In a world where mimicking the gestures of a historical figure is awards bait, Biopic: A Podcast Story examines the good, the bad, the unspeakable, and the hilarious about this category of film that frequently dominates the Oscars but just as often offends our sensibilities. Biopic: A Podcast Story looks at the casting, the acting, the quality of the script, and the endless tropes that dominate these movies. Hosted by Rena and Sara. We have watched a lot of biopics. Biopic: A Podcast Story sits at the meeting point between movie, comedy, and history podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
We score episode on a scale of one to ten based on ten categories:
Outward Appearances (Makeup/Hair )
Acting/Casting (Do they capture the spirit of the people they are playing? Beyond that, is the acting good?
Passage of Time
Costuming
Quality of the script
Accuracy
Storytelling (was it clichéd/was it interesting/was it inventive?)
Production value
Production/Direction decision making
Do we care?
We rate each category on the one to ten scale, then divide by ten to reach the final score. You can learn more about the scoring system and about Biopic: A Podcast Story in general by listening to our very special introductory episode, "Introduction: Who Are We and What Are We Doing?"
To see how past episodes have fared in the ratings, please check out our comprehensive ratings page.
Why are we watching yet another movie about trashy royals, this one from 1933? Because this one’s pretty seminal: it introduced the world to auteur filmmaking pioneers Charles Laughton and director/producer Alexander Korda, and actresses Merle Oberon and Elsa Lanchester. If you’ve seen the musical Six you know the story: Henry VIII has an easy time getting married, but finds it challenging to stay married. In this movie, we meet five of his six wives, and hijinks ensue. Was Henry VIII actually attractive? Did Jamie Lee Curtis use Elsa Lanchester’s performance as inspiration for Trading Places? What is a Plantagenet again? The Private Life of Henry VIII was directed by Alexander Korda, and stars Charles Laughton as Henry VIII, Robert Donat as Thomas Culpepper, Merle Oberon as Anne Boleyn, Wendy Barrie as Jane Seymour, Elsa Lanchester as Anne of Cleves, and Binnie Barnes as Katherine Howard. Sources: Sources used in the episode include… Henry VIII, the King and His Court by Alison Weir.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Rena and Sara venture into the much-documented world of Elvis Presley and the people who he trapped in his hunka-hunka-burning-emotional-tractor beam from a heretofore unconsidered POV: his wife, Priscilla Presley. Never has grooming a minor looked so glamorous. While Sofia Coppola has undisputedly crafted another remote, beautiful piece of art and we loved many things, there are, of course, questions: should Elvis have just gone to college to go through his experimental drug-and-religion phase in relative privacy? How on earth did Priscilla manage to wrestle away control of Elvis’s estate from the Colonel? Was the mansion in The Jerk based on Graceland? Come for the discussions of why we’re “meh” on Elvis, stay for the utter joy of an unapologetically female gaze. Priscilla stars Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley, Jacob Elordi as Elvis Presley, and Dagmara Dominiczyk as Ann Beaulieu, and is written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Sources: Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley. Several A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs episodes on Elvis Presley. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Presidential month continues apace as Sara and Rena watch Tennessee Johnson, a garbage movie that would be better titled Battle Cry of FreeDumb. Outrage, the likes of which our microphones and households have never experienced, is on the menu this week as we bear witness to this trashfire hagiography about one of America’s worst presidents, the drunken, corrupt, racist monster Andrew Johnson, who was apparently named after preceding drunken, corrupt racist monster Andrew Jackson. This rightfully-forgotten 1942 motion picture asks the question, “Why do we have to be so mean to the South after the Civil War?” AJ tries valiantly to reunite a shattered country–but that evil and wicked Thaddeus Stevens wants accountability from the defeated Confederacy. We find fault with this film’s perspective that the Civil War was a forgivable misunderstanding, rather than a catastrophe that killed hundreds of thousands of men and was fought over a state’s right to legal slavery, and subsequently set our nation on a course to literally never take responsibility for our bad actions. Some other issues: Van Heflin’s Robert Wuhl-ish open-mouthed “huh” style of acting, the villainous portrayal of Mr. Stevens (itself a war crime), and whether AJ’s wife is actually history’s greatest monster (it is always a woman, after all). Zero Mostel wanted this movie burned; we can’t really argue with that. Content warning: Sara’s thwarted Juilliard audition monologue is included in this episode. Tennessee Johnson stars Van Heflin as Andrew Johnson, Ruth Hussey as Eliza Johnson, Lionel Barrymore as Thaddeus Stevens, and a top hat from a prop closet playing Abraham Lincoln. Sources: Wikipedia: Andrew_Johnson's_drunk_vice-presidential_inaugural_address The 1865 podcast A bunch of stuff from the internet and some sources that we also used on the Lincoln episode but are far too despondent to remunerate at the moment. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Apparently we watched this movie. Amistad is an unusually mediocre (for him, and only for him) and sort of forgettable Steven Spielberg movie about a captive mutiny against slave runners, John Quincy Adams, and the awkward game of hot-potato that was the pre-Civil War era U.S. government. Come for the uprising, stay for the utterly depressing and real depiction of the American legal system. Some of the important questions that come up: What part of Philadelphia is the part where they say “y’all” and scissor-kick like LBJ? Is any actor more capable of creating a discomfiting environment like Arliss Howard? What would have happened if Will Smith got the part of Cinque, instead of Dijmon Hounsou? Amistad stars Djimon Hounsou as Cinque, Matthew McConaughey as Roger Sherman, Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams, Morgan Freeman as Theodore Joadson, returning champion Nigel Hawthorne as Martin Van Buren, David Paymer as Secretary John Forsythe, Pete Postlethwaite as Holabird, Stellan Skasgard as Tappan, Anna Paquin as Queen Isabella, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Ensign Covey. Sources: Mutiny on the Amistad : The Saga of a Slave Revolt and its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy by Howard Jones. John Quincy Adams: A Man for the Whole People by Randall Woods Podcast: Totalis Rankium episodes on John Quincy Adams. “The Amistad Case in Fact and Film” by Eric Foner https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74/ https://screenrant.com/amistad-movie-true-story-every-change/ Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Presidential biopic month continues with the 2016 television movie All the Way, about the blockbuster year of 1964 and Lyndon B. Johnson’s first (and only) year of presidential campaigning and his efforts to try to do nice things for all Americans by spearheading the War on Poverty and the Civil Rights Act. We know how Americans love it when leaders try to do things to make America a better place for everyone, so everything goes great for Lyndon, Martin Luther King and SNCC as they work to destroy institutional inequality. Americans grew emotionally and intellectually over the one-hundred years since the Civil War, so it’s not like anyone would want to vote against decency and their own self-interest. Aside from that, we discuss LBJ’s propensity for being a pathological liar, the positives and negatives of prosthetic ears, when we first saw Eyes on the Prize, and if Anthony Mackie is too hot to play anyone except Anthony Mackie. All the Way stars Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Anthony Mackie as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Melissa Leo as First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell, Stephen Root as J. Edgar Hoover, Ray Wise as Senator Everett Dirkson, Bradley Whitford as Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Todd Weeks as Walter Jenkins, Bo Foxworth Robert McNamara, Aisha Hines as Fannie Lou Hamer, and Joe Morton as Roy Wilkins. Sources used in the episode include… Volumes 1, 2, and 4 of Robert Caro’s Lyndon Johnson bio.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
This week we enter the world of Lincoln, an almost-perfect 2012 movie that features just about every “hey it’s that guy” brilliant character actor and one unforgettable, magical performance as honest Abe by Daniel Day-Lewis. We don’t have a lot to complain about outside of top hats, weird facial hair, and “states’ rights,” so we spend a lot of time praising the casual brilliance of Tony Kushner’s writing and some guy named Steven Spielberg who seems to be going places as a director. No way around it: This movie is flawless. Some other questions: How badly does Sara want to go to an underground dogfight with Tim Blake Nelson? In the 1850s, what was the correct number of children to have in order to be survived by at least one of them? How good at this was Abraham Lincoln? How unfair is it that Tommy Lee Jones had to share oxygen for weeks on end with Robert Wuhl while filming Cobb (the subject of Biopic: A Podcast Story’s 4th of July 2024 episode,) when he is such a good actor? Is anyone better than Sally Field? Also very important: We play a game, “Who said it: Scholastic Book Fair Poster or Abraham Lincoln,” celebrating the most wrongly-cited president of all time. Lincoln stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, and also Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, James Spader, Walton Goggins, John Hawkes, Jared Harris, Jackie Earle Haley, Joseph Cross, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tim Blake Nelson, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Hal Holbrook, Gloria Ruben, Adam Driver, Lee Pace, Gulliver McGrath, David Costabile, Colman Domingo, and pretty much every other awesome person you can think of, and was directed by Stephen Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Biopic’s all grown up and welcoming its very first guest, the brilliant comedian Liam McEneaney. Liam is also an Ed Wood expert (making all of Sara and Rena’s outstanding Wikipedia-based research less critical) his work has been praised by Gilbert Gottfried, and he’s released 2 comedy albums and has written for a variety of funny shows and comedians. Outside of an opening jump scare featuring convicted felon Jeffrey Jones, Ed Wood is an unscary, delightful romp through the world of auteur Ed Wood’s not-amazing (or maybe amazing?) filmmaking and truly lovely self-acceptance. Tim Burton’s 1994 film features an indelible and brilliant performance of Biopic returning champion Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, lovingly recreated set pieces, and too-ridiculous-to-be-fake anecdotes from the making of Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Also discussed: the fascinating history of Bunny Breckinridge, our mutual friend Sam Jackson (he’s doing OK despite not winning an Oscar for Pulp Fiction), and how Orson Welles’ miscasting sins may have outshined Ed Wood’s hiring his girlfriend’s chiropractor. Ed Wood stars Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller, Patricia Arquette as Kathy O’Hara, Vincent D’Onofrio as Orson Welles, Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge, Mike Starr as Georgie Weiss, Max Casella as Paul Marco, Lisa Marie as Vampira, George “The Animal” Steele as Tor Johnson, Juliet Landau as Loretta King, Brent Hinkley as Conrad Brooks, and Ned Bellamy as Dr. Tom Mason. Find out more about our fab guest Liam at: https://heyitsliam.com/, @radioliam on instagram,@heyitsliam on Twitter (or X, whatever), or you can text him at 424-245-LAFF. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory https://www.instagram.com/biopicapodcaststory/ Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Is it a movie if half of the scenes only have one line of dialogue? This and other philosophical issues about the art of filmmaking are considered as Rena and Sara reluctantly reenter the chaotic, tax-dodging world of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in 2012’s barely-a-movie Lifetime teleplay Liz and Dick. Is there a world where Lindsay Lohan was on Ambien the entire time she was making this movie? Did Creed Bratton and David Eigenberg need credits for their SAG insurance eligibility, or did the director of this film help them bury a body? Where exactly is the black box that Liz and Dick are in, watching their relationship unfold? Did Liz’s dog have to poop out a piece of priceless jewelry, and what effect does that have on that piece of jewelry’s value? Was Sara’s college production of Hamlet the actual worst? So many questions. So few answers. Liz and Dick stars Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor, Grant Bowler as Richard Burton, David Eigenberg as Ernest Lehman, Creed Bratton as Richard Zanuck, Harry XX as the Butler, Theresa Russell as Sara Taylor, and a bunch of people we’ve never seen or heard from again. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory https://www.instagram.com/biopicapodcaststory/ Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Rena and Sara are two media/entertainment world professionals living in NYC. Rena is the history person, mostly.* Sara is the film person.
Sara is a publicist with experience in the retail, real estate, lifestyle, finance, technology, publishing, ecommerce, nonprofit, and entertainment sectors. Rena is a journalist/web producer and has worked for media outlets including Billboard, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, MSN.com, and WWD as well as companies including Sotheby's, Time Inc., and Princeton University Press.
Sara is the blonde. Rena is the brunette.
*Sara takes care of the 20th and 21st centuries. Rena takes care of all the other centuries.
Biopic: A Podcast Story
In a world where mimicking the gestures of a historical figure is awards bait, Biopic: A Podcast Story examines the good, the bad, the unspeakable, and the hilarious about this category of film that frequently dominates the Oscars but just as often offends our sensibilities. Biopic: A Podcast Story looks at the casting, the acting, the quality of the script, and the endless tropes that dominate these movies. Hosted by Rena and Sara. To learn more about us, our rating system, and how we choose movies, please listen to our special introductory episode, "Introduction: Who Are We and What Are We Doing?"
