# What artist would you like see as the subject of a biographical drama? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [August 8, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305 "2022-08-08T13:26:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/1 "2022-08-08T13:26:28Z")
Choose a creative artist in any field, alive or dead, to be the protagonist in a major motion picture and explain why their story should be told on the big screen. Perhaps no movie about them exists, or they are the subject of a film (s), but you want to see a better one. I choose Hungarian composer, pianist, and teacher, **Franz Liszt** I’d like to see a well-produced bio-drama about the life and times of Liszt, with A-list actors and a great director (Stanley Kubrick, directing in the style of _Barry Lyndon_ would be my first choice, but he’s dead). The only non-documentary film I can find tangentially about Liszt is _Lisztomania_ (1975, starring Roger Daltrey), but that doesn’t count as a serious biographical drama. The man and subject deserve a well-researched, attention-to-detail treatment—in the vein of _Amadeus_ (1984), but more historically accurate. Liszt is on a short list of my favorite composers, but that’s not my reason for my wanting to see a proper movie made about him. Few historical figures have lived as colorful a life as Franz Liszt: child prodigy, unequaled virtuoso, game-changing Romantic era composer of both piano and orchestral work, mania-inducing performances (_Lisztomania_ was a real thing and predated _Beatlemania_ by a century), and a life filled with high drama and major accomplishments. The screenplay practically writes itself. If you’re unfamiliar with the life of Liszt, [this Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Liszt/Legacy) article gives a good overview. For a more in-depth view, I highly recommend the _Great Courses_ lecture series (available on the streaming service Wondrium): _Great Masters: Liszt, His Life & Music_ by composer/musicologist Professor Robert Greenberg. Greenberg puts flesh on Liszt’s bones. _“Liszt created one of the most enduring archetypes of the Romantic era: the artist ‘who walks with God and brings down fire from heaven in order to kindle the hearts of humankind’."_ Liszt lived well, but he was also very altruistic. He performed most of his concerts for free (for worthy causes) and taught many of his students (some of whom became renowned virtuosos/composers in their own right) for free, often staking them money, room, and board. He championed artists he believed in, both unknowns and great (including Beethoven). Liszt’s love life and family life were complicated (and intriguing). He was a romantic to the core, but certainly had flaws. Liszt was loved by many (including royalty and great composers) and vilified by others. He had many critics, mostly clueless hacks who abhorred change and couldn’t recognize talent if it bit them on the ass. But Franz didn’t suffer fools lightly. He responded to his critics, but always took the high road, often _complimenting_ even his harshest critics, which infuriated them. **Liszt** would make a great drama. Your turn. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/2 "2022-08-08T15:01:29Z")
I’d watch that movie. The only thing I know about Liszt is that for three years I worked in his former apartment. Every day tour guides would bring groups to a spot directly outside my office window and give some speech about Liszt while the tourists peered inside and stared at me. Since I was busy working I always closed the window at that point, and so I learned nothing about the man. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/3 "2022-08-08T15:08:18Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > For a more in-depth view, I highly recommend the _Great Courses_ lecture series (available on the streaming service Wondrium): _Great Masters: Liszt, His Life & Music_ by composer/musicologist Professor Robert Greenberg. Note: It also appears to be currently part of the Audible “Plus Catalog,” so if you’re already an Audible member you can listen for no extra charge. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/4 "2022-08-08T16:29:45Z")
The basic structure of a biographical drama of an artist is: 1. Rises to stardom. 2. Discovers booze, drugs, and sex. Does muchly. 3. Dies young. The average musical artist spends most of their time in a room, jamming away at an instrument. Aside from that, they might be hitting the gym or riding around in a van to various gigs. These are all fairly solitary activities. When you’re dealing with someone whose primary job is to sit in a room that’s too loud to chat with others, and who is going to spend 90% of their time interacting with 3-5 people, there’s really not much of an opening for a story unless they’re self-destructive in some way. Liszt didn’t destroy himself. I expect that we’ll get an Amy Winehouse story before too long. That said, some artists were used as spies by their countries, during times of war. Maybe one of them has something to turn into a story, other than “the usual”? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/5 "2022-08-08T17:11:28Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > The basic structure of a biographical drama of an artist is: > > 1. Rises to stardom. > 2. Discovers booze, drugs, and sex. Does muchly. > 3. Dies young. Well, sometimes they skip step 3 and survive to become respected elder statesmen of their art, like [Johnny Cash](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358273/?ref_=nm_knf_t2), [Elton John](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2066051/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1), or [Weird Al Yankovic](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17076046/). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/6 "2022-08-08T18:04:22Z")
The story of Liszt should play out more like **Immortal Beloved** (_The life and death of Ludwig van Beethoven_). Liszt didn’t come to a tragic end, like Mozart (or any number of rock stars), or even Chopin, who died at 39. Dying of dropsy (and comorbidities) isn’t exactly high drama, but that should not be the focus or end to the story of Liszt. The story should focus more on his romantic loves and escapades (a biographical Rom-Drama). Perhaps the story should end the night before his marriage to Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, when Carolyne’s husband and the Tsar of Russia conspired with the Pope to reverse the Vatican’s permission to marry, devastating the couple, who had a lavish wedding ready to go in the morning. The princess (who was very much in love with Franz) was never the same after that. That’s pretty tragic. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/7 "2022-08-08T18:30:11Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > respected elder statesmen of their art, Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath’s guitarist, has certainly pulled this off. I don’t know if he has some brilliant image-manager in his employ but IMHO he really has achieved that status, even being a performer in the opening ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games this year. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/8 "2022-08-08T18:44:43Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I expect that we’ll get an Amy Winehouse story before too long. There’s already been the quite well-received [2015 documentary Amy.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_(2015_film)) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/9 "2022-08-08T19:16:54Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > There’s already been the quite well-received [2015 documentary Amy.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_(2015_film)) I checked the Wikipedia before posting, and saw that, but decided to ignore it because 1) I hadn’t heard of it so it doesn’t seem to have been a proper big biopic like **Elvis** or **Bohemian Rhapsody** - which are what I assume the OP is hoping for - and 2) it’s a documentary, so they’re limited to splicing together interview footage and the like. A proper, scripted biopic can put us inside Amy’s house, through all of her most defining private moments, and (importantly for a drama) show her death. I’m sure that it’s a fine documentary but a documentary just isn’t a biographical drama. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/10 "2022-08-08T23:50:18Z")
Dion DiMucci, most widely known as the lead singer of Dion and The Belmonts. From his beginnings in The Bronx singing Doo-wop to his present day connection to The Blues, his story is ideal for a documentary. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/11 "2022-08-09T09:02:39Z")
Rod Evans _might_ be a good candidate. He rose to superstardom in the 1960s as the lead singer of Deep Purple, joined the supergroup Captain Beyond in the 1970s, and then suddenly quit the band. After a legal squabble in 1980 with the other members of Deep Purple over a “reunion” tour in which he was the only member, he quit the music business for good. He’s made no public appearances, nor given any interviews, nor have any journalists been able to track him down. It’s rumoured that he became the director of respiratory therapy at a California hospital. _If_ anything interesting happened in this second career, then I can imagine a rather off-the-wall biopic where the first half is the standard superstar musician biography, and then the film abruptly switches to a gripping medical drama in the vein of _Awakenings_ or _Patch Adams_. It would be hard to pull off, but a good screenwriter and director just might be able to make it work. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2022, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/12 "2022-08-09T12:14:35Z")
Hieronymous Bosch. The guy was fascinatingly weird. The bio can look into the whole bizarre theory of Wilhelm Fraenger about Bosch’s occult connections (and, hopefully, debunk them). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/13 "2022-08-09T15:00:58Z")
Salvador Dali. The guy was fascinatingly weird. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/14 "2022-08-09T22:11:41Z")
We need another Salvador Dali movie besides [the 2008 Little Ashes,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ashes) [the 2018 In Search of Immortality,](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/salvador_dali_in_search_of_immortality) [Ben Kingsley’s new biopic Daliland,](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ben-kingsley-salvador-dali-biopic-daliland-tiff-2022-1235195186/) and AFAICT a bunch of TV documentaries too? I mean, sure, the more the merrier, but if there’s any artist who has already been quite lavishly biographically dramatized on film, it’s Dali. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/15 "2022-08-09T22:58:07Z")
Albert Speer’s life as a film promises big visuals, _strum und drang_ and audience familiarity with the setting. It needs an update, because the otherwise good [Inside the Third Reich](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0084140/) from 1982 with Rutger Hauer and the rest of a good cast adheres to the bullshit of Speer being some sort of sympathetic character. Max Ernst and Larry Rivers are two visual artists whose lives have qualities well-transmitted to the big screen. But, unlike rock stars and athletes, modern artists deliberately stick their fingers in the general public’s eye. If they sell out like Dali or Warhol they lose heroic status. If they perish like Caravaggio or [Modigliani](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modigliani_(film)) it’s a just a downer. Artists tend to be selfish motherfuckers, paling it up with corrupt billionaires as the 80’s wunderkinds did, or so preoccupied that their dog starves like Franz Kline’s. Hard lifting for a moviemaker to balance that with “oh but what wonders they gave to mankind!” ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/16 "2022-08-09T23:34:37Z")
Vincent van Gogh may be a more exciting subject for a film than Dali, although a number of movies have been made about him too. It’s got tragedy: suicide by gunshot to the chest at 37. For a twist, make it a _slasher_ movie. **The Post-Impressionist Ear Slasher** _(You won’t even hear him coming!)_ Speaking of Franz Liszt 😄, we can liven up _his_ movie by including a killer soundtrack and some dream sequences, when the muse spoke to him for some of his drama-filled compositions: [Totentanz](https://youtu.be/ScqeArnDoaE?t=5) (Dance of the Dead), based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies irae. Need some scary CGI skeletons for this one. [Mazeppa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9uNVdg94zo) (Transcendental Étude No. 4), based on the poem Mazeppa written by Victor Hugo. _Mazeppa is tied naked to a steed, which is taunted and set loose. Stanzas 10 to 18 recount the steed’s flight across Eastern Europe, emphasizing the pain, suffering and confusion that Mazeppa feels._ Heady stuff! [Hungarian Rhapsody # 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v95I6kGghmk). Show an animated mouse running up and down the keyboard as a cat plays the piano. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/17 "2022-08-10T02:58:38Z")
If we’re leaving music, maybe Richard Pryor. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/18 "2022-08-10T04:27:08Z")
A serious movie about Richard Pryor delving into psychological-drama would be good, as would one about Robin Williams. What drove them to comedy? What demons did they possess? Did fame exasperate their problems, or help them, for a while? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/19 "2022-08-10T04:39:36Z")
Forgive me if there are suitable dramas already - I don’t especially keep up. But some candidates: Ted Hughes - it’s my understanding that he got the short end of the stick, because everyone blamed him for Sylvia Plath’s suicide, and as a result decided his poetry was second rate. But … I think he actually was a pretty damn good poet. An interesting topic to explore. Frieda Kahlo - someone who was a terrific artist, lived much in the shadow of her partner Diego Rivera, suffered terrible physical problems, probably was more a member of the LBGTQ community than was suitable to acknowledge at the time - just really interesting. Somerset Maugham - a heartbreakingly beautiful writer not properly appreciated for many years, in my humble opinion, though I gather that he is more respected now than he was when I read a withering statement about his mediocrity in _The Economist_ back sometime in the 1980s. He was homosexual in a time when that was Not Cool, and that had a huge impact on his life. (Every time I reread _A Moon and Sixpence_, which I do every 5-10 years, I take different insights from it.) There are more, but I’ll stop there. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305/20 "2022-08-10T05:05:19Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Ted Hughes - it’s my understanding that he got the short end of the stick, because everyone blamed him for Sylvia Plath’s suicide, and as a result decided his poetry was second rate. But … I think he actually was a pretty damn good poet. An interesting topic to explore. I’m somewhat familiar with Plath, less so with her husband, Hughes. But, after reading a bit more about him, I agree, it appears he did get the _short end of the stick_. A proper film giving equal focus to them both would be a bittersweet movie I’d like to see. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-artist-would-you-like-see-as-the-subject-of-a-biographical-drama/969305.md?page=2)