A biopic of Northern Calloway, the uber-talented Broadway performer whose career playing David on Sesame Street was tragically cut short when he suffered a psychotic break and went on a destructive rampage.
IMO when the indiscretions are limited to infidelity with consenting adults I’m not really sure it adds anything to a biography. Not that it should be kept secret or anything but as long it doesn’t falsely portray the individual as a faithful monogamous spouse, I’m not going think the biography need to remade to include it. Of course in MLK’s case the infidelity directly relates to the FBI illegally surveiling him and attempting to get him to kill himself, which is an important part of his story (and is included in recent depictions like Selma)
Similarly on the other end of the spectrum. The Nazi Sympathizing is the only “wart” that really matters here, if he was a faithful caring husband I’m not going go “well he was Nazi supporting anti semite but he was a good husband so he seems like a nice guy”
I don’t get this. Obviously with a musician like Prince or Kurt Cobain the estate holds all the cards because no wants to see a biopic about them that doesn’t feature their music, which the estate controls. That doesn’t apply to a historical figure, AFAIK the MLK or Kennedy estate cannot stop you including “I am a dream” or “Ask not what your country can do for you” in your biopic
If you use it without their blessing, they have been known to sue, and any doc that might cast him in a negative light they’d certainly nix any involvement.
But, we’re getting off topic as the OP has noted. 
That’s complicated. Lindbergh didn’t like Jewish people (as came out in his posthumously published diaries) but he spied on the Nazis for the U.S. government.
He and FDR had personal issues which led to him being excluded from military service in the War.
So he went to the Pacific theater and made critical improvements to U.S. aircraft., which IIRC enabled the Doolittle raid. And he flew combat missions as a civilian.
I don’t know whether he was a caring husband (OBVIOUSLY not faithful). But AIUI he supported his “Little Lindeys”.
He wasn’t a horny cad, more like someone who wanted more children/thought the world needed more of his blond, tall, Swedish DNA.
So, there, plenty of warts. I’d pay to see it in a theater!
I’d love to see a major, warts-and-all biopic of Walt Disney. The studio bearing his name would oppose it with all its massive resources, but it’s worth doing. He turned animation into serious filmmaking. He busted unions and had regressive social views. We should see a fuller examination.
I’d also love to see a biopic of Walt. Years ago, during a solo trip to Disney World, I visited One Man’s Dream/Walt Disney Presents at Disney Studios…a mini-museum and short film. I asked one of the attendants why we’d never seen a large-scale biopic of Walt. They replied, “Walt was a very private man.”
Stan Lee would also be a good subject. On the plus sides, there were his likability and charm, as well as his devotion to his wife Joan. On the more negative sides, there were the accusations that he rode on more talented artists’/writers’ coattails.
A figure that connects both of these IMO. Is Simon de Montfort the 13th century ruler of England.
On the “all” side he deposed a unpopular monarch and took power via a council (and in the process hooked up with the queen), after taking defacto power he issued a series of charters that are centuries ahead of their time. Unlike the much more well known Magna Carta, they were not about the rights of a few rich magnates, they were explicitly about the the common, non aristocratic, people having fundamental legal rights and some form of representative government. After his death nothing remotely like it was seen in England until the levellers in the days of the English Civil war centuries later.
On the “warts” side he was a committed crusader who’s defacto rule was accompanied by hideous persecution of Jews and foreigners in England, with widespread pogroms and state sponsored violence.
IMO he is a microcosm of the next 800 years of western history. And his story would make a great game of thrones-esque biopic. Especially as his end was very dramatic, being caught outside his castle (Kenilworth) after tactical errors by his son, and killed by a hand picked death squad of knights chosen by the future Edward I (Son of the queen who he’d been carrying on with)
Stan Lee would also be a good subject. On the plus sides, there were his likability and charm, as well as his devotion to his wife Joan. On the more negative sides, there were the accusations that he rode on more talented artists’/writers’ coattails.
I thought about him too. I’m not sure his life would make a great movie. The big turning point for him, I think, was in 1958 when he thought Joe Maneely was the artist who would lift Atlas Comics out of mediocrity. Stan had a big cookout/cocktail party at his suburban home and Maneely got hammered. On the train ride home, he staggered between train compartments, dropped his glasses and tried to grab them, and fell off the train between cars. Maneely would have steered the company away from cheesy monster stories and more towards westerns, The Black Knight, and The Yellow Claw. Instead, Stan relied heavily on Ditko and Kirby, whose sensibilities steered the company towards super heroes, and the rest of the industry followed suit. A decade or so later, Stan would the freelancers in the bullpen out for a drink; A drink, singular. Carmine Infantino, over at DC, would take the same essential bunch of guys out for several raucous rounds. These were two very different office environments.
Stan was a shameless self-promoter, but he gave his artists something they couldn’t get on their own, a snappy, flashy sense for dialogue. I don’t want to minimize Ditko or Kirby’s impact on their titles, but both artists, when they quit and worked at DC and got credit for their own writing, showed a measurable drop-off in quality. Can you imagine The Creeper or The New Gods with Stan Lee dialogue?
Someone at The Comics Journal wrote that Stan Lee’s greatest achievement in comics was preventing Steve Ditko from turning Peter Parker into an Ayn Rand Objectivist douchebag, and that that was actually kind of worthwhile of him. That would be hard to express in a theatrical release.
Oh, for a warts and all account of the Crusades, the big screen has putzed out repeatedly. On the small screen, though, Terry Jones’s Crusades is pretty satisfying. It takes an unflinching look at the bad decisions both sides made in this conflict.
Nitpick, Frances not Francis : Frances Willard - Wikipedia
And another Frances who’d make a great subject is Frances Perkins, first female cabinet member, as Secretary of Labor for FDR and “central architect” of the New Deal, designer of the Social Security Act and advocate for fair treatment of immigrants and workers. She’s venerated as a saint in the Episcopal church calendar. However, there are probably “warts” in her private life: her husband was mentally ill for years.
It’s been done:
Never heard of that, but he did show P-38 pilots in the Pacific how to get better range out of their aircraft, and he did indeed fly at least one combat mission against the Japanese, even though he was officially a civilian consultant. IIRC, he was ordered to cease and desist when Washington found out he’d shot down one of their planes.
It’s been a while, but that doesn’t cover goings on in Ireland very much, does it?
Can’t say, since I saw it only once about 50 years ago. But I thought it was pretty good at the time. I remember Richard Harris made a great Oliver Cromwell.
Cromwell was also the guy who allowed Jews back in England, actively worked to build a community in London, and befriended several of its members. His religious tolerance and intolerance had clearly defined lines.
Yeah, I wouldn’t call it “unflinching”. I’m sure in 1970, at the height of the Troubles no British production was going touch that particular hot potato. Its not awful but it definitely doesn’t delve into the complexity of the character.
Though as I point out above it unflinchingly features original Dumbledore having original Obi Wan executed 
There was a recent novel, Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray, about her life. It’s on my Goodreads list, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. Maybe it could be adapted to film/television.
Speaking of the FBI of that era-- a movie completing exposing J. Edgar Hoover would an entertaining and informative watch.
There is the 2011 Leonardo De Caprio telling of the story. Its definitely not entirely positive whether or not it’s really “warts and all” I don’t recall.