THE BIOPIC EXPLODES WITH BILLIE HOLIDAY, ARETHA, BUDDY AND MORE
IF THERE’S A message for musicians and moguls alike in 2021, it’s this: if you’re not writing, producing, licensing or developing a big-name music biz biopic, why not? The stadium theatrics of Queen saw Bohemian Rhapsody handclap its way to
$904 million at the box office in 2018; last year Elton’s Rocketman pocketed $195 million.
Having owned TV talent show American Idol in 2004, previous wannabe Jennifer
Hudson made her acting debut in the movie version of Broadway smash Dreamgirls two years later. Technically a
“film à clef” it shared certain non-actionably coincidental similarities to the rise of The Supremes. In it, Hudson essayed a fictionalised version of Florence Ballard. In doing so, she linked back to Lady Sings The Blues (1973), in which Diana Ross played Billie Holiday for director Sidney J Furie. Thus does a lineage emerge of singers able to act, and actors with a pressing desire to sing. This year, black music icons Holiday and Aretha Franklin will appear in their own heavyweight biopics: in order of proposed release, The United States Vs. Billie Holiday (March 12) and Respect (late 2021).
This thrilling icon-off helps even the score for classic soul. Respect is Franklin’s story, developed by TV writer Tracey Scott Wilson and Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) with the full blessing of the late soul queen, who chose Hudson herself. The star told Empire, “She’d be very hands-on. What an honour that was.” Flanking the certified belter are promising turns from Marc Maron (Jerry Wexler) and Mary J Blige (Dinah Washington). Franklin is also the subject of the latest in National Geographic’s historical anthology series Genius, with Franklin played by Tony-winning, Oscar-nominated Londoner Cynthia Erivo.
The Holiday bio, directed by iconoclast Lee Daniels, takes a chance on screen debutante and R&B hitmaker Andra Day as the troubled jazz singer. Part-discovery of Stevie Wonder’s, Day has all the tremulous power of a singer twice her age, burning down the house with I Put A Spell On You at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The vanilla Buddy Holly Story earned Gary Busey an Oscar nomination in 1978, but Lubbock’s finest is due a more accurate account. Holly’s widow Maria Elena greenlit Clear Lake, focusing on the 1958 Biggest Show Of Stars tour, its multiethnic vision and the plane crash. Director Bruce Beresford called it a “tragic story… with vivid characterisations”. Irish actor Ruairi O’Connor plays Holly, while R&B superstar Nelly is Chuck Berry.
Fast & Furious star Tyrese Gibson is, or will be, Teddy Pendergrass (another project touched by Lee Daniels) and has already called it a “journey”, while Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie squares Once Upon a Time In Hollywood star Austin Butler as Presley against Tom Hanks’s Colonel Tom Parker. In uncertain times for film, all will be well aware of the fictional advice given to a young Aretha in Respect’s trailer: “Honey, find the songs that move you – or you ain’t going nowhere.”