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. 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.

Listen on:

Episode Scores

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.

Episodes

Sunday May 26, 2024

Episode 5: The Conqueror, with John Wayne as Genghis Khan

Sunday May 26, 2024

Rena and Sara discuss The Conqueror, a 1956 Howard Hughes production starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan. You read that correctly. This one is a doozy. Join us as we dig into all the things that make The Conqueror, er, special, including radioactive sand, a demoralised RKO studios gutted by Hughes, a supposedly tame panther, future Klingon gear, and a script full of insane, stilted, pseudo-archaic dialog that Wayne didn't bother reading until he arrived on the Utah desert set that was posing as the Gobi.
The Duke told screenwriter Oscar Millard that he couldn't say any of this dialogue, and was told that it was too late to change anything. It all went downhill from there in a shoot that would affect much of the cast and crew for the rest of their lives—because they were shooting 137 miles downwind of a nuclear test site.
The Conqueror also starred Susan Hayward (whose glamorous wardrobe makes no sense in the Gobi), Agnes Moorehead (of Bewitched and Citizen Kane), Pedro Armendáriz (who returned to the set eight days after breaking his jaw), and future spaghetti western luminary Lee Van Cleef, and was Dick Powell's first venture as a director. He was apparently a very nice guy.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
Follow us!
Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory
Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/
Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Tuesday May 21, 2024

Episode 4: Respect, Starring Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin

Tuesday May 21, 2024

What do you do when your assessment of a movie is out of step with critical and public consensus? That is a question that we found ourselves pondering on watching Respect, the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson as Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, Forrest Whitaker as Reverend C.L. Franklin, Marc Maron as Jerry Wexler, Audra Ann McDonald as Barbara Franklin, Titus Burgess as James Cleveland, and a dude from White Chicks as Ted White.
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
Follow us!
Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory
Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/
Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Sunday May 12, 2024

Introduction, Episode 0: Who Are We and What Are We Doing?

Sunday May 12, 2024

Rena and Sara do an introductory explainer episode for Biopic: A Podcast Story.
This is where we explain how the rating system works, how we choose what movies to cover next, and what is and is not a biopic for the purposes of this podcast.
We talk about ourselves a little bit, and Rena serendipitously pitches Sara’s dream biopic project: Andy Warhol Presents Abe Lincoln’s Sleep.
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

Contact Us

If you want to get in touch with us, please email us at biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com.

About us

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?"