The biopic is one of Hollywood’s greatest hooks because it’s so straightforward, right? Find a famous actor to play a famous person. If you’re interested in a particular historical figure, then you’ll love when an actor portrays them in a movie!
Ah, if only it were so simple.
Biopics may seem straightforward, but the way storytellers choose to portray a person’s life makes this a complex genre. Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There” (2007) has six different actors playing various facets of Bob Dylan, and it’s as much a musician biopic as Timothée Chalamet playing Dylan solo in James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown.”
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What do we do when the record of an individual becomes debatable? We know what figures of the 20th century looked and sounded like thanks to recording technology, but what about George Washington? Cleopatra? When are you endeavoring to tell a real person’s story, and when are you inventing a character out of whole cloth and slapping a historical figure’s name on it?
The trick to a good biopic, and particularly the performance that defines it, is not so much the world’s most accurate imitation or making sure that every plot detail is 100% factual. It’s about channeling the person to arrive at the larger truth of who they were and why we care about them in the first place.
These 12 films are some of the best biopics because of how much care they take with their subject without ever falling into rote impressions and Wikipedia-like recaps of their lives.
“The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928)
French actor Renée Jeanne Falconetti (also known as Maria Falconetti) delivered one of the greatest silent performances of all time in service to a towering historical figure from the 15th century. Carl Theodor Dreyer’s movie is based on the actual record of the trial of Joan of Arc, but the character comes alive thanks to Falconetti’s expressive, empathetic take. The actor pulls us into both the fear and the courage of Joan, showing a woman who truly believes she has been anointed by God to expel the English from France. At the same time, she’s a scared young woman facing down the sexism and misogyny of her murderous accusers. Falconetti had to do this entirely without the benefit of her voice, relying on her striking facial expressions.
“Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)
It’s a bold choice to have your lead character die in a motorcycle accident in the film’s opening minutes. It seems a sad but unremarkable end for what promises to be an epic; and yet that’s just where director David Lean takes us in his towering classic about archeologist T.E. Lawrence. By flashing back into Lawrence’s life, the audience understands the complete transformation of his confidence and worldview from his experiences in World War I. Through Peter O’ Toole’s unforgettable performance (and the one that should have won him the Oscar), we see a man wrestle with his country’s colonialist legacy, the cost of violence, and how tidy notions of heroism and honor slip away when you’re in the blood and sand.
“Raging Bull” (1980)
Physical transformation tends to be a hallmark of the biopic. And certainly, Robert De Niro became almost unrecognizable in the role of boxer and entertainer Jake LaMotta for Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.” But while the actor packed on muscle to get into the ring, what makes the character indelible isn’t just his physicality; it’s the fact that both De Niro and Scorsese were willing to search for the humanity in a brute. LaMotta wasn’t a person you necessarily want to emulate, and in terms of great deeds, he’s no Muhammad Ali. Instead, through LaMotta, we’re forced to question why society would venerate such violence, as well as the limits of an individual’s morality when he’s devoted his life to being a beast.
“Amadeus” (1984)
Why do we remember Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and not his rival Antonio Salieri? Miloš Forman’s adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play of the same name lets Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) tell the story of one of history’s greatest composers—and the mission to destroy him. The clever approach here is not simply letting Tom Hulce revel in portraying Mozart’s genius and immaturity, but to put us one step away from that genius. This is not Mozart’s story told by Mozart, but told by someone like us. Perhaps we have talent and maybe even the connections, but we might also be doomed to realize how far we are from true greatness. We may want to be Mozart, but more often than not, we’re Salieri.
“Malcolm X” (1992)
Spike Lee’s biopic of Malcolm X is everything—a gangster movie, a prison drama, and a political thriller. Woven together into an epic tapestry, Lee’s movie and Denzel Washington’s searing performance changed the cultural understanding and impact of the activist on a national scale. The film is able to show the greatness of Malcolm X without ever downplaying his faults, his insecurities, or his humanity. And rather than put his central figure on a pedestal, Lee emphasizes how he displays the possibility in all of us to become more. The closing shouts of “I am Malcolm X!” are not only aspirational, but inspirational.
“Downfall” (2004)
Biopics are not solely the province of heroes. If anything, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “Downfall” shows the difficulty in playing an absolute monster like Adolf Hitler. Thankfully, the star, Bruno Ganz, rises to the challenge, finding something revoltingly human and recognizable in the grotesquery of one of history’s greatest villains. Lesser films and performers would dismiss the character outright, but “Downfall,” set in the final days of the Third Reich, is both a satisfying defeat and horrific conclusion of a group of human scum coming to their inevitable demise. All actors want to play great or talented people, but there’s a singular difficulty in playing figures the audience is primed to hate and holding our attention regardless.
“I’m Not There” (2007)
You could have Bob Dylan played by a single actor, but as Haynes understands, that’s not very Bob Dylan. A mercurial and slippery figure, Dylan’s evolution through his long career required not just one actor to take on different facets, but seven: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw. This approach allows the wide-ranging cast to seize on diverse elements of a person without having to get too wound up in the minute details. Traditional biopics certainly have their place, but the important thing is to get to the truth of the individual—and the truth of Bob Dylan is that he cannot be contained by the standards of a traditional biopic.
“The Social Network” (2010)
When it was first announced, “The Social Network” could’ve been laughed off as “The Facebook Movie,” a film about a website that wasn’t even six years old. And yet with each passing year, David Fincher’s story about Mark Zuckerberg and the birth of his online empire becomes more relevant and daunting. If anything, “The Social Network” has the curious distinction of defining Zuckerberg before he could even define himself. A film like Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” requires Austin Butler to be like the Elvis Presley we know; “The Social Network” allowed Jesse Eisenberg to manifest all of Zuckerberg’s arrogance, insecurities, anger, and brilliance because that’s what the story requires. The film may not be the full picture of Zuckerberg (and no biopic really supplies a complete depiction of its subject anyway), but it at least feels accurate to the technology he created.
“Lincoln” (2012)
Daniel Day-Lewis wrests the image of Abraham Lincoln back from basic signifiers like being tall and wearing a stovepipe hat. With a focus on passing the 13th Amendment to permanently abolish slavery, we see the soft-spoken, storyteller version of Lincoln, who is also a master politician. He is a grieving father, a heartbroken commander, and a visionary all in one; and yet Day-Lewis leans heaviest on showing the man behind the myth. In one of Steven Spielberg’s best movies—based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography “Team of Rivals”—the filmmaker and his famously committed lead actor strip away the bombast to understand Lincoln’s world as one of careful maneuvers, charm, strong-arming, and all the things that make a political operator great in the moment. In the end, we understand better why he, to quote former Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, “belongs to the ages.”
“I, Tonya” (2017)
There’s the villain you think you know, and then there’s a world that can at least attempt to empathize with that individual. In 1994, Tonya Harding was the villain. She was quickly and cruelly depicted as some Machiavellian figure orchestrating a hit on her figure skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan. But through Margot Robbie’s Oscar-nominated performance, we see all the broken parts of Harding. The effort is not to excuse what happened to Kerrigan, but to show that Harding and those around her are so deeply damaged and self-centered that they can’t begin to empathize with the pain they caused. As Craig Gillespie’s sharp film shows, a good biopic can recontextualize a person without whitewashing them.
“First Man” (2018)
What if instead of a great man there’s just a man? Damien Chazelle’s film about astronaut Neil Armstrong confounded audiences, especially after the director’s colorful and enchanting “La La Land.” But it remains an underrated entry in the genre that never overplays its central figure. Through Ryan Gosling’s excellent performance, we see someone driven to do a job not through ego or even scientific pursuit, but because of the sacrifices required. Armstrong’s greatness comes through with an almost workmanlike approach, and the cosmos provides the shine. The man has to exist apart from mankind to achieve the impossible.
“Oppenheimer” (2023)
Cillian Murphy’s performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer isn’t defined by prosthetics or fidelity to impersonation. Instead, the actor quietly embodies the intersection of brilliance, arrogance, and the dawning realization that one’s greatness may lead to the end of the world. As writer-director Christopher Nolan notes in the movie’s final coda, whether we like it or not, we’re living in the world that Oppenheimer created. And yet, Murphy’s Oscar-winning performance creates constant tension between a man forging a new era and his deeply flawed humanity. “Oppenheimer” shows that it’s not a matter of great individuals changing the world, but the universal elements that key us into their actions. In other words, you don’t need to be a nuclear physicist to recognize the film’s genius.