JOE’s five tips when making a musical biopic

Efforts are underway to make a Jimi Hendrix biopic starring Andre 3000 so JOE decided to look at what does and doesn't work when making a good musical biopic.

By Dermot Keys

Get the casting right

It may seem obvious but try to get someone who actually looks like the subject of the biopic. Ray and Walk the Line are good examples - Jamie Foxx and Joachim Phoenix are both solid actors who also bear more than a passing resemblance to Ray Charles and Johnny Cash respectively.

Backbeat took the brave but stupid approach of casting a line-up of actors who didn't actually look like any of The Beatles. Not a great idea when making a film about one of the world's most recognisable bands.

Alternatively, you can just give realism a slap in the face and cast five different actors (including Cate Blanchett) to play Bob Dylan, as they did in I'm Not There.

Don't overdo the imagery

Director Oliver Stone took a theme and ran with it in the Jim Morrison biopic, The Doors. Admittedly, Jim once wrote a lyric about a dying Native American entering his soul and later explained it at a press conference. However, he was probably off his head on acid and whiskey on both occasions.

Stone took it literally, shoehorning a Native American in full traditional dress into the action at every opportunity. It looked like an extra from Last of the Mohicans had randomly wandered onto the set and proved an annoying distraction at many crucial points in the film.

Don't forget the music

People go to see a musician's biopic primarily because they like the music. Any subsequent love for the person is usually a by-product of the fan's initial interest in their musical ability.

So when you make a biopic of Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones (Stoned) and don't use any songs written by the Rolling Stones, it's likely to miss the intended audience. Or any audience for that matter.

Sure, Jones' descent into paranoia and the mystery surrounding his death may be mildly interesting but would anyone really care if he hadn't been in the Stones?

It's OK to overdub the singing

Joachim Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon did a decent job of singing all the songs as Johnny Cash and June Carter in Walk the Line. However, efforts to reinforce authenticity by singing live can be brutally undermined if the lead actor can't actually sing.

If you can't sing like Tina Turner, don't try. Angela Bassett had the good sense to be overdubbed in What's Love Got To Do With It. It's less jarring to have an actor mime than it is to hear them slowly butcher one of your favourite songs in the name of authenticity.

Don't try to do too much

Focusing on a particular period of a musician's career tends to be more effective than trying to cram their entire life story into two hours.

Notorious whizzed through Biggie Smalls' life story but it managed to gloss over the most interesting aspects, like his murder and his involvement in the infamous East Coast-West Coast rivalry. God knows how jumbled it would have been if he'd lived past the age of 24.

A bit of background is fine but it should be relevant and to the point. A musician's childhood bed-wetting problems may have been a formative experience but most people would rather watch the artist's drug-induced antics as a famous rock and roll star.