Amy Winehouse, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe: Is it time to draw a line under endless biopics?

‘Back to Black’ starring Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse is in production and ‘Elvis’ and ‘Blonde’ are up for Oscars, but, says Geoffrey Macnab, too many of these biographical dramas short-change audiences

Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse and Eddie Marsan as her father Mitch filming the new Amy Winehouse biopic ‘Back to Black’ (GC Images/Getty)

Madonna biopic dead” read the headlines this week. The big-budget film that was set to star Julia Garner of Ozark and Inventing Anna fame and be directed by Madonna herself, was scrapped. Either someone at Universal Studios had decided it was a bad idea or Madonna was too busy with her forthcoming world tour to commit to it. Even without Madonna, the conveyor belt is still running faster than ever. Filming has just begun on Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Back to Black, starring Marisa Abela as singer Amy Winehouse and Jack O’Connell as her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. 

Also this week, it was announced that Ana de Armas is nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik’s biopic Blonde, while Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is an awards contender in multiple categories, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Austin Butler as Elvis Presley.

If you’re famous, you get a film. That appears to be the working rule in Hollywood and beyond. These days filmmakers aren’t too picky about choosing which real-life figures they bring to screen. Nelson Mandela had his biopic but so did Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, the British ski jumper, and Seabiscuit, the American racehorse. Biopics come in every shape and size. They can be small and quirky – witness Mark Rylance as the hapless Maurice Flitcroft, a shipyard crane operator who masqueraded as a professional golfer in 2021 crowd pleaser, The Phantom of The Open. They can be big and very flamboyant, for example, a turbo-charged Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody.