Why are there so few biopics about actors (who aren’t named Marilyn Monroe)? While theater has been around for thousands of years, is it due to the birth of the screen actor being a relatively recent invention? Or what if a biopic is made about an actor who happened to have starred in a biopic themselves? Then we’d be left in an endless feedback loop of a biopic about an actor in a biopic, playing someone other than themselves. Or perhaps there lies the answer to a very convoluted question. Because actors spend their whole lives pretending to be someone other than themselves, a biopic on their actual life can be actually difficult, as we’d never truly get to the true crux of their character because so much of their life is embedded in fantasy? Who knows…

As the legends gradually die off, like Game of Throne’s infamous ‘Red Wedding’ episode, filmmakers are left with a greater pool of talented icons to pick from when pitching an idea for a biopic to a film studio, and with Netflix’s Blonde, yet another Marilyn Monroe biopic, set to premiere on the platform in September, as well as upcoming Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn biopics, here are some of the best biographical movies about actors…

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5 James Dean

     Warner Bros. Television Distribution

Mark Rydell’s 2001 biopic James Dean, starring a young James Franco in the titular role, is an eye-opening account of a household name in Old Hollywood. Anguished by the sudden death of his mother and the neglectful, disinterested ways of his father, Dean was subsequently rehoused and lived with his aunt and uncle. Motivated yet perplexed by his father’s apparent resentment of him, Dean does everything in his power to impress him and hopes his newfound fame procures his distant father’s approval.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Jame Franco’s meticulous preparation (which included The Disaster Artist actor dying his hair blonde, watching old James Dean flicks on repeat, and spending every day with several of Dean’s closest confidants) undeniably led to him flourishing in the role. Having died tragically in a car accident at just 24-years-of-age, Dean’s impression on American, cinematic, and international culture lives on to this day.

4 Man on the Moon

     Universal Pictures

Jim Carrey appears as the effortlessly funny, legendary comedian Andy Kaufman in Miloś Forman’s biographical comedy-drama, Man on the Moon. The film documents the life of Kaufman, from his initially ropey start as a comic-cum-entertainer scaling the heights of Saturday Night Live, making an entire nation cackle, to his stint as a wrestler who only fights women. Carrey’s energy and the vivacity he brings to every role is ever-present throughout his Kaufman recitation. Carrey magnificently replicates the unpredictable edge of the former comedian-turned-actor, and even in the film’s opening sequence, Kaufman, known for his pranks, has the audience believe that these are in fact the end credits.

3 Judy

     20th Century FoxRoadside Attractions

Renee Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 2020 Oscars for her glorious portrayal of the troubled Judy Garland in Judy. Zellweger plays the purposely softly-spoken (as a result of a tracheotomy) Wizard of Oz actor in a performance full of the vulnerability and afflicted temperament of Garland. Like that of Stan & Ollie, the movie’s focus is predominantly on the latter stages of the star’s career and her attempts at reclaiming her former glory across the Atlantic pond in London. Rupert Goold’s film, adapted from the stage show End of the Rainbow, takes an analytical look at Garland’s upbringing and what led her to a life of substance abuse and romantic turbulence.

2 Stan & Ollie

     Sony Pictures Classics

2018’s Stan & Ollie isn’t exactly your perfunctory biopic; not only is it a two-for-the-price-of-one, but it hones specifically in on the twilight of the double act’s career and highlights their struggle at maintaining relevance as their starlight gradually dims in favor of Hollywood’s new wave. Starring Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy respectively, Jon S. Baird’s movie explores the celebrated duo’s attempts at reviving their stardom with a tour of UK theaters.

Coogan and Reilly’s portrayals are heartwarming and symbolic in equal measure. They expertly convey a sense of loss in their performances, and of Stan’s particular desire to relocate what they once had, despite it being very much in their periphery, and inevitably out of reach. While the pair manage to partly reignite their former spark, their unwanted realization that times, their public image, and they, themselves, have changed. It is a touching tribute to two unforgotten icons of stage, television, and cinema, and it wouldn’t be Laurel and Hardy without the laughs that Coogan and Reilly so naturally deliver.

1 Chaplin

     Carolco Pictures

A babyfaced Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of the Little Tramp, better known as Charlie Chaplin, the king of Hollywood’s silent era and slapstick comedy, forms the basis of Chaplin, the best biopic about an actor (or so it’s been dubbed by several quarters). The late, great Richard Attenborough was at the directorial wheel for this 1992 movie that kicks into life with Chaplin’s unstable and tempestuous childhood, forced into the workhouse at the age of nine.

The requirement for privacy was deeply instilled into Chaplin’s being, to the extent that his extra-private life is often interpreted as simply coy secrecy. While the biographical drama offers a surface-level interpretation of the Londoner’s life, it rather dances to Chaplin’s tune, a flawless portrait that shows him in the exact stage light he’d have wanted, rather than an accurate vignette by an impartial pro.