Let's start by flagging all the biopics that have been on air, ordered to shoot, or are in the process of being made.
- Britney Spears, The Woman in Me
- Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown, depicted by a cap-donning Timothée Chalamet
- Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
- The Beatles Frontmen, in an untitled project
- Donald Trump, The Apprentice, brought to life by Sebastian Stan
- Maria Callas, in an untitled project, with Angelina Jolie
That doesn't even cover the number of biopics that have been released in the past two years, to voracious reception. (Spencer will always be my drawcard). The world is hungry for stories of flesh and blood stars. Despite its saturation in an industry inching slowly toward brand movies, a retelling, be it a bildungsroman or chart to fame of our notables is one that all of us are desperate for.
Real-life numbers
The biopic is not a new art form. We can trace the earliest instance of biographical film to Alfred Clark's Execution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1895), produced by Thomas Edison, which ran for a total of 18 seconds.
Following that Jeanne d'Arc (1900), The Life of Moses (1909), Queen Elizabeth (1912), The Life and Works of Richard Wagner (1913), Cleopatra (1917), The Fighting Roosevelts (1919), Little Napoleon (1923), and numerous others sprung forth, populating the genre of biographic film to match the appetite that had whetted in response. Between 1926-1960, there were as many as 300 moving biographies produced by Hollywood.
Since last year, Oppenheimer was the highest-grossing biopic of all time with a global box office revenue of 912.6 million U.S. dollars, while Bohemian Rhapsody and American Sniper ranked second and third respectively. Oppenheimer became Christopher Nolan’s third highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office, unseating Inception.
Even Cate Blanchett's Tar drew a litany of praise and uncertainty: Was Lydia Tar a real person? Evidently from Blanchett's Ted Talk-reminiscent opening performance, the answer was not easy to parse. And yet, her performance and its validity ensnared us all the same. Perhaps what made Tar was the commitment to the composer, so documented it had to be real. Right? It had to be. Then there is the elegiac Jackie, brought to life by Natalie Portman, who swanned in so much decorous fragility and CHANEL that many were certain that the real Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy was on-set before Pablo Larraín called for cut in between each take.
The art of the biopic has persisted in public conscience for a reason. Its endless reinventions and narrative possibility pulls from scores of history irrespective of one's pre-existing lore. In the words of one Kamala Harris: "You exist in the context of what came before you." And indeed we do. While the factory continues to churn out films on figureheads of the past, the matter of who does the telling also comes to surface. For those passed, who reserves the right to carry the torch of storytelling for others to experience?
Not everyone is on the biopic train
The latest foray needs no introduction. The long-awaited Anthony Bourdain biopic will attempt to paint a portrait of the world's most beloved culinary figure. There is a trove of material in memoriam that captured Bourdain's warmth. The chef and writer brought himself – the ragged, the complex, and unobtrusive – to every aspect of his work. There was no yellow tape that existed when it came to Bourdain.
Bourdain cut his teeth working from the lower chain of command in several New York City Restaurants between the 80s and the 90s. His writing, which pared back the hot-footing and electric experiences cooking in restaurants like Brasserie Les Halles seared with wit. He was a New York Times Bestseller who then embarked as a host of A Cook's Tour, No Reservations, The Layover and Parts Unknown until he took his life in 2018. Bourdain was 61, and left a world grieving in wake.
While production has been confirmed by A24 as the acquiree of the film, additional details pertaining to the plot and film release are yet to be released. All things seem to be chugging ahead, however, with the leading man cast as Dominic Sessa, who will be stepping into the unstarched whites as Bourdain himself. Reception to production has been mixed. After all, ample material already exists: A Life Unknown, the biographical documentary on the late chef, joins the mantle of other Bourdain filmography, along with memoirs, text biographies, and segments of previous shows.
Ultimately it is the biopic form that fuels our current appetite for the unseen. Our desire to quest for the unanswered has reached unparalleled heights through technology and the mythic figures who have shaped us. We feel owed to their stories, even when they are told from a different mouth.
we don’t need an anthony bourdain biopic, we have thousands of hours of footage of him speaking in his own words. not every famous person needs a whole movie about their life.
— maya (@spdersfromarss) August 13, 2024
All of this is to say, if someone whose entire life was a roving work of art, whose acuity with the pen fostered so much connection between food and language, would a commercial retelling do it justice?
Only time will tell.
