# Biopics that need to be made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713 "2011-01-07T04:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blackmath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b782af/32.png) [@blackmath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackmath)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/1 "2011-01-07T04:34:31Z")
Hello all, I’m a fan of well made historically based films, especially biographies. I’ve often been somewhat disappointed with Hollywood (arent we all) with the subjects of these biopics, and often thought of who I’d love to see a well made, accurate movie based on. I was interested in other Doper’s opinions/picks, and here are a few of my own. **George Armstrong Custer/Sitting Bull**. If I were to write the screenplay, I’d make it a sort of dual life story. One depicts Custer, last in his class at West Point, daring cavalry officer, later in life driven by madness and an obsessive love of his wife. Showing his disregard for his own safety, his flamboyant fashion sense, etc. Mirror that with the life of Sitting Bull. Show how he earned his name (great story in itself), show life inside the Lakota warrior society, show normal Lakota life at the time with settlers and other tribes encroaching on them, etc. Then depict Sitting Bull’s vision about the outcome of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Make it as cold and real as possible, not favoring either side of the conflict. Great battle scenes contrasting Native American battle strategy and US Army cavalry strategy could be had. Movie would span from perhaps the beginning of their lives to the fateful day they meet. A great first scene in the movie could be the victory parade celebrating the end of the Civil War in which President Lincoln was stunned at seeing Custer ride his horse way ahead of the pack and back through the columns of soldiers again in his altered cavalry officer’s uniform and his long curly blond hair flying back in the wind. Contrast that with a young Sitting Bull calmly sitting in the middle of a battle, smoking his pipe with bullets and arrows flying all around him - showing each man’s fearlessness in a way that also shows their very different personalities. * * * Other subjects I’d love to see covered: -Nikolai Tesla -William Sidis (boy genius who burned out very young, died at 46) ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/2 "2011-01-07T04:52:29Z")
Tarantino says he will eventually make a John Brown movie. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/3 "2011-01-07T06:21:55Z")
I’ve been thinking about a biopic of Linus Pauling for awhile now. I’d start it just before he won his Nobel in Chemistry and end it shortly after he won the Nobel Peace Prize. I’d ignore the Vitamin C stuff, or make that a separate movie. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/4 "2011-01-07T06:34:58Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > I’ve been thinking about a biopic of Linus Pauling for awhile now. I’d start it just before he won his Nobel in Chemistry and end it shortly after he won the Nobel Peace Prize. I’d ignore the Vitamin C stuff, or make that a separate movie. Would that be in 3-D? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/5 "2011-01-07T08:39:30Z")
I think one of Jesse Ventura would be fun. And Glen Beck for shits and giggles. And the Octomom. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/6 "2011-01-07T08:57:57Z")
I wrote a blog post about a biopic I’d like to see. The Brits will know who [Kenny Everett](http://guanolad.blogspot.com/2010/12/cuddly-kenny-everett.html) is. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/7 "2011-01-07T09:03:54Z")
The period when James Stewart left his Hollywood career to become a pilot during WWII would make for a hell of an Scorcese flick. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/8 "2011-01-07T10:08:50Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I wrote a blog post about a biopic I’d like to see. The Brits will know who [Kenny Everett](http://guanolad.blogspot.com/2010/12/cuddly-kenny-everett.html) is. As long as it was done _in the best possible taste_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/9 "2011-01-07T13:37:31Z")
**Sir Richard Burton** – _Mountains of the Moon_ is good, but there’s a huge amount more to his life than the explorations of East Africa – there’s his pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, his time in India, his trip to Salt Lake City, his ambassadorship, and his founding of the Kama Shastra Society at the height of the Victorian era. **The Emporer Julian** – you could base it on Gore Vidal’s _Julian_, though you don’t have to. Lots of material there. **Benjamin Franklin** – there was a TV mini-series at the time of the Bicentenniel that seems to have dropped oiut of sight, but I don’t think even that covered enough. > **[The Lives of Benjamin Franklin (TV Mini Series 1974–1975) ⭐ 7.9 | Biography,...](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363319/)** > > 1h 30m Franklin was a weird guy with far-ranging interests and immense influence. He wrote a book on swimming, in his youth. His publications were so successful that he was able to retire young. His work on electricity alone guaranteed him a place in history, even if he had died before the Revolution (he also invented the Glass Harmonica, the Franklin Stove, and Bifocals). His son was the Royal Governor of New Jersey (why do we never hear anything about Franklin’s common-law wife Deborah Read, effectively married to him for over 45 years? Heck, even I had to look her name up just now). His public works included founding a Fire Company and a Library, long before being involved in the Revolution. And there’s that whole kite-in-a-thunderstorm thing that’s not usually properly understood. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/10 "2011-01-07T14:08:35Z")
**Jimi Hendrix** has a story that could be a great movie, but no idea how you’d film the actor playing guitar. It’s not even like Tom Hulce mimicking Mozart in Amadeus. **The Stones** have enough drama to fill a Tennesee Williams play - and how about **Fleetwood Mac** - but you’d have to decide which one: the original formed by Clapton-replacement, blues genius and acid-casualty Peter Green, which saw 3 guitarists go 'round the bend, the interim FM with Bob Welch, or the blockbuster version with much bed-hopping, divorce and cocaine? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/11 "2011-01-07T14:36:34Z")
I’m going in a slightly different direction here but let me nominate 15th United States President James Buchanan. An enormously successful lawyer and politician who functioned at the highest levels of politics for two decades. He campaigned for the presidential nomination in 1844, 1848, 1852 and finally got it in 1956. But he wasn’t able to rise to the times in which he found himself as President. His presidency featured Dred Scott and Bloody Kansas in a background of growing rage in both north and south. And he was perceived by no one as providing the leadership to smooth things over. In his final address to Congress, following Lincoln’s election, he maintained that states did not have the right to secede but also that the federal government did not have the right to stop him. It would be a pic that allows for a real examination of the times immediately preceding what is likely the most overexamined piece of American history. It could also show how Lincoln was mostly a nobody on the national scene in contrast to Buchanan, Breckenridge and the other higher-level players of the day. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/12 "2011-01-07T14:49:08Z")
I would love to see a biopic of Nicolae and [Elena Ceauşescu](http://www.ceausescu.org/ceausescu_texts/elena_ceausescus_cult.htm) [The insanity is just amazing.](http://www.ceausescu.org/ceausescu_texts/overplanned_parenthood.htm) > [@](#): > > He began his campaign in 1966 with a decree that virtually made pregnancy a state policy. “The fetus is the property of the entire society,” Ceausescu proclaimed. “Anyone who avoids having children is a deserter who abandons the laws of national continuity.” > > Ceausescu made mockery of family planning. He forbade sex education. Books on human sexuality and reproduction were classified as “state secrets,” to be used only as medical textbooks. > > The government’s enforcement techniques were as bad as the law. Women under the age of 45 were rounded up at their workplaces every one to three months and taken to clinics, where they were examined for signs of pregnancy, often in the presence of government agents - dubbed the “menstrual police” by some Romanians. A pregnant woman who failed to “produce” a baby at the proper time could expect to be summoned for questioning. [Or:](http://www.ceausescu.org/ceausescu_texts/elena_ceausescus_cult.htm) > [@](#): > > Elena Ceausescu had a poor education, she barely finished elementary school, but after her husband assumed power in Romania, she obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry, became the head of ICECHIM, and was rewarded with vast foreign recognition. This would suggest that Elena was a serious scientist. However, after her execution in 1989, a former teacher of hers dared to show her flunky grades. At age 14 Elena dropped out of school after failing everything but needlework, singing, and gymnastics [Or](http://www.ceausescu.org/ceausescu_texts/caligula.htm) > [@](#): > > On the count of elevating an animal to a high rank: guilty. It turns out Ceausescu was popular in the West for being staunchly anti-Soviet, and was given many gifts by visiting (or visited) dignitaries. Perhaps most embarrassing was an honorary knighthood bestowed by the Queen of England, revoked only hours before his execution when the appalling nature of his regime became apparent. Among the other gifts was a black Labrador puppy from British Liberal Party leader David Steel. Ceausescu named the dog Corbu and became so enamored with the thing that Romanian citizens were soon calling it ‘Comrade Corbu’. From Historical Blunders: > > Unfortunately, Corbu became a part of the dictator’s own fantasy world and soon the dog was to be seen being driven through Bucharest in a limousine, with its own motorcade… Corbu always slept with Ceausescu at night. During the day it slept in Villa 12A, complete with bed, luxury furnishings, television and telephone. The Romanian ambassador in London was under official orders to go to Sainsbury’s [a supermarket] every week to buy British dog biscuits which were then sent back in the diplomatic bag. Corbu was soon given the rank of colonel in the Romanian Army. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/13 "2011-01-07T14:54:24Z")
Has there been a straightforward Hitler biopic yet? Plenty of movies have dealt with specific events in his life, but he’s not usually the central character in them. A lot of people feel that depiction equals endorsement at some level, but he’s kind of the most pivotal character of the last century and this is a glaring omission. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/14 "2011-01-07T15:01:31Z")
There’s a (young) Teddy Roosevelt biopic supposedly coming out this year - with DiCaprio as Teddy, which makes me a little :dubious: though I thought he was okay as Howard Hughes. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/15 "2011-01-07T15:04:03Z")
I would love to see a biopic of ABBA member [Annie-Frid Lyngstad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anni-Frid_Lyngstad). Her life is so unbelievable it could not be made up. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/16 "2011-01-07T15:12:11Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Has there been a straightforward Hitler biopic yet? Plenty of movies have dealt with specific events in his life, but he’s not usually the central character in them. A lot of people feel that depiction equals endorsement at some level, but he’s kind of the most pivotal character of the last century and this is a glaring omission. There was a mini-series a few years back with Robert Carlyle, and I seem to recall there was also a TV movie in the '80s with Anthony Hopkins. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/17 "2011-01-07T15:29:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Has there been a straightforward Hitler biopic yet? Plenty of movies have dealt with specific events in his life, but he’s not usually the central character in them. well, he was certainly the central character in **Hitler: The Last Ten Days** , with Alec Guiness (!) playing Der Fuehrer. But that was a pretty limited period. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/18 "2011-01-07T15:44:32Z")
Once, long time ago when I was active member of [TriggerStreet.com](http://TriggerStreet.com), I read a screenplay named Cortes after famous Spanish conquistador and remember feeling really good about it. It did contain lot of gory details about the man and events and I’ve been waiting for the movie ever since. Still nothing… but at least Neil Young has it all down in a 5 minute song. ---
**Author:** ![blackmath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b782af/32.png) [@blackmath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackmath)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/19 "2011-01-07T19:33:55Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > There’s a (young) Teddy Roosevelt biopic supposedly coming out this year - with DiCaprio as Teddy, which makes me a little :dubious: though I thought he was okay as Howard Hughes. Yes, I’ve read about that as well… I hope that Scorsese finishes the Hughes story in covering his final, weirdest years. Throughout The Aviator, the film keeps alluding to this period with those odd flash forward sequences, and Hughes’ comment about liking the desert because it’s “hot, but it’s clean”. During this period he bought several of the casinos from the Mafia, bought the largest TV station, etc… Plus the film could show just how doped up his handlers had him towards the end of his life. Great responses everyone, thanks for responding to a rookie’s question 🙂 and keep 'em coming. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713/20 "2011-01-07T19:41:41Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Once, long time ago when I was active member of [TriggerStreet.com](http://TriggerStreet.com), I read a screenplay named Cortes after famous Spanish conquistador and remember feeling really good about it. It did contain lot of gory details about the man and events and I’ve been waiting for the movie ever since. Still nothing… but at least Neil Young has it all down in a 5 minute song. I’d be very interested if you could give more details. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopics-that-need-to-be-made/566713.md?page=2)