Biopic: A Podcast Story

Episode 25: Ray, with Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles

It’s time to dissect one of the reasons for this podcast’s existence: The Oscarbatory biopic of the life of one Ray Charles, as told by director and co-writer Taylor Hackford (aka Mr. Helen Mirren) and featuring a dynamite performance by Jamie Foxx.
Picture it: 2004, peak “I am going to imitate this famous person and I am going to get awards for it” filmmaking. Sara and Rena have a few problems with this movie, however: mainly that while the state of Georgia has committed, and continues to commit, countless sins, they never exactly banned and then asked for forgiveness from Charles—a pretty vital plot point to this film. Also discussed: when an artist writes a hit song by sitting down at the piano and banging it out flawlessly, the first not-disappointed-in-their-genius-artist-child mother, and the very real fear of being looked at in disappointment by Regina King.
No corpse talk this week, however, the age-old debate of “who would you rather watch a bad movie with, Craig Robinson or Wendell Pierce” achieves a resolution.
Ray stars Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Kerry Washington as Della Bea Robinson, Regina King as Margie Hendricks, Clifton Powell as Jeff Brown, Harry Lennix as Joe Adams, Bokeem Woodbine as Fathead Newman, Sharon Warren as Aretha Robinson, Curtis Armstrong as Ahmet Ertegun, Richard Schiff as Jerry Wexler, Larenz Tate as Quincy Jones, Terrence Howard as Gossie McGee, and Wendell Pierce as Wilbur Brassfield.
 
References: 
SNL “Black Jeopardy” skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VaXlMvAvk
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 24: Saint Joan, with Jean Seberg as Joan of Arc

Rena and Sara find themselves in complete agreement on Saint Joan, the 1957 Otto Preminger adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan. 
Find out about Rena’s secret passion for time traveling historical characters and learn more about Sara’s weird catholicism, along with the timeless visuals of a young woman being emotionally destroyed in a courtroom filled with men fighting over who gets to hurt her the worst.
Prepare yourself for wild 14th and 15th century history, including Henry VI’s “Loveday,” a solution better suited for siblings than warring countrymen, a brief look at Otto Preminger’s monstrousness, a bonus moment of Corpse Capers, and the a FOUR-Pete for our friend Sir John Gielgud. 
Saint Joan stars Jean Seberg as Joan of Arc, Richard Widmark as Charles VII, Richard Todd as the Bastard of Orleans, and John Gielgud as the Earl of Warwick. 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 23: The Pride of the Yankees, with Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig

Our 1+ hour journey into our oldest film yet, 1942’s The Pride of the Yankees, leads us to ask, who is history’s greatest monster? Probably Sara, for the giant tank of haterade she dumps all over this painfully “and-then” film featuring far-too-old actors that covers the life and times of the nevertheless honorable man and incredible athlete Lou Gehrig. 
We discuss Lou Gehrig’s miraculous birth to elderly parents, his hip-breaking fist-fights with the beloved fraternity Alpha Alpha AARP, Walter Brennan’s role as a third party in Lou Gehrig’s marriage, and whether there’s anything more upsetting than people playing themselves in films (there isn’t, but there probably is).  We also discuss that one time that Cal Ripken Jr. maybe got into a fistfight with Kevin Costner and almost destroyed his perfect attendance streak.
Pride of the Yankees stars Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig, Teresa Wright as Eleanor Gehrig, Walter Brennan as Sam Blake, and Babe Ruth as himself.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 22: The Duchess, Starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Finally, a proper costume drama! We are surprised that it took this long. In the 2008 film The Duchess, we travel to the days where it really sucked to be a woman (as opposed to every other time in history) and meet the captivating, delightful, ahead-of-her-time Duchess of Devonshire, her dull-as-dishwater, dog-obsessed husband, and her “he looks like a member of Oasis” partner in cuckolding.
Despite the hangovers of Cleopatra and Gandhi, Rena and Sara actually want this tidy, 1 hour, 50 minute film to be longer as they discuss the positives and negatives of gambling addiction, rotten boroughs as a metaphor for the electoral college and vice versa, giant skirts, giant hair, and whether children should be used for blackmail. It’s WAY more fun than it sounds. Tragically left on the cutting room floor: Your two moms arguing for 30 minutes about the Royal Family.
The Duchess stars Keira Knightley as Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, Ralph Fiennes as The Duke, Dominic Cooper as Charles Grey, Charlotte Rampling as Lady Spencer, Hayley Atwell as Bess Foster, and Simon McBurney as Charles James Fox. 
 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 21: Gandhi, the Biopic that Won Best Picture Instead of E.T.

Remember that time we pretended that Blade Runner, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The King of Comedy, ET, and Rocky III were inferior to the movie Gandhi? The 1980s were fun.
Rena and Sara take a journey back to their teen years to re-watch this beloved teaching aid for high school history instructors and it was … not fun. Gandhi remains a bloodless but well-executed hagiography that also happens to be beautifully shot and eighty-nine hours long. So many train rides and speeches and marches and beatific jailings, so much clothing-weaving and platitude sharing. Oh, and dust. Plentiful dust.
Between analyzing whether this movie is rightfully putting on airs, Rena and Sara also take pity on Gandhi’s wife—who definitely didn’t sign up for this, discuss the issues that come up when one speed-walks in a diaper and sandals, and speculate on the wild array of white actors who were ALMOST cast as Gandhi.
Gandhi stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, Rohini Hattangadi as Kasturba Gandhi, Rosha Seth as Nehru, Candice Bergen as Margaret Bourke-White, Edward Fox as Reginald Dyer, Biopic threepete-r John Gielgud, and Martin Sheen as Vince Walker. 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Bonus Episode! Irrelevant Host Banter 10: 50+ Minutes of Us Trashing Reagan

We recorded around three hours of material for “Episode 20: Reagan” back in August of 2024. That movie was torture to endure and we wound up cutting about half of what we recorded. We assert that the right to free assembly allows us, the much-loathed coastal media types, the right to seek hope, comfort, and the mutual salving of wounds among the like-minded. So, this bonus episode is not for everybody. If you are broken-hearted about the horrible thing that happened in Washington, DC on Monday, January 20 of 2025, and you would rather not be told “F— your feelings, pronoun person,” here is nearly 50 minutes of us hating on Ronald Reagan and the Reagan biopic that came out in 2024 and stars Dennis Quaid. We hope that you feel better. You are not alone.
Including:
Unwanted comeuppance for unrepentant libs via gender-neutral bathroom.
An ox with a cold.
How we narrowly escaped being owned by some finance bros who hollered, “Vote Trump!” at the end of the movie and appeared to actually enjoy this irredeemable tripe bucket of a movie.
Salacious, Kitty Kelly-imparted gossip about the oral talents of the former Nancy Davis, aside from her acting.
Trying to remember where our child selves were when the Berlin Wall fell.
Did we mention just how thoroughly we hated the Reagan biopic?
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Bonus Episode! Irrelevant Host Banter 9: And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself

Hooray! We have a bonus episode: our ninth edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes that were cut for running time.
Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. We jump around in a senseless, context-deprived manner, and you should definitely skip this episode and download any normal episode from “Episode 10: Cobb” onwards if this is your first time listening.
This bonus episode consists of material cut from Episode 19: And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. Subjects include:
Non-lucrative possibilities for the publishing industry.
The Lost Cause sucks and we are not here for it.
Buster Keaton’s awful childhood.
Boring white dudebros.
Sara’s realization that she has D.W. Griffith confused with W.C. Fields.
A sarcastic discussion about how much we are not looking forward to seeing the Dennis Quaid-starring Reagan.
And, as always, much more.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 19: And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, Starring Antonio Banderas as the Eponymous Mexican Revolutionary

The fascinating topic of Pancho Villa’s savvy engagement of the film industry to prop up the Mexican Revolution is made somewhat less fascinating with this sometimes jaunty and crackling, sometimes bummer-ific 2003 HBO film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. Why must we have two Blandy McBlanderson tubs of vanilla ice cream as our way into this story? Why does one of them have to be the condescending communist and future episode subject John Reed? Why can’t this movie have more Alan Arkin? Is it possible to make Antonio Banderas unattractive? 
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself gives us the opportunity to delve into the dark world of showmances, snuff films, additional strange moments from Sara’s incredibly interesting personal history, and the incredibly American tradition of standing around and watching battles. 
As a bonus: Another segment of “CorpseTalk” as we find out about the grim journey of Pancho Villa’s head post-death. 
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself stars Antonio Bandaras as Pancho Villa, Eion Bailey as Frank Thayer, Alan Arkin as Sam Drebbin, Jim Broadbent as Harry Aitken, Matt Day as John Reed, Michael McKean as William Christy Cabanne, Kyle Chandler as Roaul Walsh, Colm Feore as D.W. Griffith, and Alexas Davalos as Teddy Sampson.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
Follow us!
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Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/
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