Reason Writers Around Town

At The Boston Globe: What ails the biopic? Some diagnoses.

Comments

[Warren]

Say Tim, isn't there some sort of unwritten code against creating a post about your own article? Heh 🙂 It's a good read, not sure what the point is. I think the success of a movie has far more to do with actor/writer/director than subject.

I also want to put in a word for Beyond The Sea. I didn't know anything about Bobby Darin. So while deviating from history for the sake of 'his story' (inevitably to the detriment of the story) is a pet peeve that usually rouses my ire, I didn't know enough in this case to get upset. Also, many critics are unable to get past aging Spacey playing spring-chicken Darin. However, the musical numbers in this flick are of such quality to forgive all other sins. Kevin not only sings superbly but is a fair hoofer as well. The supporting dancers and choreography make up for the step he may have lost in the past couple of decades. The costumes also burst from the screen. Finally, the sets of the Darin house are exquisite. Every corner of the estate is adorned with just the right touch of swing era regalia.

[Pavel]

Who wouldn't want to see that on the big screen?

I certainly would. But it's not like it'd be brand new territory. Sinatra was at his best playing tortured self-debasing characters. The Man With the Golden Arm comes to mind.

I'd also pay to watch Kate Beckinsale do Eva Gardner again. Then again I'd pay to watch Kate Beckinsale do anything.

[Anon]

For those interested, the footage of Lennons v. Capp:
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-195-997-10/arts_entertainment/montreal_bed_in/

Anon

[wellfellow]

I thought Amadeus was great! I tend to like the biopic genre, though.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Ah, but Amadeus is a fake biopic, a far nobler genre that includes Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Melvin and Howard (well, maybe), and my own treatment for a movie in which Carl Douglas is called on to defend the Shaolin temple from the Tongs, and after an eye-popping martial arts extravaganza is inspired to write "Kung Fu Fighting."

[wellfellow]

True enough.

[Stevo Darkly]

Tim, I'd like to see your movie.

It's not a biopic, but I myself am working on a screenplay about a criminal who, while in prison, finds peace through Buddhism and Taoism and becomes a Shao-Lin monk behind bars. At the climax, he is forced to participate in a prison kung-fu free-for-all.

I've got as far as narrowing the title down to three possibilities:

Crouching Lifer, Hidden Warden

Felonious Monk

The Shao-Shank Redemption