Podcast
Biopic: A Podcast Story
Hosted by biopicapodcaststory · EN
In a world where mimicking the gestures of a historical figure is awards bait, Biopic: A Podcast Story examines the good, the bad, the unspeakable, and the hilarious about this category of film that frequently dominates the Oscars but just as often offends our sensibilities. Biopic: A Podcast Story looks at the casting, the acting, the quality of the script, and the endless tropes that dominate these movies. Hosted by Rena and Sara. We have watched a lot of biopics. Biopic: A Podcast Story sits at the meeting point between movie, comedy, and history podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
23episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Episode 78: Temple Grandin, Starring Claire Danes
Dec 1601:12:52Tap to summarize“You ruined it with your stupidity!” Rena’s favorite line in the history of film comes alive (albeit not the way she remembers it) in this absolutely magical biopic about the compassionate genius Temple Grandin, a true doctor Doolittle (unlike alleged murderer Rex Harrison). Through almost starting to cry again, we discuss the David Strathairn exception to the dangers of being hot for teacher, how the squeeze machine could have been a very different project at Vassar, the need to better honor our Swiss Army knife film directors (like Mick Jackson — who directed this movie and the feelgood film of 1984, Threads).. and so much more. Temple Grandin stars Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, Julia Ormond as Eustacia Grandin, David Strathairn as Dr. Carlock, Catherine O'Hara as Aunt Ann, Stephanie Faracy as Betty Goscowitz, Barry Tubb as Randy, and Melissa Farman as Alice. Sources used in the episode include… Podcasts Episode of Star Talk, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s podcast that Temple Grandin guest starred on. Books Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin. Temple Grandin: Voice for the Voiceless by Annette Wood. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 77: Walking Tall, the Story of Pro Wrestler Turned Sheriff Buford Pusser
Dec 201:47:16Tap to summarizeBuckle up, snowflakes, we’re ruining your favorite folk hero! Politics month is supposed to be over, but we have one more slice of Americana bullshit for you all, 1973’s Walking Tall, starring Joe Don Baker. After all, what is more patriotic than being a pro-wrestler-turned-town-sherriff-without-any-law-enforcement-experience-cum-alleged-wife-murderer-and-legend who stands up for what is right (grifting harder than your competition)? What is more American than assaulting your town’s inhabitants with a two-by-four because due process is nonsense, and you haven’t eaten yet? Nothing. NOTHING. We find a couple of flaws with the popular, ridiculous myth of Buford Pusser and discuss those (spoiler alert: There was not an official stick that he used to beat people with) while also finding fault with Buford’s sheriff’s uniform of a relaxed-fit shirt and brown slacks, the film’s soundtrack, Bing Crosby’s production house, the too-good-for-this-film presence of the tragic Elizabeth Hartman, and the town orthopedist’s cast-making skills. And a lot of other things. Walking Tall was directed by Phil Carlson and stars Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Buford Pusser, Elizabeth Hartman as Pauline Pusser, Lurene Tuttle as Helen Pusser, Noah Beery Jr. as Carl Pusser, Dawn Lyn as Dwana Pusser, Leif Garrett as Mike Pusser, Felton Perry as Obra Eaker, Logan Ramsey as John Witter, Rosemary Murphy as Callie Hacker, Gene Evans as Sheriff Al Thurman, and Bruce Glover as Grady Coker. Sources used in the episode include… Podcasts Behind the Bastards Going South The Facebook page Buford Pusser: The Other Story—which, I know what a cesspool Facebook is, but the man who created it, Mike Elam, has dedicated a lot of energy and time and shoe leather to dissecting this man’s legacy which, I gotta say, is fucking weird, and speaks to that strange, strange time our society was in at the end of the Vietnam War and in the throes of Watergate.—Sara Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 30: Amistad
Nov 19, 202401:00:10Tap to summarizeApparently we watched this movie. Amistad is an unusually mediocre (for him, and only for him) and sort of forgettable Steven Spielberg movie about a captive mutiny against slave runners, John Quincy Adams, and the awkward game of hot-potato that was the pre-Civil War era U.S. government. Come for the uprising, stay for the utterly depressing and real depiction of the American legal system. Some of the important questions that come up: What part of Philadelphia is the part where they say “y’all” and scissor-kick like LBJ? Is any actor more capable of creating a discomfiting environment like Arliss Howard? What would have happened if Will Smith got the part of Cinque, instead of Dijmon Hounsou? Amistad stars Djimon Hounsou as Cinque, Matthew McConaughey as Roger Sherman, Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams, Morgan Freeman as Theodore Joadson, returning champion Nigel Hawthorne as Martin Van Buren, David Paymer as Secretary John Forsythe, Pete Postlethwaite as Holabird, Stellan Skasgard as Tappan, Anna Paquin as Queen Isabella, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Ensign Covey. Sources: Mutiny on the Amistad : The Saga of a Slave Revolt and its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy by Howard Jones. John Quincy Adams: A Man for the Whole People by Randall Woods Podcast: Totalis Rankium episodes on John Quincy Adams. “The Amistad Case in Fact and Film” by Eric Foner https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74/ https://screenrant.com/amistad-movie-true-story-every-change/ Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 29: All The Way
Nov 12, 202400:59:34Tap to summarizePresidential biopic month continues with the 2016 television movie All the Way, about the blockbuster year of 1964 and Lyndon B. Johnson’s first (and only) year of presidential campaigning and his efforts to try to do nice things for all Americans by spearheading the War on Poverty and the Civil Rights Act. We know how Americans love it when leaders try to do things to make America a better place for everyone, so everything goes great for Lyndon, Martin Luther King and SNCC as they work to destroy institutional inequality. Americans grew emotionally and intellectually over the one-hundred years since the Civil War, so it’s not like anyone would want to vote against decency and their own self-interest. Aside from that, we discuss LBJ’s propensity for being a pathological liar, the positives and negatives of prosthetic ears, when we first saw Eyes on the Prize, and if Anthony Mackie is too hot to play anyone except Anthony Mackie. All the Way stars Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Anthony Mackie as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Melissa Leo as First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell, Stephen Root as J. Edgar Hoover, Ray Wise as Senator Everett Dirkson, Bradley Whitford as Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Todd Weeks as Walter Jenkins, Bo Foxworth Robert McNamara, Aisha Hines as Fannie Lou Hamer, and Joe Morton as Roy Wilkins. Sources used in the episode include… Volumes 1, 2, and 4 of Robert Caro’s Lyndon Johnson bio. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 28: Lincoln
Nov 5, 202401:10:47Tap to summarizeThis week we enter the world of Lincoln, an almost-perfect 2012 movie that features just about every “hey it’s that guy” brilliant character actor and one unforgettable, magical performance as honest Abe by Daniel Day-Lewis. We don’t have a lot to complain about outside of top hats, weird facial hair, and “states’ rights,” so we spend a lot of time praising the casual brilliance of Tony Kushner’s writing and some guy named Steven Spielberg who seems to be going places as a director. No way around it: This movie is flawless. Some other questions: How badly does Sara want to go to an underground dogfight with Tim Blake Nelson? In the 1850s, what was the correct number of children to have in order to be survived by at least one of them? How good at this was Abraham Lincoln? How unfair is it that Tommy Lee Jones had to share oxygen for weeks on end with Robert Wuhl while filming Cobb (the subject of Biopic: A Podcast Story’s 4th of July 2024 episode,) when he is such a good actor? Is anyone better than Sally Field? Also very important: We play a game, “Who said it: Scholastic Book Fair Poster or Abraham Lincoln,” celebrating the most wrongly-cited president of all time. Lincoln stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, and also Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, James Spader, Walton Goggins, John Hawkes, Jared Harris, Jackie Earle Haley, Joseph Cross, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tim Blake Nelson, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Hal Holbrook, Gloria Ruben, Adam Driver, Lee Pace, Gulliver McGrath, David Costabile, Colman Domingo, and pretty much every other awesome person you can think of, and was directed by Stephen Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 27: Ed Wood with Guest Star, Comedian Liam McEneany!
Oct 29, 202401:17:08Tap to summarizeBiopic’s all grown up and welcoming its very first guest, the brilliant comedian Liam McEneaney. Liam is also an Ed Wood expert (making all of Sara and Rena’s outstanding Wikipedia-based research less critical) his work has been praised by Gilbert Gottfried, and he’s released 2 comedy albums and has written for a variety of funny shows and comedians. Outside of an opening jump scare featuring convicted felon Jeffrey Jones, Ed Wood is an unscary, delightful romp through the world of auteur Ed Wood’s not-amazing (or maybe amazing?) filmmaking and truly lovely self-acceptance. Tim Burton’s 1994 film features an indelible and brilliant performance of Biopic returning champion Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, lovingly recreated set pieces, and too-ridiculous-to-be-fake anecdotes from the making of Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Also discussed: the fascinating history of Bunny Breckinridge, our mutual friend Sam Jackson (he’s doing OK despite not winning an Oscar for Pulp Fiction), and how Orson Welles’ miscasting sins may have outshined Ed Wood’s hiring his girlfriend’s chiropractor. Ed Wood stars Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller, Patricia Arquette as Kathy O’Hara, Vincent D’Onofrio as Orson Welles, Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge, Mike Starr as Georgie Weiss, Max Casella as Paul Marco, Lisa Marie as Vampira, George “The Animal” Steele as Tor Johnson, Juliet Landau as Loretta King, Brent Hinkley as Conrad Brooks, and Ned Bellamy as Dr. Tom Mason. Find out more about our fab guest Liam at: https://heyitsliam.com/, @radioliam on instagram,@heyitsliam on Twitter (or X, whatever), or you can text him at 424-245-LAFF. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory https://www.instagram.com/biopicapodcaststory/ Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 26: Liz and Dick
Oct 22, 202401:01:57Tap to summarizeIs it a movie if half of the scenes only have one line of dialogue? This and other philosophical issues about the art of filmmaking are considered as Rena and Sara reluctantly reenter the chaotic, tax-dodging world of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in 2012’s barely-a-movie Lifetime teleplay Liz and Dick. Is there a world where Lindsay Lohan was on Ambien the entire time she was making this movie? Did Creed Bratton and David Eigenberg need credits for their SAG insurance eligibility, or did the director of this film help them bury a body? Where exactly is the black box that Liz and Dick are in, watching their relationship unfold? Did Liz’s dog have to poop out a piece of priceless jewelry, and what effect does that have on that piece of jewelry’s value? Was Sara’s college production of Hamlet the actual worst? So many questions. So few answers. Liz and Dick stars Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor, Grant Bowler as Richard Burton, David Eigenberg as Ernest Lehman, Creed Bratton as Richard Zanuck, Harry XX as the Butler, Theresa Russell as Sara Taylor, and a bunch of people we’ve never seen or heard from again. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory https://www.instagram.com/biopicapodcaststory/ Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 25: Ray
Oct 15, 202401:05:18Tap to summarizeIt’s time to dissect one of the reasons for this podcast’s existence: The Oscarbatory biopic of the life of one Ray Charles, as told by director and co-writer Taylor Hackford (aka Mr. Helen Mirren) and featuring a dynamite performance by Jamie Foxx. Picture it: 2004, peak “I am going to imitate this famous person and I am going to get awards for it” filmmaking. Sara and Rena have a few problems with this movie, however: mainly that while the state of Georgia has committed, and continues to commit, countless sins, they never exactly banned and then asked for forgiveness from Charles—a pretty vital plot point to this film. Also discussed: when an artist writes a hit song by sitting down at the piano and banging it out flawlessly, the first not-disappointed-in-their-genius-artist-child mother, and the very real fear of being looked at in disappointment by Regina King. No corpse talk this week, however, the age-old debate of “who would you rather watch a bad movie with, Craig Robinson or Wendell Pierce” achieves a resolution. Ray stars Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Kerry Washington as Della Bea Robinson, Regina King as Margie Hendricks, Clifton Powell as Jeff Brown, Harry Lennix as Joe Adams, Bokeem Woodbine as Fathead Newman, Sharon Warren as Aretha Robinson, Curtis Armstrong as Ahmet Ertegun, Richard Schiff as Jerry Wexler, Larenz Tate as Quincy Jones, Terrence Howard as Gossie McGee, and Wendell Pierce as Wilbur Brassfield. References: SNL “Black Jeopardy” skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VaXlMvAvk Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory https://www.instagram.com/biopicapodcaststory/ Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 24: Saint Joan
Oct 8, 202400:54:33Tap to summarizeRena and Sara find themselves in complete agreement on Saint Joan, the 1957 Otto Preminger adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan. Find out about Rena’s secret passion for time traveling historical characters and learn more about Sara’s weird catholicism, along with the timeless visuals of a young woman being emotionally destroyed in a courtroom filled with men fighting over who gets to hurt her the worst. Prepare yourself for wild 14th and 15th century history, including Henry VI’s “Loveday,” a solution better suited for siblings than warring countrymen, a brief look at Otto Preminger’s monstrousness, a bonus moment of Corpse Capers, and the a FOUR-Pete for our friend Sir John Gielgud. Saint Joan stars Jean Seberg as Joan of Arc, Richard Widmark as Charles VII, Richard Todd as the Bastard of Orleans, and John Gielgud as the Earl of Warwick. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory https://www.instagram.com/biopicapodcaststory/ Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
Transcribe →Episode 23: The Pride of the Yankees
Oct 1, 202401:06:53Tap to summarizeOur 1+ hour journey into our oldest film yet, 1942’s The Pride of the Yankees, leads us to ask, who is history’s greatest monster? Probably Sara, for the giant tank of haterade she dumps all over this painfully “and-then” film featuring far-too-old actors that covers the life and times of the nevertheless honorable man and incredible athlete Lou Gehrig. We discuss Lou Gehrig’s miraculous birth to elderly parents, his hip-breaking fist-fights with the beloved fraternity Alpha Alpha AARP, Walter Brennan’s role as a third party in Lou Gehrig’s marriage, and whether there’s anything more upsetting than people playing themselves in films (there isn’t, but there probably is). We also discuss that one time that Cal Ripken Jr. maybe got into a fistfight with Kevin Costner and almost destroyed his perfect attendance streak. Pride of the Yankees stars Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig, Teresa Wright as Eleanor Gehrig, Walter Brennan as Sam Blake, and Babe Ruth as himself. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory https://www.instagram.com/biopicapodcaststory/ Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com
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