the list of 9 for december 10, 2007:
NINE ROCK STARS WHO GOT THE BIOPIC TREATMENT
After recent Oscar success for Ray and Walk the Line, the musician biopic is, forbetter or for worse, big again, as it promises an easy ticket for Hollywood actors who thirst formore awards. Too bad the movies themselves are usually bad. 2007 has seen the musician biopic atits peak, though input from the US this year is relegated to a spoof (Walk Hard) and apostmodernist art flick (I'm Not There). Meanwhile, France and the UK have both entered thefray, with a middling biopic about Edith Piaf and an excellent portrait of Joy Division's IanCurtis, respectively. And yes, more biopics are in the works, including those on Janis Joplin,Freddy Mercury and Kurt Cobain. But Oscar's light does not shine on the rock star biopic as itdoes on those representing the country (Coal Miner's Daughter, Sweet Dreams) and jazz(Bird, Lady Sings the Blues) worlds. But give a movie star a chance to sing - or lip-sync -in the shoes of a legend, and there's no stopping them.
- BUDDY HOLLY, The Buddy Holly Story (1978). The movie thatstarted it all, with a pre-fame, pre-insanity Gary Busey knocking 'em dead as the early rocker whogot on the wrong airplane. (John Carpenter quickly followed up with Elvis: The Movie, butthat was made for network TV, so it doesn't count as far as this list is concerned.)
- RITCHIE VALENS, La Bamba (1987). One of the other guys onHolly's doomed flight - The Big Bopper was the third, and so far there's no movie about him- Valens remains a hero to many Latinos, even if the movie - which made Lou Diamond Phillips asort of star, and instantly repopularized the title song - is forgettable.
- SID VICIOUS, Sid and Nancy (1986). This isn't really a traditional biopic, as it doesn't cover the Sex Pistols bassist's early days of obscurity, but it's too major not to mention. Gary Oldman also became a star thanks to his memorable performance as the loser drug addict who rode on the coattails of Johnny Rotten to brief fame and eternal infamy.
- JERRY LEE LEWIS, Great Balls of Fire! (1988). Thestill-living Lewis currently disdains this shallow comedy-drama, which focuses mainly on thesinger's notorious marriage to his teenage cousin Myra - and his other cousin, Jimmy Swaggart,whose own scandals in the late 80's perhaps date the movie even more.
- JIM MORRISON, The Doors (1991). Oliver Stone's ridiculoushagiography of the Doors frontman paints Morrison as both a mystical poet and an alcoholic jerk. The problem is that the latter is so convincing that you never buy the former.
- TINA TURNER, What's Love Got to Do With It (1993). Theproblem with making a biopic while the subject is still alive - and worse, when the subject hasgiven the film his or her blessing - is that you wind up with a very one-sided affair. Not thatTina Turner's abusive ex Ike deserves to be defended. But this film is a good example of whypeople don't really care to watch a musician's biopic even a year after it's released. Timequickly shows this stuff to be disposable, ego-feeding junk.
- BRIAN JONES, Stoned (2005). Barely a soul watched thispoorly-received biopic about the Rolling Stone member who few even recall today. Sorry, Brian, butsuspicious death and all, you were too overshadowed by Mick and Keith for any movie about you tomake much of an impact.
- BOBBY DARIN, Beyond the Sea (2004). It's surprising thatthe rock biopic is alive at all after this huge critical and commercial disaster, wherewriter-director-star Kevin Spacey, way too old for the part, sung Darin's songs (and even releasedan album as Darin) in what was instantly acknowledged as a bloated me-fest for the overratedactor. Many believe it's what ultimately killed Spacey's fading career as a leading man.
- KAREN CARPENTER, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story(1987). Finally, how can I ignore Todd Haynes's moving, if weird, biopic aboutCarpenter, told entirely with Barbie dolls? It put Haynes on the map as a major filmmaker - onewho would further explore cult pop figures with his later features Velvet Goldmine and theaforementioned I'm Not There - and, because it was made expressly without Karen Carpenter'sestate, remains the most blisteringly honest rock and roll biopic ever made. You can't legally seethis film, because of copyright issues Karen's brother Richard had about the use of TheCarpenters' music, but it's not too hard to find if you look.
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