A biographical film, or biopic (; abbreviation
for biographical motion picture), is a film
that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional
or historically-based person or people.
Such films show the life of a historical person
and the central character's real name is used.
They differ from films "based on a true story"
or "historical drama films" in that they attempt
to comprehensively tell a single person's
life story or at least the most historically
important years of their lives.Because the
figures portrayed are actual people, whose
actions and characteristics are known to the
public (or at least historically documented),
biopic roles are considered some of the most
demanding of actors and actresses.
Ben Kingsley, Johnny Depp, Jim Carrey, and
Jamie Foxx all gained new-found respect as
dramatic actors after starring in biopics:
Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi (1982),
Depp as Ed Wood in Ed Wood (1994), Carrey
as Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999),
Foxx as Ray Charles in Ray (2004), and Eddie
Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory
of Everything (2014).
In rare cases, sometimes called auto biopics,
the subject of the film plays himself or herself:
Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story;
Muhammad Ali in The Greatest; Audie Murphy
in To Hell and Back; Patty Duke in Call Me
Anna; Bob Mathias in The Bob Mathias Story,
Arlo Guthrie in Alice's Restaurant; Fantasia
Barrino in Life Is Not a Fairytale; and Howard
Stern in Private Parts.
Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of
the College of Staten Island and Dennis P.
Bingham of Indiana University – Purdue University
Indianapolis.
Custen, in Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed
Public History (1992), regards the genre as
having died with the Hollywood studio era,
and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck.
On the other hand, Bingham's 2010 study Whose
Lives Are They Anyway?
The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre shows
how it perpetuates as a codified genre using
many of the same tropes used in the studio
era that has followed a similar trajectory
as that shown by Rick Altman in his study,
Film/Genre.
Bingham also addresses the male biopic and
the female biopic as distinct genres from
each other, the former generally dealing with
great accomplishments, the latter generally
dealing with female victimization.
Ellen Cheshire's Bio-Pics: a life in pictures
(2014) examines UK/US films from the 1990s
and 2000s.
Each chapter reviews key films linked by profession
and concludes with further viewing list.
Christopher Robé has also written on the
gender norms that underlie the biopic in his
article, "Taking Hollywood Back" in the 2009
issue of Cinema Journal.
Roger Ebert defended The Hurricane and distortions
in biographical films in general, stating
"those who seek the truth about a man from
the film of his life might as well seek it
from his loving grandmother.
... The Hurricane is not a documentary but
a parable."
Some biopics purposely stretch the truth.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was based
on game show host Chuck Barris' widely debunked
yet popular memoir of the same name, in which
he claimed to be a CIA agent.
Kafka incorporated both the life of author
Franz Kafka and the surreal aspects of his
fiction.
The Errol Flynn film They Died with Their
Boots On tells the story of Custer but is
highly romanticized.
The Oliver Stone film The Doors, mainly about
Jim Morrison, was highly praised for the similarities
between Jim Morrison and actor Val Kilmer,
look-wise and singing-wise, but fans and band
members did not like the way Val Kilmer portrayed
Jim Morrison, and a few of the scenes were
even completely made up.Casting can be controversial
for biographical films.
Casting is often a balance between similarity
in looks and ability to portray the characteristics
of the person.
Anthony Hopkins felt that he should not have
played Richard Nixon in Nixon because of a
lack of resemblance between the two.
The casting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan
in The Conqueror was objected to because of
the American Wayne being cast as the Mongol
warlord.
Egyptian critics criticized the casting of
Louis Gossett, Jr., an African American actor,
as Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in the 1982
TV miniseries Sadat.
Also, some objected to the casting of Jennifer
Lopez in Selena because she is a New York
City native of Puerto Rican descent while
Selena was Mexican-American.
== 
See also ==
Biographical novel
Biography in literature
List of biographical films
