Music biography films
•
The 50 Best Music Biopic Movies
(Photo by Searchlight Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection. A COMPLETE UNKNOWN)
The latest: Bob Dylan goes electric in the Timothee Chalamet-starring A Complete Unknown, directed by Walk the Line‘s James Mangold.
Get ready for a Fresh new sound with tonight’s headliner: Rotten Tomatoes’ best music biopics ever!
Music has been a crucial component of the movies since the beginning, back even when they were supposedly ‘silent.’ So naturally we started making movies about those makers of melodies. And actors love playing them: They get to show off an expanded range of talent, and so many musicians’ lives are filled with drama and passion. As the term implies, the biopics on this list are all based on real people across an expanse of styles: rock (A Complete Unknown, Control), country (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Walk the Line), hip-hop (Straight Outta Compton), pop (Selena, Love & Mercy), classical (Amadeus), and beyond. The only exception we made was for 8 Mile: Though the names were changed, the fact that the main character – a Marshall Mathers stand-in – was played by the original Marshall Mathers demanded its inclusion.
Let’s take it from the top, and this time with fe
•
30 Best Music Biopics of All Time
Many musicians secretly want to be actors — and most actors (not-so-secretly) want to be musicians. And for those thespians who don’t start their own bands with words like 30 Odd Foot of Grunts or Bacon Brothers in their names, the next best thing is to play a real-life musical genius in a movie. If the subject’s story happens to have a great rags-to-riches arc, or include a dive into drug-fueled, near-death depths with redemptive rise, phoenix-like, included in the third act, great; if such dramatic recreations attract the attention of Oscar voters, hey, all the better. But the chance to belt out a greatest-hits collection of songs from rock stars, hip-hop legends and country-and-western crooners is too tempting to pass up for most folks. You may never be Elvis — but you can play him on TV. (If you’re Eminem, however, you do get to play a barely fictionalized version of yourself. It’s complicated.)
Music biopics are a bona fide genre, and there’s no sign that their popularity is dimming in the slightest. Last year’s N.W.A origin story Straight Outta Compton was one of 2015’s biggest hits, and in the next month, we’re getting not one, not two, but three biopics on big-time musicians:
•
List of films about bands
June Allyson
Alan Freed