>> I seem to have been writing about biopics a lot recently; both covering news that Elton John is planning to be the executive producer on a jukebox musical of his own life – which, short of playing himself, it’s just about the most egotistical and self-indulgent act of pop stardom ever – and that Naomi Watts is to play Diana, Princess Of Wales.
The thing is, Elt’s one isn’t going to be particularly faithful to the truth, it seems, and Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Caught In Flight will only focus on the last two years of Diana’s life. Which does prompt me to ask, where have the expansive, life-spanning biopics in Richard Attenborough-does-Gandhi mould gone? The King’s Speech was, again, just a fraction of King George VI’s life. And don’t give me The Iron Lady: that’s the story of a political woman which doesn’t appear to have much politics in it.
These days, it feels as though there has to be a singalong musical angle for such films to get the green light – as with the life stories of the musicians Ray Charles (Ray), Edith Piaf (La Vie en Rose) and Johnny Cash (Walk the Line). Otherwise, biopics have become focused, lean and concentrated on specific events.
Which is maybe no bad thing, judging by how boring J Edgar is. My favourite of recent times is W, the biopic of George W Bush, and that was perhaps a little tongue in cheek. What’s yours?
Click here for the full story about the direction of biopics in The National
