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.
Just in time for 4th of July weekend 2024, we have a bonus episode: our second edition of Irrelevant Host Banter. These are some outtakes from the episodes that we released in June of 2024 that were cut for running time. Think of it as Sara and Rena having a conversation in non sequiturs. Includes material cut from: Episode 6: Milk Episode 7: Bessie Episode 8: Rocketman Episode 9: Gia Highlights include: Rena hates surprises. An intense, literalist deconstruction of the lyrics to "Rocket Man". Our sadness that racism did not end in 2008. The time that Elton John bought a dinosaur from Ringo Starr. Attention-seeking foster cats. Lots more! Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Visual Aids: https://imgur.com/user/BiopicAPodcastStory Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
What better way to celebrate America’s birthday than with a baseball movie with exactly one scene of baseball, elder abuse, racism, and Robert Wuhl? This week we will be talking about Cobb, starring returning champion Tommy Lee Jones as rather evil baseball legend Ty Cobb, who might be less evil than Al Stump, this film’s proposed protagonist. This episode features a passionate if unintentional defense of Ty Cobb’s honor by two non-sportsball fans, as well as digressions about Kayfabe, a proposal for a reverse Driving Miss Daisy, and a pitch for Al Stump to be recast with the dog from Air Bud. Cobb stars Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, Lolita Davidovich, the amazing Lou Myers, baby Bradley Whitford as “Process Server” and Jimmy Buffet as “Armless Guy” Sources: Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Is it a movie about the 1970s and 1980s fashion scene if there’s no fashion in it? Rena and Sara are varying degrees of annoyed at this biopic about legendary supermodel Gia Carangi, whose meteoric rise and devastating fall in the modelling industry is kind of documented in this film. Who’s the worse pastiche character – the grubby modelling agency owner or the makeup artist, who came straight to this set from a Newport News catalog shoot? Why can’t we get a period-accurate needle drop in this film? Where are we and when are we? So many questions, so few answers, including whether or not it’s fair to criticize any art if you haven’t made any. Gia stars Angelina Jolie, the legendary Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Eric Michael Cole, and was directed by Michael Cristofer, and written by Cristofer and Jay McInerney.
Sources Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia by Stephen Fried Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross The C Word episode: Gia 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 discuss Rocketman, the 2019 musical biopic about the life and work of the one and only Elton John. Are musicals realistic biopics, or not? We discuss the parameters of why they totally are, and why everything about this movie is pretty darn delightful, from the brilliant costumes, the fabulous singing and dancing, and the stylish exploration of the sad, desperate world of being a superstar drug and alcohol addict. Come for the world’s most improbable twelve-step meeting, stay for the glorious digressions about football hero John Madden (no relation to Richard), Bernie Tau-PAHN, Queen Latifah, inner children, bad parents, and how Taron Egerton makes Elton John so freaking hot. Rocketman stars Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Stephen Graham, and Harriet Walter, and is directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall.
Sources: Was Elton John’s Manager John Reid Really Such a Jerk? https://ultimateclassicrock.com/elton-john-manager-john-reid-jerk/#:~:text=Richard%20Madden%20stars%20as%20John,television%20credits%20to%20his%20name. Scattershot by Bernie Taupin Me by Elton John Rocket Man: The Life of Elton by Mark Bego Captain Fantastic: Elton John's Stellar Trip Through the '70s by Tom Doyle 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 watched Bessie, the 2015 HBO movie starring Queen Latifah as Blues Empress Bessie Smith. We dissect the glory that is Mo’Nique, the spiritual battle between Dee Rees and Horton Foote, and the world’s fakest-looking pair of emerald earrings as we journey through Bessie Smith’s rise, fall, and recovery (and thankfully, not her tragic death). The all-over-the-place screenplay inspires us to whip out our corkboard, red thread and tinfoil hats with a theory about the 22 year journey the original screenplay took to film. It cannot be overstated: Rena really hates the (extremely fake-looking like they came out of a crackerjack box) emerald earrings. Bessie stars Queen Latifah, Mo’nique, the late, great Michael K. Williams, Khandi Alexander, Mike Epps, Charles S. Dutton, and Oliver Platt.
Sources: https://slate.com/culture/2015/05/bessie-hbo-accuracy-fact-vs-fiction-in-the-hbo-biopic-of-bessie-smith-the-empress-of-blues.html Bessie by Chris Albertson The Famous Lady Lovers by Cookie Woolner
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
This is a re-recording of an episode that originally dropped on June 4, 2024, as the first film in our 2024 Pride Month series. We are re-releasing it because the original version sounded like we recorded it inside a wind tunnel on board a submarine. It sounded that way because we didn’t know that we needed to turn off the air conditioner before recording an episode. Kicking off Gay Pride Month with a masterpiece, Rena and Sara discuss Milk, the 2008 film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black. Sean Penn won an Oscar for Best Actor for his outstanding, joyful portrayal of the late San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, who shattered closet doors while battling the Christian Coalition, Anita Bryant, and the mediocre white schmuck colleague who would assassinate him between bouts of allegedly eating too much junk food and complaining about the need for traditional family values. That colleague sucks, but Harvey Milk – and this film – do not. There’s also plenty of discussion of San Francisco’s local political scene, the development hell of the Harvey Milk biopic that went on for nearly two decades, the astonishing number of problematic actors in this film, a hair-raising encounter between Sean Penn and activist and film hero Cleve Jones, and why Allison Pill should be president. Rena and Sara also both noted that at no point in Milk is that unspeakably mediocre colleague who assassinated Harvey Milk shown eating a Twinkie. Milk stars Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Allison Pill, Denis O’Hare, Diego Luna, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella, and Lucas Grabeel. The film was directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black. Visual Aids: milk-biopic-podcast-story-episode-6-n9 nOkia Mediocre White Male Bonus Content: https://imgur.com/gallery/dan-whites-got-issue-patron-saint-of-mediocre-white-dudes-ftAS3UX References and sources mentioned: “Everything Milk Doesn’t Tell You About the True Story,” Looper.com “Remembering Jonestown, Dan White, and the two weeks that ate San Francisco,” by Paul Krassner, San Francisco Guardian, November 23, 1993 Season of the Witch by David Talbot
The Mayor of Castro Street, by Randy Shilts When We Rise, by Cleve Jones The Times of Harvey Milk (documentary)
LGBT Equality Index https://www.equaldex.com/equality-index Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Rena and Sara prefer that our podcast be at least half an hour shorter than the movies that we talk about. Rena generally dislikes listening to other podcast hosts banter about their personal lives, so she's happy to cut all of that out. But we needed to learn some new audio skills, so she spliced together a bunch of random irrelevant host banter and a few things that were cut for running time. The clips in this episode were taken from the following episodes: Introduction: Who Are We and What Are We Doing? Episode 1: The Doors Episode 3: Caligula Topics include: The excellence of Teresa Anne Savoy's hair in Caligula. Sara's insights regarding the role of dinosaurs in American history. A trip to Père Lachaise. Were both Andrew and James Garfield assassinated by Charles Guiteau? Listener feedback. Rena's least favorite biopic. Plus much, much more. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Imgur: https://imgur.com/user/BiopicAPodcastStory Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Reagan is finally here and boy does it look mighty bad. Rena and Sara try to make sense of the Reagan trailer, a film that has been waiting for its moment since filming in 2020, and speculate on its contents, whether its director is an auteur, and the putty and prosthetics budget. We play a game called “Desperate or Canceled.” This film will star Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan, Mena Suvari as Jane Wyman, Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan, Dan Lauria as Tip O'Neill, king of accent work Jon Voight, Robert Davi, Kevin Dillon, Scott Stapp, and maybe Kevin Sorbo. We peel back the infinite layers of Jon Voight's unconvincing de-aging makeup on our journey through development hell and production purgatory, in search of empty cowboys. Along the way, we meet an unholy daisy chain of banally-named production companies, make bets on the still-unconfirmed running time, explore the choices made while filming during COVID, and identify the bad guys and the absentees. Spoiler warning: We might spoil everything? We’ll know more when the film comes out on August 30. Visual Aids: https://imgur.com/gallery/reagan-trailer-emergency-episode-of-biopic-podcast-story-tvdbwrk Follow us! Instagram: @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?"
