Let’s start by marking all the biopics that have already been broadcast, have been commissioned to shoot, or are currently in production.
- Britney Spears, The woman in me
- Bob Dylan, A complete unknownportrayed by Timothée Chalamet with hat
- Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
- The Beatles frontmen in an untitled project
- Donald Trump, The apprentice, brought to life by Sebastian Stan
- Maria Callas, in an untitled project, with Angelina Jolie
This does not even take into account the number of biographies that have been published in the last two years and have been very well received. (Spencer will always be my point of attraction). The world is hungry for stories about flesh-and-blood stars. Despite the saturation in an industry that is slowly moving towards branded films, we all desperately crave a retelling of our celebrities, be it a bildungsroman or a success story.
Real-life numbers
The biopic is not a new art form. The earliest form of biographical film goes back to Alfred Clark’s Execution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1895), produced by Thomas Edison, with a total running time of 18 seconds.
Following this Joan of Arc (1900), The life of Moses (1909), Queen Elizabeth (1912), Life and work of Richard Wagner (1913), Cleopatra (1917), The Fighting Roosevelts (1919), Little Napoleon (1923) and numerous other films emerged and populated the biographical film genre to satisfy the appetite aroused by the reaction. Between 1926 and 1960, Hollywood produced no fewer than 300 moving biographies.
Since last year Oppenheimer was the most successful biopic of all time with a worldwide box office of 912.6 million US dollars, while Bohemian Rhapsody And American sniper second and third place. Oppenheimer became Christopher Nolan’s third most successful film at the domestic box office, displacing Beginning.
Even Cate Blanchett’s tar drew a litany of praise and uncertainty: Was Lydia Tar a real person? Obviously, the answer was not easy to parse after Blanchett’s Ted Talk-like opening performance. And yet her performance and her credibility captivated us all equally. Perhaps that was what tar was the devotion to the composer, so it had to be real. Right? It had to be. Then there is the elegiac Jackie, brought to life by Natalie Portman, who shone with so much decent fragility and CHANEL that many were sure the real Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy was on set before Pablo Larraín ordered a cut between takes.
The art of the biopic has persisted in the public consciousness for good reason. Its endless reinventions and narrative possibilities draw on numerous historical aspects, independent of its own pre-existing lore. In the words of one Kamala Harris, “You exist in the context of what came before you.” And indeed, we do. As the factory continues to churn out films about figureheads of the past, there is also the question of who tells the stories. Who reserves the right for those who have passed on to carry the torch of storytelling for others to experience?
Not everyone is jumping on the biopic bandwagon
The latest venture needs no introduction. The long-awaited Anthony Bourdain The biopic will attempt to paint a portrait of the world’s most popular culinary personality. There is a wealth of material in Bourdain’s memory that captures Bourdain’s warmth. The chef and author brought himself – the rough, the complex and the understated – to every aspect of his work. With Bourdain, there were no yellow threads.
Bourdain gained his first experience in the lower hierarchy in several New York restaurants between the 80s and 90s. His texts, which reduced the hectic and electrifying experiences of cooking in restaurants such as Brasserie Les Halles, were full of wit. He was a New York Times bestseller and then began hosting A cooking tour, No reservations, The stopover And Parts unknown until he ended his life in 2018. Bourdain was 61 and left behind a grieving world.
Although production has been confirmed by A24 as the buyer of the film, further details about the plot and the film’s release date have yet to be announced. However, it seems that everything is moving forward, as the lead role is played by Dominic Sessa, who will don the unstarched white attire as Bourdain himself. Reactions to the production have been mixed. At least there is already plenty of material: An unknown lifethe biographical documentary about the late chef, joins Bourdain’s other filmography alongside memoirs, text biographies and excerpts from previous shows.
Ultimately, it is the biopic form that fuels our current appetite for the unseen. Our desire for the unanswered has reached unprecedented heights through technology and the mythical figures that have shaped us. We feel indebted to their stories, even when they are told by another mouth.
We don’t need a biopic about Anthony Bourdain, we have thousands of hours of footage of him speaking his own words. Not every famous person needs a whole movie about their life.
— maya (@spdersfromarss) 13 August 2024
What I’m saying is: If someone whose entire life has been a walking work of art, whose astute writing style has created so many connections between food and language, would a commercial retelling do it justice?
Only time will tell.
