Yes, agreed.
I hear Isaac Asimov had a somewhat interesting life.
Indeed Asimov had an illustrious and prodigious career (and is a favorite sci-fi author of mine), but film-wise, he may suffer from leading a rather cloistered life (not a bad thing for a writer, but not so good for a block-buster movie).
No idea how true it is, how independently verifiable if so, or if true and verifiable how suitable for an engaging biopic … but my second and third-hand sources tell me that good 'ole Isaac was quite the ladies man.
My only direct source for this is my home town librarian, who met him once, was of course enamored, and reported that he was both charming and, a bit, um, handsy.
We’d find that completely inappropriate now. But in the 1960s or perhaps early 1970s, whenever it was that she met him, it was simply written off as amusing (and a fun memory for the librarian, who was delighted by her figurative and apparently literal brush with fame).
Syd Barrett would be a good subject for a movie. Pushing the boundaries of rock while dealing with drug use and mental health issues.
Syd lead an interesting, though ultimately tragic life, and clearly had great talent, but one wonders whether his continuation with Pink Floyd would have been a help, or a hindrance…or, maybe Floyd would have been great in a different way.
I’d like to see a warts-and-all biography of Walt Disney, maybe centered around his union-busting in the 40s. Also, one of Stan Lee, focusing on Kirby and Ditko walking out on him.
That’s something I’ve often thought about.
My first thought was Frank Zappa. But a biographical drama probably wouldn’t work, as people would be bored to tears with it.
Ooh! Ooh! My turn to point one out!
In my defense, the first was a very small movie, the second a documentary, the third hasn’t been released yet. My take on the OP was they were looking for dramatized biographies like “Bohemian Rhapsody”, not straight documentaries.
That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it!
Three popular rock stars who passed away a few years ago, all of whom lived interesting, complex, and ultimately kind of tragic, lives (which could make for good films):
- David Bowie
- Prince
- Tom Petty
I would be interested in seeing a coming-of-age film about teenaged Ray Parker, Jr. learning the music business from Motown greats at Detroit’s Twenty One Grand club in the late 1960s. 13-year-old Parker was invited to play with the club’s house band in 1967. The film would end around when 18-year-old Parker goes on tour with Stevie Wonder in 1972 and leaves his life in Detroit behind.
Picasso.
Genius artist, asshole human. The drama writes itself. Visually, of course, and with modern tech, it could be truly stunning, maybe with him painting Guernica as his ‘Wembley’ moment.
Too bad about Bruce Willis, because these latest years he’s started resembling an aging Picasso.
Well, to quote myself: Forgive me if there are suitable dramas already - I don’t especially keep up. Obviously!
Similarly, although I enjoyed the recent Baz Luhrmann movie Elvis, the people in it I really wanted to see more of were the soul/gospel/R&B music scene artists that influenced Elvis, like Mahalia Jackson and Little Richard. I think there have been TV biopics of both, but there’s more story there.
ETA: Oh wait, Hollywood is way ahead of me, at least as far as Little Richard is concerned.
Beryl Markham (Felicity in movie Out of Africa)- The legendary horse trainer who, as a child, was essentially a female member of a Nandi male circumcision group. She could hunt sing and curse in Swahili like a native. When a young woman she was consort to select members of the British upper class including the future king and Denys Finch Hatten. Otherwise self educated, she attended flying school in Nairobi. She flew reconnaissance for big game hunters to gain enough experience to become Africa’s first female commercial airline pilot. After being the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo she authored what Hemmingway referred to as the great American novel West With the Wind. After a stint in Hollywood as a movie consultant she returned to Africa to resume training race horses.
I wouldn’t call it “superstardom”. Deep Purple had 2 hit songs during his time with the band, Hush which reached #4 on the Billboard charts and Kentucky Woman that reached #38. The band was fading fast after their third album failed to chart. The band didn’t reach superstardom till the Ian’s, Gillan and Paice, joined the band. I thing Ritchie Blackmore would be a much better pick, his musical genius and battles with his band mates in DP and Rainbow would be much more interesting.
Speaking of Rainbow…I think a biopic for Ronnie James Dio could be extremely cool, as well. Dio was, at various times, the vocalist for Elf, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Heaven & Hell, and his own metal band.
Speaking of Sabbath…how about an Ozzy Osbourne biopic, is that too obvious a choice? He had quite a life: check out his early life on Wikipedia alone, and that’s all before Sabbath, marrying Sharon, his descent into drugs and alcohol, getting fired from Sabbath, his solo career revival, and eventually becoming a sad parody of himself on a reality show.
Hmm, actually a bit of googling reveals this:
Barely to non-interesting Ozzy anecdote: last summer Mrs. solost and I stopped at a garage sale where a woman was selling catering equipment. I got to talking with her, and it turned out she used to do catering for a lot of rock stars when they were in the Detroit area on tour.
I asked her “so which rock star was the biggest pain in the ass to cater to?” and she said Ozzy. I made some obvious joke to the effect of, did he demand roasted bat after every show? and she said actually all he ever seemed to want was baked potatoes-- he just loved them. Loaded them up with sour cream and tucked in. Which doesn’t sound too high-maintenance to me, but maybe there was more to the story.