TOP FIVE BIOPICS

TOP FIVE BIOPICS

1. LA VIE EN ROSE (2007)

This biopic of Édith Piaf is equal parts beautiful and tragic, the wonderful Marion Cotillard is transformed into Piaf and transfixes you in every scene. I’m not much of a crier but I was in floods of tears by the end of this film.

2. WALK THE LINE (2005)

Before watching this film I knew little of the life of the legendary Johnny Cash, but I found it so interesting that I have since read his autobiography and bought his whole discography. The two leads in this film, (Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon) although not sounding exactly the same as Johnny and June are great and this is a thoroughly enjoyable film to watch.

3. THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980)

Another film that makes me cry, the least Lynchian Lynch film, and a beautiful, hauntingly moving piece of filmmaking. This is based on the true story of a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a 'side-show freak'. I was an odd child so I actually knew a bit about John/ Joseph Merrick before I was this film but Lynch treats the story in a deeply human way.

4. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002)

This is one of those ‘Life is stranger than fiction’ stories that is told in a fantastic way with great direction from Spielberg and great performances from DiCaprio, Hanks and Walken. It takes you on an unbelievable journey that seems too strange to be true.

5.  THE DISASTER ARTIST (2017)

Although this isn’t a biopic in a traditional sense, as we know absolutely nothing of the past of the weird and mysterious Tommy Wiseau, it’s a document of a period of his life while making the infamous movie ‘The Room’. It’s funny and surprisingly heartwarming, and James Franco plays Wiseau in a way I think not many other actors could.

FILM 1851: THE VILLAGE

FILM 1851: THE VILLAGE

TRIVIA: Joaquin Phoenix made a wooden walking stick for Bryce Dallas Howard during the 19th-century preparation the actors participated in before the film. He engraved the name of her character, Ivy, on the walking stick.

Director M. Night Shyamalan put the entire cast through a 19th century "boot camp" in order for them to get a good feel for the time period.

The director cast Bryce Dallas Howard without an audition after seeing her perform on stage.

Bryce Dallas Howard and Judy Greer, who played sisters Ivy and Kitty, would later play sisters again in Jurassic World (2015).

The role of Lucius Hunt was written for Joaquin Phoenix.

Kirsten Dunst was replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard after dropping out to star in Elizabethtown (2005). Dunst and Howard later appeared together in Spider-Man 3 (2007).

The film is included on the film critic Roger Ebert's "Most Hated" list.

Second collaboration between Joaquin Phoenix, Cherry Jones, and M. Night Shyamalan after previously working together on Signs (2002).

FILM 1849: SIGNS

FILM 1849: SIGNS

TRIVIA: Abigail Breslin's film debut.

The production used a new watering technique to make the corn grow faster, which the Delaware Valley agricultural college was then very keen to adopt for themselves.

The stories of the children's birth are actually the stories of M. Night Shyamalan's two children.

The artwork in the book about extraterrestrials was actually done by Writer and Director M. Night Shyamalan's daughter, Saleka Shyamalan.

Joaquin Phoenix replaced Mark Ruffalo, who had to pull out of the film due to a brain tumor. It was later found to be benign.

The crop circles are real, as M. Night Shyamalan doesn't particularly like using CGI.

Mel Gibson didn't realize Shyamalan was playing the vet, until the day that they came to shoot their scenes together.

Graham Hess was originally written as an older character. Paul Newman was offered the role, but turned it down, as did Clint Eastwood.

M. Night Shyamalan had the cast watch The Birds (1963) several times during production.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: (M. Night Shyamalan): (Philadelphia): The action takes place just outside of Philadelphia.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: M. Night Shyamalan: [Acting in his own film]

FILM 1805: YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

FILM 1805: YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

TRIVIA: Very little actual violence is shown in the movie, but more often the aftermath of violent scenes. Lynne Ramsay stated that before this movie she had never done anything with a gun, so she had to figure out how to approach violence. Budget constraints didn't allow her to shoot complex action scenes, so this gave birth to the idea to show "post rage aftermath scenes" instead of the violence itself. Lynne Ramsay confessed she thought it was very risky to use this approach, because if it didn't work she wasn't able to go back and reshoot the scenes.

According to Rolling Stone, Joaquin Phoenix has stated that Lynne Ramsay gave him an audio file of fireworks mixed with gunshots to suggest what's going on in Joe's head.

Received a seven-minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival premiere, on May 27, 2017. Lynne Ramsay won the award for Best Screenplay and Joaquin Phoenix won for Best Actor.

The film marks the second time Radiohead guitarist and Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated composer Jonny Greenwood scored a Lynne Ramsay film (the previous being We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)). The film also marks the third time Joaquin Phoenix appeared in a film scored by Greenwood (the first two being Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014)).

FILM 1097: HER

TRIVIA: Samantha Morton was originally the voice of Samantha. She was present on the set with Joaquin Phoenix every day. After the filming wrapped and Spike Jonze started editing the movie, he felt like something was not right. With Morton's blessing, he decided to recast the role and Scarlett Johansson was brought and replaced Morton, re-recording all the dialogue.

Amy Adams said writer/director Spike Jonze would essentially lock her and Joaquin Phoenix in a room together for an hour or two every other day, and make them talk to each other. Jonze did this so that the actors could get to know each other better. Adams credits this for her and Phoenix's close friendship.

Most of the city backgrounds, especially the ones featuring skyscrapers, are actually filmed in Shanghai. You can see many very identifiable skyscrapers such as the Shanghai World Financial Center. There are even Chinese signs if you look carefully. Apparently, Shanghai now is what Los Angeles will look like in the future.

This is the only movie Spike Jonze has written as well as directed, completely from his own original script.

During some of the more emotional scenes, Amy Adams would sing songs from famous musicals like "Annie" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in order to cheer herself up. Eventually, Joaquin Phoenix would join in and they would sing together. However, they stopped after they saw Spike Jonze filming them.