A long queue of biographical films is set to be screened at American cinemas this summer. The documentaries, almost a dozen, include one on Joan Rivers, one on Billy Joel and another on Carrie Fisher, and have been prompted by the surprise success of recent screen studies of Anna Wintour, Vidal Sassoon and Mike Tyson.
Although these films are not big money-making propositions, they appeal to their collaborating subjects as an effective method of repairing a dented public image or a way to fight gossip on fan sites and Hollywood blogs. Sometimes they can even rehabilitate a fallen hero.
When You're Strange, a film about The Doors by Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, has been criticised by some as offering a hagiographical approach to Morrison, hailing him as a "shaman" of the concert platform. The film opens with a shot of Morrison driving across the desert listening as the radio announces his death and, typically of this new documentary feature, it favours narrative thrust over talking heads.
Following films such as September Issue, a documentary that chronicled the working life of Vogue editor Wintour, and positive treatments of the trouble-making producer Robert Evans, the Playboy chief Hugh Hefner and the shamed boxer Tyson, comedians, fashion gurus and giants of American politics, such as the former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, are all to receive the same cinematic attention.
According to James Toback, director of Tyson, the appetite for detail about the lives of famous people has been whetted by television's real-life fare. "There is a demand for what is true and real, or what is represented as true and real," he said. "Movies that are biographies of real people are a natural extension of that phenomenon."
At the age of 82 the influential hair-stylist Sassoon is said to be enjoying the impact of a $3m (£2m) documentary about him. "I love the idea that people would look at me in a different way. I've never had this much attention," he said.
Joel, in contrast, is eager to distance himself from his film, Last Play at Shea, although his own concert producing team spent $4m of his money making the documentary. "The older I get, I realise how silly it is what I do," Joel said. "I mean, I look at me on the movie screen and I just laugh out loud." The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is likely to get an autumn release, timed for possible Oscar contention.
Ricki Stern, who made Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, has worked closely with the star, although not always to the director's advantage. Stern is the daughter of a close friend of Rivers and so was allowed to follow the veteran comedian for a year with a small crew. After seeing an early cut, Rivers sent a three-page email of suggestions for improvements. Stern says she ignored most of the objections, although she did agree to cut a scene showing Rivers swearing at a photograph of her late husband Edgar Rosenberg.
The Doors documentary follows in the footsteps of Martin Scorsese, who has turned his attention to music documentaries in recent years and lent the genre extra cachet. His Bob Dylan film No Direction Home won acclaim and was followed by Shine a Light, his concert film about The Rolling Stones, interspersed with news and interview footage. His new BBC documentary about the late George Harrison is planned for release this year.
Fisher, the comedian and former starlet who made her name in Star Wars, has agreed to turn her biographical show Wishful Drinking into a feature-length documentary. The film, which sets out to reveal "her darkest hours and the not-so-glittering side of growing up with Hollywood royalty", will include large sections of a live performance recorded two days ago in New Jersey, along with archive footage and interviews. But if you are looking for flaws on the face of glamour, the Joan Rivers documentary is the place to go. One of its most startling images is her cosmetically-ravaged features in full close-up.
No comments:
Post a Comment