George Washington is long overdue for a big-budget biopic - arguably the greatest American; an explorer, surveyor, soldier and statesman who lived a very interesting and often exciting life.
Frank Lloyd Wright was a visionary architect but a complete asshole. A good biopic should show both sides.
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a Bowdoin College professor who defied his colleagues to volunteer during the Civil War, played a key and heroic role at Gettysburg, and was eventually chosen by U.S. Grant to receive the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. After the war he rose to become president of Bowdoin and governor of Maine, eventually dying in 1914 (!) of complications from a Civil War wound: Joshua Chamberlain - Wikipedia
George H. Thomas was a Virginian who remained loyal to the Union, was disowned by his sisters and never went home again; as a U.S. Army general, he never lost a battle and, unlike too many others with stars on their shoulders, never threw away his men’s lives needlessly: George Henry Thomas - Wikipedia
Cal Rodgers was an early aviator and the first to fly across America, “crash by crash.” A fascinating story that ought to be on the silver screen: Calbraith Perry Rodgers - Wikipedia
Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish lives during WWII by issuing transit visas to them. His own government eventually turned its back on him, but Israel properly honored him: Chiune Sugihara - Wikipedia
I opened this thread hoping to be the first person to say Smalls.
Robert Smalls led his life as if he knew someone was going to invent movies, for the explicit purpose of ensuring someone could make a really awesome movie about him. His exploits are difficult to believe told straight up; you;d almost have to tone it down so the audience wouldn’t say “Aw, come ON.” It needs to be made.
As to who should star, Smalls looked strikingly like Harold Perrineau as a young man, and later in life looked the way Harold Perrineau would look if Perrineau got fat. Harold’s 54 now, and I’m not sure he could pull off Smalls during the Civil War, when he was in his 20s. No current actor in his 20s comes to mind who looked like Smalls, but I’m not a casting agent.
When it comes to casting an actor to play a real-life long-dead person, I don’t think it matters much if there’s a resemblance, as long as the actor conveys the personality appropriately. It’s especially the case when this is someone whose appearance isn’t familiar to anyone today.
I was watching a documentary about the life of John Waters once upon a time. Steve Buscemi was one of the interviewees. Buscemi said that he and Waters have had a joking rivalry about who looks more like Don Knotts. Whenever they see each other at events, they go at with each other about it.
Buscemi then said one of his dream projects would be to star in a biopic about the life of Don Knotts, but only if Waters directed it.