Over the past few months I have been watching biographies in class, reading Dennis Bingham's, Whose Lives are They Anyway? and looking at movies that fit into this category. I am developing a list of biopics that I have seen in the past and adding to those, the ones that we see in class.
Happy to say, I can now list a number of biographies I have watched:
Al Capone (1959)
Amadeus (1984)
Angel at My Table (Jane Campion, Australia, 1990) [Janet Frame, poet]
Becket (1964)
Citizen Kane (Orson Wells, USA, 1941)
Ed Wood (Tim Burton, USA, 1994)
Erin Brockovich (Stephen Soderbergh, USA, 2000)
Ghandi (UK, 1982)
Glen Miller Story (1954)
Gypsy (Mervyn Leroy, 1962)
Hilary and Jackie (Arnand Tucker, 1998)
Hunger (Steve McQueen, Ireland, 2008)
I Shot Andy Warhold (Mary Harron, 1996) [Valerie Solanos]
Jolson Story (1946)
Karen Carpenter Story (Tod Haynes, 1987)
Kinsey (Bill Condon, 2004)
Kundun (1997) [Dali Lama]
Lawrence of Arabia (Spike Lee, 1992)
Milk (Gus Van Sant, USA, 2008)
Nasser 56 (Mohamed Fadel, Egypt, 1996)
Nixon (Oliver Stone, USA, 1995)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dryer 1928)
Rembrandt (Alexander Corda, 1936)
The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertalucci, 1987)
The Miracle Worker (1962)
The Notorious Bettie Page (Mary Harron, USA, 2005)
Thirty-Two Short Films about Glen Gould (Francois Gerard, Canada, 1993)
Another exercise I considered was to have students come up with possible subjects ripe for future biopics. Then do the casting & select a director! I often find myself thinking this way then in no time at all a film appears to challenge my view.
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