Musical biopics: When box office and critics go ka-chung!

With Baz Luhrman’s ‘Elvis’ opening on June 24, a look at the bubbling cauldron of charismatic performances and high drama that goes into the making of a successful musical biopic

With Elvis, based on the life of The King played by Austin Butler, and his thorny relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), Baz Luhrman is on familiar ground. The Moulin Rouge! director is known for his extravagantly-produced musical numbers.

Elvis is the latest in a long line of musical biopics from 1968’s Funny Girl which Barbra Streisand nailed with her portrayal of Fanny Brice to Andrew Garfield’s delightful personification of Jonathan Larson in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut, Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) .

Musical biopics, if done right, apart from being first-rate entertainers are award magnets. Andrew Garfield’s Golden Globe win and the Oscar nomination continues the tradition of recognition. George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), which tells the story of blues singer, Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) and a fraught recording session in 1927 Chicago, received five Oscar nominations and won two for Makeup and Hairstyling, and Costume Design.

Chadwick Boseman’s incendiary performance as the hot-headed trumpeter, Levee, won him a best actor nomination.

Taron Egerton’s performance as British singer and pianist, Elton John in Dexter Fletcher’s Rocketman (2019) won him a slew of nominations and a Golden Globe. As Judy Garland in Rupert Goold’s Judy (2019), Renée Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild (SAG), BAFTA and Critics’ Choice.

Peter Farrelly’s Green Book (2018) set in 1962 detailing a tour by African-American pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and his driver and bodyguard Frank Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), took the Best Picture Oscar as well as Original Screenplay. Ali, apart from his Supporting Actor win at the Oscars also won at the Golden Globes, BAFTA and SAG.

Also in 2018 was Brian Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody on the life of Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek), lead singer of the British rock band, Queen. While there were murmurs against skirting the issue of Mercury’s sexuality and the toning down of some of the greater excesses, Bohemian Rhapsody was a box office and critics’ favourite.