Ah, the biopic! If you’re reading your trades, you know that the current climate of the biopic—from Steve Jobs to Bessie Smith to James Brown to Stephen Hawking, the biopic is here to stay. When it is done well, it can be nominated for all kinds of accolades.
The blessing of having cast a few biopics such as “Fruitvale Station,” “Notorious,” “The Gabby Douglas Story,” “Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B,” and Quinton Aaron in “The Blind Side” gives me insight regarding an actor’s approach. Sometimes actors can come from a place of fandom.
Knowing too much about their public persona in this day an age can be a downfall. How a celebrated person is perceived, whether a famous rapper, singer, creator of the computer, or scientist, and who they really are can be as complex as the people themselves. Who they really are or were can be done so beautifully and seem so effortless. However, some serious effort should be put into it.
In some films, a portion of their lives are told—the part that is most relevant or when a change in history occurred. Other films may choose to tell a story from birth till death, with one actor playing most of
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