We Can’t Help Falling in Love with Musician’s Biopics
Written by Adam Pearson on September 24, 2022
In November of 2018, theaters opened their doors to a record-breaking movie about one man, a band, and their journey to becoming a household name. That movie being Bohemian Rhapsody starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury of Queen. A year later in May 2019, Rocketman explored the life and impact of pop legend Elton John. Fast forward to August 2021 when Jennifer Hudson starred in Respect, taking on the epic role of Aretha Franklin. Now we arrive in 2022, and yet again, are starstruck by the outstanding work Austin Butler performed in his role of Elvis. What’s next you may ask? No need to worry because our “greatest love of all” Whitney Houston is receiving her own biopic in theaters December 2022.
Five biopic movies occurring in five years about some of music’s biggest legends is not a shock, especially seeing the success of the films. In 2019, the Oscars, screenplay’s most prestigious awards, awarded Bohemian Rhapsody four of their five nominations, including: Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role, Best Achievement in Sound Editing, Best Achievement in Film Editing, and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing. Rocketman scored an Academy nomination for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures and won. Though Respect did not receive any Oscar nominations, the film still gained nearly 40 nominations across many film academies.
Most recently in June, Elvis wooed the audience decades after his tragic death through iconic scenes such as his ’68 comeback special featuring Blue Christmas and If I Can Dream. Austin Butler performed such unique facial expressions and mannerisms only Elvis himself could do better. The direction of the film was put to such detail, it was almost unbelievable there wasn’t actual footage of Elvis on the screen.
It’s quite possible that we will continue to see an influx of biopic films, and it can be expected that production will stop at nothing to make the films as close to reality as they can. For now, we will have to wait until December for another story in theaters, but who knows what’s coming next? Which artist was big enough to crack the big screen? All we can do is wait to find out!
P.S. I’m secretly hoping it’s Michael Jackson or Prince, both are long overdue!
Check out the preview for I Wanna Dance With Somebody here:
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