Biopic: A Podcast Story

Episode 58: Battle of the Sexes, Starring Emma Stone as Tennis Legend Billie Jean King

Remember that time in 1973 when sexism was cured? Well, yeah, it didn’t work out because (**gestures around at everything**), but this unfairly overlooked movie nevertheless deserves your attention. The legendary match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs is commemorated in this utterly winsome, lovingly made 2017 biopic starring Emma Stone and Steve Carrell.
Battle of the Sexes details the utter triumph of one hard-working, pioneering feminist who has spent her entire professional life breaking down barriers for women as she takes down a possibly-Kayfabe-ing elder statesman and hustler, all while going on a journey of self-discovery about who she really wants to be. But we also have to take time to decipher the sport of tennis (it goes as well as one might expect), talk about what things would actually make America great again (pretty much just guilt-free cigarette smoking), whether or not the mafia is real (it’s not), why Andrea Riseborough’s Marilyn is able to avoid a villain cut, the astonishing hotness of Sarah Silverman, and whether or not this film is too long.
Battle of the Sexes is directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and stars Emma Stone as Billie Jean King, Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs, Andrea Riseborough as Marilyn Barnett, Sarah Silverman as Gladys Heldman, Natalie Morales as Rosie Casals, Bill Pullman as Jack Kramer, Alan Cumming as Ted Tinling, and Elisabeth Shue as Priscilla Riggs.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 57: The Naked Civil Servant, Starring John Hurt as Quentin Crisp

What has four thumbs and loves John Hurt? This podcast. The Naked Civil Servant, a groundbreaking television movie from our friends in Great Britain, tells the powerful story of the wonderful Quentin Crisp—a man whose experience as a gay man spans the entire 20th century and is marked with trauma, challenges, arrests—and tremendous humor and humanity. 
Topics include: The groundbreaking producer of this film, Verity Lambert; A from-the-afterlife Part II to “Fuck Tha Police” performed by QC, Harvey Milk, and Marsha P. Johnson; QC’s honest assessment of how he’d fare in the army—and our own; the “Gay Best Friend” trope’s progression; our envy of the career of “raconteur,” and so much more. 
The Naked Civil Servant is directed by Jack Gold, and stars John Hurt as Quentin Crisp, John Rhys-Davies as Barndoor, Liz Gebhardt as Art Student, Stanley Lebor as Mr. Pole, and Patricia Hodge as Ballet Teacher..  
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 56: 24 Hour Party People with Guest Star, Music Writer Maggie Serota

Unsurprisingly, we had a great time discussing this raucous, genre-bending biopic that documents the madcap experiences of one Tony Wilson as he founds Factory Records and brings the world Joy Division, New Order, the Happy Mondays, the Hacienda nightclub, rave culture, and so much more. 
With our lovely and knowledgeable guest, music journalist Maggie Serota (‪@maggieserota.bsky.social‬), we discuss: how irritating is Steve Coogan? Does methadone lose efficacy when licked off the floor of Heathrow? Do the Happy Mondays have a viable case to sue Oasis for stealing their identities? Is the job of drug dealer/maraca shaker/lead dancer the best job one can get? Should we be leaving more drummers on the roof?
24 Hour Party People was directed by Michael Winterbottom and stars Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson, Shirley Henderson as Lindsay, Paul Popplewell as Paul Ryder, Paddy Considine as Rob Gretton, Martin Hancock as Howard Devoto, Andy Serkis as Martin Hannett, Ralf Little as Peter Hook, Dave Gorman as John the Postman, and Sean Harris as Ian Curtis. 
Some of our sources: 
Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division
The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club
Both by Peter Hook.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 55: The President’s Last Bang with Guest Star, Cartoonist Ryan Estrada

Get ready for some of the lowest functioning addicts in the history of high-powered alcoholism.
Sara and Rena are joined by the amazing cartoonist and South Korea expert Ryan Estrada, who schools us up on the astonishingly dysfunctional and corrupt administration of South Korean president Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated by his own men in 1979 as part of a ill-thought-out coup.
We discuss the uniquely political South Korean filmmaking scene, our K-Pop overlords, what you see at the most depressing dinner parties, and our delight at this gem of a film.
The President’s Last Bang is directed by Im Sang-Soo and stars Baek Yoon-sik, Han Suk-kyu, Song Jae-ho, Kim Eung-soo, Kim Yoon-ah, Lee Soo-mi and future Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung. 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 54: Seberg, Starring Kristen Stewart as Jean Seberg

Do NOT get us started on J. Edgar Hoover. The tragic life of actress Jean Seberg as seen through the lens of her entanglement with the FBI’s ugly COINTELPRO operations, Seberg is a pretty devastating portrait of a fragile, idealistic woman who is taken advantage of by everyone until she is driven to madness and blacklisted.
It’s not as if this has ever happened before or since.
Join us as we discuss the value of Captain America comments, metaphorical heaviness, the efficacy of bringing a gun into an audition for Paint Your Wagon, the most interesting wife-of-a-cop we’ve ever seen in a movie, our love for Jean, another appearance of too-beautiful-for-history Anthony Mackie, and magical character actor Stephen Root.
Seberg is directed by Benedict Andrews and stars Kristen Stewart as Jean Seberg, Anthony Mackie as Hakim Jamal, Jack O’Connell as Jack Solomon, Margaret Qualley as Linette Solomon, Zazie Beetz as Dorothy Jamal, Vince Vaughn as Carl Kowalski, Stephen Root as Walt Breckman, and Yvan Attal as Romain Gary.
Notes: Captain America is a New Deal Democrat: https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2013/10/steven-attewell-steve-rogers-isnt-just-any-hero
 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 53: Better Man, the Biopic Where Britpop Star Robbie Williams is Played by a CGI Chimp

Rena’s on vacation so Sara is joined by her dear friend and 1990s/early 2000s britpop expert Alex to attempt to unpack the Robbie Williams “biopic” that, instead of starring a man who looks like Robbie Williams, features a CGI Chimp with Robbie Williams’s voice standing in for him in an otherwise typical musical biopic that features disappointed parents, drugs and alcohol, dysfunctional relationships, and splashy dance montages.
The central conceit of the movie is pretty impressed with itself, but who is this for? We don’t really know, nor do we know why the Australian Film Commission was so impressed by the whole chimp thing that it gave producers millions of dollars to make it. Also discussed: Was Charles Manson actually the original boy band manager? How does one decide to start a boy band? How traumatizing is it to see a chimp do cocaine or get a blow job from a groupie? Can Robbie Williams ever be a big star in America? Was Robbie Williams’ Knebworth appearance actually felled by a massive, bloody imbroglio between him and his chimp inner children? Is there anyone more misunderstood or tortured than an insanely successful pop star? How many times can “My Way” be performed to completion in this film? 
And again: Who is this for? 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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Episode 52: What’s Love Got to Do With It with Katy from the Queens Podcast

All hail Queen Tina (and while we’re at it, Queen Angela Bassett). We take a look at the story of the singular Tina Turner as told through the 1993 biopic of her marriage to garbage monster Ike Turner with our very special guest Katy, co-host of the always entertaining Queens Podcast. 
We discuss what love has to do with it (spoiler: nothing, it’s coercive control), wigs, the #notallmen employees of the Ramada Inn, the weird journey of the traumatizing moment of “Eat the cake, Anna Mae,” and Tina Turner’s otherwise joy-filled life as an unparalleled superstar. 
What’s Love Got to Do with It is directed by Brian Gibson and stars Angela Bassett as Tina Turner, Laurence Fishburne as Ike Turner, Jenifer Lewis as Zulma Bullock, and Vanessa Bell Calloway as Jackie. 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
Check out the Queens podcast here:  https://queenshistorypodcast.com/the-queen-of-rock-n-roll-tina-turners-life-story/ 
 
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Episode 51: Coco Avant Chanel with Fashion Writer Roxanne Robinson

Sara and Rena welcome the brilliant fashion journalist Roxanne Robinson for the 2009 film Coco Avant Chanel (that means “Before” for anyone who hasn’t been using their 2025 existential crisis to re-learn French on Duolingo). By being “before” Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel became an icon, we can skip over the grossness of Coco’s who Nazi thing, and focus instead on the ambitious, very talented designer who wanted women to be free, comfortable, independent, and chic. 
(And would go on to collaborate with the Nazis). 
Coco Avant Chanel is directed by Anne Fontaine, and stars Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel, Benoit Poevoord as Etienne Balsan, and Alessandro Nivola as Boy Capel. 
Check out a sampling of Roxanne’s terrific reportage here: https://www.roxanne-robinson.com/ 
 
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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