woodman. “Those faces on the train were all Sora.”

Has generative video’s problem with faces and hands been solved? Not quite. We still get glimpses of warped body parts. And text is still a problem (in another video, by the creative agency Native Foreign, we see a bike repair shop with the sign “Biycle Repaich”). But everything in “Air Head” is raw output from Sora. After editing together many different clips produced with the tool, Shy Kids did a bunch of post-processing to make the film look even better. They used visual effects tools to fix certain shots of the main character’s balloon face, for example.

Woodman also thinks that the music (which they wrote and performed) and the voice-over (which they also wrote and performed) help to lift the quality of the film even more. Mixing these human touches in with Sora’s output is what makes the film feel alive, says Woodman. “The technology is nothing without you,” he says. “It is a powerful tool, but you are the person driving it.”

[Update: Shy Kids have posted a behind-the-scenes video for Air Head on X . Come for the pro tips, stay for the Sora bloopers: "How do you maintain a character and look consistent even though Sora is a slot machine as to what you get back?" asks Woodman.]

“ Abstract“ by Paul Trillo

Paul Trillo, an artist and filmmaker, wanted to stretch what Sora could do with the look of a film. His video is a mash-up of retro-style footage with shots of a figure who morphs into a glitter ball and a breakdancing trash man. He says that everything you see is raw output from Sora: “No color correction or post FX.” Even the jump-cut edits in the first part of the film were produced using the generative model.

Trillo felt that the demos that OpenAI put out last month came across too much like clips from video games. “I wanted to see what other aesthetics were possible,” he says. The result is a video that looks like something shot with vintage 16-millimeter film. “It took a fair amount of experimenting, but I stumbled upon a series of prompts that helps make the video feel more organic or filmic,” he says.

“ Beyond Our Reality” by Don Allen Stevenson

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Don Allen Stevenson III (@donalleniii)

Don Allen Stevenson III is a filmmaker and visual effects artist. He was one of the artists invited by OpenAI to try out DALL-E 2, its text-to-image model, a couple of years ago. Stevenson’s film is a NatGeo-style nature documentary that introduces us to a menagerie of imaginary animals, from the girafflamingo to the eel cat.

In many ways working with text-to-video is like working with text-to-image, says Stevenson. “You enter a text prompt and then you tweak your prompt a bunch of times,” he says. But there’s an added hurdle. When you’re trying out different prompts, Sora produces low-res video. When you hit on something you like, you can then increase the resolution. But going from low to high res is involves another round of generation, and what you liked in the low-res version can be lost.

Sometimes the camera angle is different or the objects in the shot have moved, says Stevenson. Hallucination is still a feature of Sora, as it is in any generative model. With still images this might produce weird visual defects; with video those defects can appear across time as well, with weird jumps between frames.

Stevenson also had to figure out how to speak Sora’s language. It takes prompts very literally, he says. In one experiment he tried to create a shot that zoomed in on a helicopter. Sora produced a clip in which it mixed together a helicopter with a camera’s zoom lens. But Stevenson says that with a lot of creative prompting, Sora is easier to control than previous models.

Even so, he thinks that surprises are part of what makes the technology fun to use: “I like having less control. I like the chaos of it,” he says. There are many other video-making tools that give you control over editing and visual effects. For Stevenson, the point of a generative model like Sora is to come up with strange, unexpected material to work with in the first place.

The clips of the animals were all generated with Sora. Stevenson tried many different prompts until the tool produced something he liked. “I directed it, but it’s more like a nudge,” he says. He then went back and forth, trying out variations.

Stevenson pictured his fox crow having four legs, for example. But Sora gave it two, which worked even better. (It’s not perfect: sharp-eyed viewers will see that at one point in the video the fox crow switches from two legs to four, then back again.) Sora also produced several versions that he thought were too creepy to use.

When he had a collection of animals he really liked, he edited them together. Then he added captions and a voice-over on top. Stevenson could have created his made-up menagerie with existing tools. But it would have taken hours, even days, he says. With Sora the process was far quicker.

“I was trying to think of something that would look cool and experimented with a lot of different characters,” he says. “I have so many clips of random creatures.” Things really clicked when he saw what Sora did with the girafflamingo. “I started thinking: What’s the narrative around this creature? What does it eat, where does it live?” he says. He plans to put out a series of extended films following each of the fantasy animals in more detail.

Stevenson also hopes his fantastical animals will make a bigger point. “There’s going to be a lot of new types of content flooding feeds,” he says. “How are we going to teach people what’s real? In my opinion, one way is to tell stories that are clearly fantasy.”

Artificial intelligence

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. but nobody knows exactly why..

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch

Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.

Stay connected

Get the latest updates from mit technology review.

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at [email protected] with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.

When is the next full moon? How to see the April 2024 Pink Moon in Arizona

The April full moon, commonly known as the Pink Moon, is set to grace the night sky with its gentle glow. This lunar event marks the arrival of spring and the blooming of pink wildflowers in some regions. While the moon itself doesn't appear pink, its significance lies in its association with the changing seasons.

This year, the Pink Moon is expected to reach its full phase on April 23. To view the April full moon, simply look toward the eastern horizon after sunset.

Here is everything you need to know about the April Pink Moon.

For an explanation of all the biggest lunar and solar eclipses , meteor showers and other celestial highlights of 2024, check our astronomical events calendar .

What day is the full moon in April?

The April 2024 full moon will be on Tuesday, April 23, at 4:48 p.m. in Arizona .

What's the April full moon called?

The April full moon is commonly called the Pink Moon. Despite its nickname, the moon doesn't appear pink. It usually has the same golden hue as any other full moon.

The Pink Moon is also called the Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon or Fish Moon by various cultures.

Why is April full moon called Pink Moon?

This name originated from the pink flowers of the wild ground phlox that bloom in early spring in the eastern United States and Canada, according to Almanac .com.

What is the Fish Moon in April?

According to NASA , the Fish Moon is one of the traditional names given to the April full moon. It is derived from the Native American Algonquin tribes, who named each full moon to mark the changing seasons and associated activities. The Fish Moon refers to the time when fish begin to spawn more actively, marking the beginning of the fishing season in many areas.

What does the Pink Moon mean spiritually?

Some people attach spiritual significance to the Pink Moon based on cultural or traditional associations, while others may interpret it through personal or intuitive lenses.

For some, the April full moon symbolizes a time of fresh beginnings, healing and releasing old patterns or energies that no longer serve them. The gentle, nurturing energy of the Pink Moon may inspire introspection, gratitude and alignment with one's higher purpose or spiritual path, according to Spirituality and Health.com .

What is the rarest moon?

The term "rarest moon" can be interpreted in various ways. Here are a few rare moons, according to Space.com :

• Blue Moon : The term Blue Moon refers to the second full moon that occurs within a calendar month. This happens roughly every two to three years.
• Black Moon : Similar to a Blue Moon, it's relatively rare, happening about every 32 months.
• Super Blue Blood Moon : This is an extremely rare event in which a supermoon (when the moon is at its closest point to Earth), a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse all occur simultaneously. The last time this happened was in January 2018 and it's not expected to happen again until 2037.
• Tetrad : A tetrad is a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, each separated by six full moons. While individual lunar eclipses are not extremely rare, having four consecutive total lunar eclipses is less common.
• Blood Moon : A Blood Moon is a total lunar eclipse where the moon appears red or coppery in color. While lunar eclipses themselves aren't exceedingly rare, the specific conditions required for the moon to appear blood-red make this phenomenon relatively unusual.

How rare is a Black Moon?

A Black Moon is relatively rare, occurring about once every 32 months, according to Space.com . It is the second new moon that occurs within a calendar month. This phenomenon is less known compared to a Blue Moon, but it captures interest due to its infrequent nature.

Got a story you want to share? Reach out at  [email protected] . Follow  @tiffsario  on Instagram.

Support local journalism and subscribe to azcentral.com .