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Biographical film

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromBiographical drama)
Film genre

Abiographical film orbiopic (/ˈbaɪoʊˌpɪk/)[1] is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used.[2] They differ fromdocudrama films andhistorical drama films in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a single person's life story or at least the most historically important years of their lives.[3]

Context

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Chapaev, a 1934 biopic of Russian war heroVasily Chapayev.

Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of theCollege of Staten Island and Dennis P. Bingham ofIndiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. Custen, inBio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History (1992), regards the genre as having died with theHollywood studio era, and in particular,Darryl F. Zanuck.[4] On the other hand, Bingham's 2010 studyWhose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre[5] shows how it perpetuates as a codified genre using many of the same tropes used in the studio era that has followed a similar trajectory as that shown byRick Altman in his study,Film/Genre.[6] Bingham also addresses the male biopic and the female biopic as distinct genres from each other, the former generally dealing with great accomplishments, the latter generally dealing with female victimization. Ellen Cheshire'sBio-Pics: a life in pictures (2014) examines UK/US films from the 1990s and 2000s. Each chapter reviews key films linked by profession and concludes with further viewing list.[7] Christopher Robé has also written on the gender norms that underlie the biopic in his article, "Taking Hollywood Back" in the 2009 issue ofCinema Journal.[8]

Roger Ebert defendedThe Hurricane and distortions in biographical films in general, stating "those who seek the truth about a man from the film of his life might as well seek it from his loving grandmother. ...The Hurricane is not adocumentary but aparable."[9]

Casting

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Casting can be controversial for biographical films. Casting is often a balance between similarity in looks and ability to portray the characteristics of the person.Anthony Hopkins felt that he should not have playedRichard Nixon inNixon because of a lack of resemblance between the two.[citation needed] The casting ofJohn Wayne asGenghis Khan inThe Conqueror was objected to because of the American Wayne being cast as the Mongol warlord. Egyptian critics criticized the casting ofLouis Gossett Jr., an African American actor, as Egyptian presidentAnwar Sadat in the 1983 TV miniseriesSadat.[10] Also, some objected to the casting ofJennifer Lopez inSelena because she is a New York City native ofPuerto Rican descent whileSelena wasMexican American.[11]

Film representations

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Because the figures portrayed are actual people, whose actions and characteristics are known to the public (or at least historically documented), biopic roles are considered some of the most demanding of actors and actresses.[citation needed]Warren Beatty,Faye Dunaway,Ben Kingsley,Johnny Depp,Jim Carrey,Jamie Foxx,Robert Downey Jr.,Brad Pitt,Emma Thompson,Tom Hanks,Eddie Redmayne, andCillian Murphy all gained new-found respect as dramatic actors after starring in biopics:[citation needed] Beatty and Dunaway asClyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker inBonnie and Clyde (1967), Kingsley asMahatma Gandhi inGandhi (1982), Depp asEd Wood inEd Wood (1994), Carrey asAndy Kaufman inMan on the Moon (1999), Downey asCharlie Chaplin inChaplin (1992) and asLewis Strauss inOppenheimer (2023), Foxx asRay Charles inRay (2004), Thompson and Hanks asP. L. Travers andWalt Disney inSaving Mr. Banks (2013), Redmayne asStephen Hawking inThe Theory of Everything (2014), and Murphy asJ. Robert Oppenheimer inOppenheimer (2023).

Some biopics purposely stretch the truth.Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was based ongame show hostChuck Barris' widely debunked yet popularmemoir of the same name, in which he claimed to be aCIA agent.[12]Kafka incorporated both the life of authorFranz Kafka and thesurreal aspects of his fiction.[citation needed] TheErrol Flynn filmThey Died with Their Boots On tells the story ofCuster but is highly romanticized. TheOliver Stone filmThe Doors, mainly aboutJim Morrison, was highly praised for the similarities between Jim Morrison and actorVal Kilmer, look-wise and singing-wise, but fans and band members did not like the way Val Kilmer portrayed Jim Morrison,[13] and a few of the scenes were even completely made up.[14]

In rare cases, sometimes calledauto biopics,[15] the subject of the film plays themself. Examples includeJackie Robinson inThe Jackie Robinson Story (1950),Muhammad Ali inThe Greatest (1977),Audie Murphy inTo Hell and Back (1955),Patty Duke inCall Me Anna (1990),Bob Mathias inThe Bob Mathias Story (1954),Arlo Guthrie inAlice's Restaurant (1969),Fantasia inLife Is Not a Fairytale (2006), andHoward Stern inPrivate Parts (1997).

In 2018, themusical biopicBohemian Rhapsody, based on the life ofQueen singerFreddie Mercury, became the highest-grossing biopic in history at the time.[16][17][18] In 2023, it was surpassed byOppenheimer, based on the life ofJ. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of theatomic bomb in World War II.[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Biopic".Dictionary.com.
  2. ^Bastin, Giselle (Summer 2009)."Filming the Ineffable: Biopics of the British Royal Family".A/B: Auto/Biography Studies.24 (1):34–52.doi:10.1353/abs.2009.0008. Retrieved29 May 2013.
  3. ^"What is a biopic? Seven questions about biographical films answered".BBC. April 2024. Retrieved8 June 2024.
  4. ^Custen, George F. (1992).Bio/pics : how Hollywood constructed public history. Rutgers University Press.ISBN 978-0-8135-1755-1.OCLC 24247491.
  5. ^Bingham, Dennis (2010).Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre. Rutgers University Press.ISBN 978-0-8135-4658-2.OCLC 318970570.
  6. ^Altman, Rick (1999).Film/genre. British Film Institute.ISBN 978-0-85170-717-4.OCLC 41071380.
  7. ^Cheshire, Ellen (2014).Bio-Pics: a life in pictures. Columbia University Press.ISBN 978-0-231-17205-9.
  8. ^Robé, Christopher (Winter 2009). "Taking Hollywood Back: The Historical Costume Drama, the Biopic, and Popular Front U.S. Film Criticism".Cinema Journal.48 (2):70–87.doi:10.1353/cj.0.0082.JSTOR 20484449.S2CID 153354352.
  9. ^Ebert, Roger (7 January 2000)."The Hurricane".Chicago Sun-Times.
  10. ^Miller, Judith (2 February 1984)."UPSET BY 'SADAT,' EGYPT BARS COLUMBIA FILMS".The New York Times.ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved27 January 2017.
  11. ^Tracy, Kathleen (2008).Jennifer Lopez: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 53.ISBN 978-0-313-35515-8.
  12. ^Stein, Joel (7 January 2003)."Chuck Barris: Lying to Tell the Truth".Time.ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved27 January 2017.
  13. ^"Gary James' Interview with Ray Manzarek". Classicbands. Retrieved29 May 2013.
  14. ^"Chat with Ray Manzarek". Crystal-ship. 17 November 1997. Retrieved1 September 2012.
  15. ^"autobiopic – definition of autobiopic in English | Oxford Dictionaries".Oxford Dictionaries | English. Archived fromthe original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved27 January 2017.
  16. ^Spanos, Brittany (10 January 2019)."Korean, Japanese Fans Can't Stop Watching 'Bohemian Rhapsody'".Rolling Stone. Retrieved15 January 2019.
  17. ^"Vanilla Ice Biopic Happening with Dave Franco in the Lead?".MovieWeb. 4 January 2019. Retrieved15 January 2019.
  18. ^"Bohemian Rhapsody becomes highest-grossing biopic of all time".The Indian Express. 17 December 2018. Retrieved15 January 2019.
  19. ^Pulver, Andrew (18 September 2023)."Oppenheimer overtakes Bohemian Rhapsody to become biggest biopic of all time".The Guardian.ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved19 September 2023.
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