Heart & Soul: The 5 Best Music Biopic Actors
Last week, Roadside Attractions released the trailer to the Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy (the title taken from the Beach Boys mastermind’s lead single from his 1988 debut solo album). Paul Dano and John Cusack play young and old Wilson, while Paul Giamatti plays Wilson’s controversial psychotherapist, the late Eugene Landy. (For anyone who needs a primer in Brian Wilson’s long battle with mental illness and Landy’s dubious practices, his NY Times obit is a must-read.)
Musical biopics are a dangerous business. Unlike music docs that have the actual artist to represent himself, biopics have to rely on a tightrope act between an actor, director, and script. It rarely lines up and the results can be either ham-fisted, trite, corny, overwrought, or forgettable. I empathize with any filmmaker who accepts the challenge of distilling a musician’s life into 90 minutes. I have even greater empathy for the actor who asks a generation of fans to allow him to fill the shoes of a singular musical hero. It’s brave stuff.
For this reason, I’ll forgive a mediocre biopic if it contains a performance that captures the beauty, bravura, and sheer balls of a musical icon. Anyone who can make me believe I am actually seeing my favorite musician on screen is worthy of the same worship.
Judging from the Love and Mercy trailer, Paul Dano looks like he has successfully channeled Brian Wilson’s wizardry and melancholy. I’m holding out hope for his performance and the long-in-development films of Miles Davis (played by Don Cheadle), Janis Joplin (played by Amy Adams), and Frank Sinatra (directed by Martin Scorsese; currently not cast). Just this photo of Cheadle as Miles Davis makes me want to stand in line for tickets while playing Kind of Blue through my earbuds:
So forget the biopics, here are my top five musical biopic performances. In some instances, the films set the same bar as the actor. Regardless, these performers knew what made these musicians tick. They are powerful reminders of why we so deeply love the music to which they pay respect.
5. Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan
I’m Not There (2007)
Blanchett won a Golden Globe and scored an Oscar nomination for being one of six actors to play Dylan at various points in his career. Director Todd Haynes began pitching Blanchett backstage at the 2004 Oscars (where Blanchett won Best Supporting Actress for The Aviator). She claims to have known little about Dylan prior to playing him — having preferred Cat Stevens and show tunes. It didn’t matter much. Hers was the only performance of the six to fully get under the skin. The film even got a thumbs up from Dylan himself. When asked about the film by Rolling Stone in 2012 he replied in typical cryptic fashion, “Yeah, I thought it was all right.”
4. Forest Whitaker as Charlie Parker
Bird (1988)
Charlie Parker (nicknamed “Yardbird or “Bird”) is considered one of the great jazz innovators and architects of bebop. He was also a chronic addict whose dependence on heroin and alcohol to led to his 1955 death at age 34 (the coroner performing his autopsy mistook him for man between the ages of 50 and 60). Comedian Richard Pryor was originally slate dot play to role (which given his own addictions would have been heavy) but instead it went Forest Whitaker in his first leading role. It’s dark, complicated, tragic, and full of humanity —just like Bird himself.
3. Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious
Sid and Nancy (1986)
Alex Cox’s follow-up to his cult classic Repo Man was a box-office bomb but critical favorite. It was Gary Oldman’s fourth film and his first to gain him attention. And it was well deserved. Oldman’s Sid Vicious is just like the man himself: unsympathetic, crude, and utterly self-destructive. Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten (né Lydon) hated the movie, but praised Oldman’s performance.
2. Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn
Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)
Spacek won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the country legend. The film was based on Lynn’s autobiography, and 35 years later, it holds up like few others. Spacek’s transformation from Kentucky poverty to country royalty is a marvel. Plus, she sings her own parts in the film. Loretta Lynn handpicked the Carrie star for the part, and the two remained close. The film soundtrack went gold and features Levon Helm (from the Band), who played Lynn’s father in the film.
1. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles
Ray (2004)
Foxx’s portrayal of the Genius is the high-water mark of musical biopic performances —rising above what many considered to be a mediocre screenplay. Charles died before the film’s premiere but fully approved of the project —complete with brutally honest depictions of his heroin addiction. Foxx got an Oscar and a great piece of advice from Charles himself: “all the notes you need are under your fingertips. Take your time to hit the right notes. That’s what life is all about.”
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