Best Movie Biopics

[numbersix]

Hello all,

I need your help again.

What are your favourite movie biopics?

I'm working on an Audrey Hepburn project and want to make sure it's godo rather than a TV-movie. I'm curious to explore what makes a good biopic, and want to make sure we're watching the good ones.

So send me your recommendations. Bonus points if the biopic is about a select period of time rather than the person's entire life. Also bonus if the movie is about someone famous from the music or film world.

[Screen203]

Capote has to be up there with the best.

[transformers2]

Keeping it strictly to entertainment/sports:
Straight Outta Compton
The Fighter
I, Tonya
Rush
Get on Up
Ray

[Chienfantome]

Off the top of my head I'd say :
Control
Love & Mercy
Bird
Ed Wood
Steve Jobs (not in the entertainment industry but an interesting take narratively).

[JohnErle]

For me, celebrity biopics fail when there's no actual story to tell so their sole purpose is to inflate the legend of an already famous artist. And a fascinating life can still lead to a bland, boring biopic like 42 when the director is overwhelmed by hero worship and delivers a hagiography. Of course, the biopics I hate are the ones that usually make the most money (Ray, Walk The Line, Bohemian Rhapsody) so it depends on your definition of best.

Ones I'd actually choose to watch again are 24 Hour Party People, Eight Men Out, Hillary & Jackie, Finding Neverland, and Quiz Show, although most of them blur the line between "Based On A True Story" and a biopic of the people involved.

[Screen203]

Keeping it strictly to entertainment/sports:
I, Tonya

Off the top of my head I'd say :
Love & Mercy
Steve Jobs (not in the entertainment industry but an interesting take narratively).

[]

Those were good too. If Joy counts as a biopic I would reccomend that too. Very underrated.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

I'm not a big biopic guy, but I will second some of the choices already posted: Steve Jobs, Straight Outta Compton, Ray, I, Tonya, etc.

Sticking with music bios, I'd add Get On Up.

[Walleye413]

Really like Straight Outta Compton, that's one of my favorites. I'd say The Social Network if that qualifies. Older ones I'd pick Malcolm X.

On the 'not so great' list I'd go The King's Speech, Imitation Game, 42.

Difference between them for me has nothing to do about seeing myself in the picture, or subject matter. Simply a compelling story. Great story will always draw me in regardless of subject.

[numbersix]

These are all great ideas, thanks guys.

Surprised no one brought up Raging Bull yet - surely one of the greats?

[JohnErle]

Raging Bull's reputation speaks for itself, so it hardly seemed worth mentioning, and it probably has little bearing on an Audrey Hepburn biopic, unless she had a dark side I don't know about. Something closer to what you've described might be My Week With Marilyn, which was worth watching.

[numbersix]

You wouldn't believe how many fist-fights Hepburn used to get into. In black-and-white and slo-mo too.

Yeah My Week with Marilyn is a main reference but mostly what not to do. She's the object in that film and not the subject, and the theme seems to be "yes, she's a pain but once you see her on screen it's all worth it" which seems superficial. We want to do the opposite.

But all of these references are great!

[Chienfantome]

There also was an interesting French biopic of Serge Gainsbourg. I'm not a huuuuge fan of the film but it's definitely original, clearly mixing real life with fantasy. "Gainsbourg, a heroic life" is the title.

[JohnErle]

There's also La Vie En Rose, which I recall was pretty good for a biopic, and won lots of awards.

[Chienfantome]

There's also La Vie En Rose, which I recall was pretty good for a biopic, and won lots of awards.

Meh.

[numbersix]

Double meh