Best and worst biopic performances?

Best: Charlize Theron - Monster; Jack Nicholson - Hoffa

Worst: Leonardo DiCaprio - Hoover

Best: Ben Kingsley as Gandhi

Anthony Hopkins as Nixon, Paul Sorvino as Henry Kissinger in Nixon (1995)

F. Murray Abraham as Salieri in Amadeus (1984)

Nigel Hawthorne as George III in The Madness of King George (1994)

Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003)

Worst: Lindsey Lohan as Liz Taylor or Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs

Judy Davis as Judy Garland in Me and My Shadows was damn near uncanny.

Jennifer Love Boobitt as Audrey Hepburn must be in contention for "worst of the worst".

Does "Evita" count (seeing as it's a stylized series of tableaux vivants rather than a proper biopic)? So that we can add Madonna to the worst list.

Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire!

according to one critic Quaid gives a crackerjack performance

Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues, a very good performance

Judy Davis (Older Judy) and Tammy Blanchard (Young Judy) were both uncanny in ME AND MY SHADOWS. I only wish they had kept Tammy through the MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS scenes. Davis was already in her forties and already looking haggard. Garland was only 22 when she made that film and was still very dewy and fresh-faced.

Best - both lead performances in Amadeus, the Blairs in The Queen, The Insider with Russell Crowe.

Worst truly was Spencer. There was nothing of Princess Diana, the human being or the cultural totem, in that performance.

Worst: Will Smith as Muhammad Ali. Millie Perkins as Anne Frank.

Best: Cicely Tyson as Harriet Tubman, Chadwick Boseman as James Brown.

Speaking of Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank, can you believe Hepburn was seriously considered for that role? Good thing she had the good sense to turn it down.

Jamie Foxx- Ray

Best: Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball

Hepburn would have been 30 years old; Anne Frank was only 15 when she perished. And you thought Millie Perkins was too old at 21.

Kidman looks like a wax dummy in Being the Ricardos. She does not look like Lucy.

Best - Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde

Kidman does not move like Lucy or behave like Lucy.

Worst: Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea.

Spacey clearly intended for this to be an Oscar bait “prestige film” that would earn him nominations for Picture, Director, Actor, and Screenplay. Too bad for him it turned out to be nothing more than a self indulgent egotistical steaming pile of crap.

Joan Allen was uncanny as Pat Nixon. It still amazes she did not get the Oscar for that performance.

Worst - Jaclyn Smith as Florence Nightingale

I hate Jenna Coleman's performance as Queen Victoria on the "Masterpiece" ongoing series "Victoria." She's far too pretty and far too ordinary. She also learns stupid and obvious life lessons in every episode that never seem to sink in.

They showed a scene in Mike Leigh's "Turner" a few years ago where another less famous actress played Queen Victoria, whom J. M. W. Turner overhears bitching to Prince Albert about his paintings at an exhibition, and that actress got her down perfectly: the arrogance, the plainness, the command, the self-satisfaction.

Just watched “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and thought Vincent D’Onofrio was bafflingly miscast as Jerry Falwell.

Vincent is too hammy at times.

Best: Patty Duke as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker

Worst: Patty Duke as Herself in the TV Movie Adaptation Just Call Me Anna

Sometimes playing yourself is the hardest role a great actor can attempt. It was a very self-conscious, unfocused, and hammy performance. And this coming from me, a person who has loved Patty in everything except this one movie. (I even read the book. Twice.)

Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter

R22 why twice?

R24 it's just a hell of a book!

Recently rewatched 'Mrs Parker & The Vicious Circle' and was disappointed to find that I still couldn't accept Jennifer Jason Leigh (though I like her in other things, sometimes very much). I just find it hard to believe that the real Dorothy Parker slurred and mumbled like a lush 24/7. It's such a one note performance, and even though the rest of the film is fine, she's so dominant that it sinks it.

FD as JC in MD.

We all know it! No need to spell it out!!

^^and it's both the Best AND the Worst.

Best: Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline in "Sweet Dreams"

Worst: Helen Lawson as Ekaterina II in "Catherine Was Great"

Lange lip syncs in Sweet Dreams.

r30: so?

R21 at times? AT TIMES? Try every moment of every performance.

R31: It matters.

I never got the love for the performances in “Walk the Line.” I like the movie but I don’t see Johnny Cash and June Carter when I watch it.

Best: Jessica Lange in Frances and Sweet Dreams

Worst: Anthony Hopkins as Nixon, Jack Nicholson as Hoffa

Miss Lange as Frances Farmer

Miss Baker as Jean Harlow, Miss Anderson as Jayne Mansfield, Miss Carter as Rita Hayworth

Should have been nominated: Forest Whitaker for Bird

Worst: Jennifer Lawrence in Joy. Okay probably not the worst but don't understand the Oscar nomination.

r13 she doesn't have to look the part to get the dramatic essence... though to be fair, kidman reminded me of the ghastly lucy statue from a decade or so back.

frankly, if looks wasn't a question I would say gillian anderson would have made a perfect lucy (yes, even better than debra.) because she could capture the true essence of the real lucille ball and not just the character of "lucy"

best: Tracey Ullman as Jeremy Corbyn

Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf, no question. Phenomenal and heartbreaking performance.

Best: Anthony Hopkins as C.S. Lewis and Debra Winger as Joy Gresham in SHADOWLANDS. Both perfection.

Worst: John Cusack as Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy. Nothing, nothing, nothing is ever going to be more "WTF?" than this.

BEST: Sarah Jessica Parker as Seabuscuit

WORST: Sarah Jessica Parker as Secretariet

Best Faye Dunaway Mommie Dearest

Worst Faye Dunaway Mommie Dearest

Her performance is so bad, it's good!

[quote]Lange lip syncs in Sweet Dreams.

So did Marion Cotillard in LA VIE EN ROSE and Jamie Foxx in RAY. And they won Oscars.

[quote]I never got the love for the performances in “Walk the Line.” I like the movie but I don’t see Johnny Cash and June Carter when I watch it.

Joaquin and Reese did their own singing and actually sound better than the real Johnny and June.

Worst Ever: Nicole Kidman's horror mask as Lucy.

Worst: Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline in "Sweet Dreams"

Some great ones: Denzel as Malcolm X, Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena in "Boys Don't Cry," Toby Jones as Truman Capote in "Infamous," and Daniel-Day Lewis as Christy Brown in "My Left Foot."

Not at all great: Cybill Shepherd as Martha Stewart in "Martha: Behind Bars."

I'll take shit for this, but I really liked what Taran Egerton did with Elton and what Rami Malek did with Freddie in their respective biopics.

R49 Why? I agree, they were both terrific. I think critics had more issues with the movies themselves and how certain "facts" were inaccurate and other consequential aspects of their lives were mostly dismissed.

Personally, I didn't care much for either movie. But loved both of the actors.

BEST: Hannah Taylor-Gordon as Anne Frank in ANNE FRANK: THE WHOLE STORY

WORST: Melissa Gilbert as Anne Frank in the television remake of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

Shannen Doherty as Margaret Mitchell

BEST: Patty Duke as Helen Keller in THE MIRACLE WORKER (1962)

WORST: Melissa Gilbert in THE MIRACLE WORKER (1979)

BEST: Natalie Wood in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961)

WORST: Melissa Gilbert in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1981)

I haven't seen the Mitchell biopic, but one thing in Doherty's favor is that she looks a lot like Mitchell.

R52 I actually enjoyed the film and her in that. I remember she was praised for her Southern accent.

Jessica Lange is literally nothing like Patsy Cline.

Splendor in the Grass wasn't a biopic

Beverly D’Angelo was much better as Patsy Cline.

Jessica was also terrible as Joan Crawford.

Has no one mentioned Liza as Sally Bowels in the Cabbaray? She was amazing, although in the German speaking parts it felt like Liza was mimicking Bowels, not giving a performance.

Jessica is great in everything. She has a weird troll on DL who is obsessed with pretending she's a bad actress

Worst

Nicole Kidman - Grace of Monaco

Nicole Kidman - Being the Ricardos

Jessica is a bad actress. No one is pretending.

Lili Taylor in "I Shot Andy Warhol" and Courtney Love In "... Larry Flint", two of Oscar's biggest oversights.

The Wendy Williams biopic was pretty awful. Like it felt like I was watching a drag race acting challenge.

R63 is the troll

R61 is the troll

Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams was tremendous. It's a fully inhabited, lived in performance. Lange knew Patsy down to her bone marrow. It's a shame the film drew so much comparison to Coal Miner's Daughter, when they're almost like night and day-different. Sweet Dreams is an exploration of a relationship of two people who love-hate each other, like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Of major critics, only Kael seemed to understand this.

🚨 LANGE LOON ALERT 🚨

[quote]BEST: Hannah Taylor-Gordon as Anne Frank in ANNE FRANK: THE WHOLE STORY

WORST: Melissa Gilbert as Anne Frank in the television remake of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

BEST: Patty Duke as Helen Keller in THE MIRACLE WORKER (1962)

WORST: Melissa Gilbert in THE MIRACLE WORKER (1979)

BEST: Natalie Wood in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961)

WORST: Melissa Gilbert in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1981)

Gilbert is remake Kryptonite. As bad as Loni Anderson.

I tried watching Grace of Monaco the other night, I got 8mins in and turned it off, so, . . . .Nicole Kidman.

R71 why did you turn it off?

Nicole did NOT look like Grace, nor did she sound like Grace. I have only seen quick clips of her Lucy so . . . no comment yet.

Worst: Halle Barry in Catwoman

Nicole was way too old at 47 to portray Grace in her 30s

quote [Lange knew Patsy down to her bone marrow}

I didn’t realize Jessica time traveled and took body samples.

Cate Blanchett, despite the Oscar, was terrible as Kate Hepburn in The Aviator.

Gary Busey was great in The Buddy Holy Story.

One of the worst: Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill (I can't remember the name of the film).

Good:

Robert DeNiro, "Raging Bull"

George C. Scott, "Patton"

Bad:

Ray Danton, "The George Raft Story"

Dorothy Malone, "Too Much, Too Soon"

James Brolin, Jill Clayburgh, "Gable and Lombard"

Best: John Schneider as Michael Landon in Michael Landon, the Father I Knew.

Best: Joan River and Melissa Rivers in Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story.

The fact that they didn't get Emmys for their powerful performances in this heartbreaking TV movie playing themselves is an injustice.

R79 you mean the one he won the Oscar for a few years back, DARKEST HOUR?

R77 Agreed. At the time,, I was rooting for Parker Posey to be cast. Not only does she bear a strong resemblance to Hepburn, but she would have done wonders with the part, IMO.

R38 I agree with you. She only played Lucy for 60 seconds but she out-acted Kidman. The first time I saw her scene in American Gods I thought they deep-faked the real Lucy.

Kidman was also unconvincing as Gretchen Carlson

Especially compared to Theron’s very good Megyn Kelly impersonation right beside her.

Gillian Anderson was awful as Thatcher in The Crown. It was like she was doing an impression of the Spitting Image puppet.

Lindsay Duncan was far superior in Margaret.

Worst: Rosie O'Donnell as sister in "Riding the Bus with my Sister."

R88 according to the people who know them, Rosie's portrayal was spot-on, even it's unintentionally hilarious to us. IMO, playing mentally challenged people is a thankless job. Plus, you run the risk of going 'full retard' as that saying goes.

Agreed, unlike the others wasn’t a public figure so we have no idea what she was like. Rosie might’ve been spot-on.

Ann Jillian in The Ann Jillian Story.

She did not convince for a second. Seriously who thought Ann Jillian would be suited to that role?

Victoria Principal or Joan Collins would’ve really captured Ann.

Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford was really bad, but honestly so bland I couldn’t bring myself to care.

If you hadn’t have told me I never would’ve guessed who she was supposed to have been. I might’ve guessed… Roz Russell?

Dunaway’s Joan works on many different levels.

Nicole Kidman as Melania Trump

I thought Cate Blanchett was good in The Aviator

Chrissy Metz as Titanic.

Couldn’t she be bothered to slim down for that?!

Sarandon really looked like Bette Davis. Lange looked like... honestly... Caitlyn Jenner.

Lange bore absolutely no resemblance to Joan Crawford. She doesn’t have Joan’s hippopotamus eyes. They’re comparatively small and beady. And I love Jessica.

Well, if we're basing this on looks, Peter O'Toole looked nothing like T.E Lawrence...

A best: Liza Minnelli as Patsy Ramsey in a L&O: Criminal Intent "ripped from the headlines" episode. Poor Vincent D'Onofrio is so unused to being out hammed he doesn't know what to do with her and mainly looks on with bemusement. Due to poor writing, the episode kind of falls apart in the final scene in JonBenet's crypt but up until then Liza's wonderful.

^ To be clear, that whole CI episode is a clearly inspired by type thing, not an actually depiction of the real JonBenet case. But Liza is a hoot as the Patsy character.

Worst=Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone. Best=Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer.

Is "Riding The Bus With My Sister" funny or just horrible? I'm wondering if I should watch it.

Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin was terrifying.

Worst: Cary Grant as Cole Porter in "Night and Day." Jennifer Lugs Hugetits as Audrey Hepburn in "The Audrey Hepburn Story."

Best: Toby Jones as Capote in "Infamous" (better than Hoffman). Bette Davis as Talullah Bankhead in "All About Eve."

Best: George C. Scott as Patton. I quite liked Toby Jones as Capote, also Robert DeNiro as Jake LaMotta.

Worst: How to choose? Recently, I disliked Gary Oldman's Churchill, the won he won the Oscar for. I didn't care for Kristin Scott Thomas as Clementine. I usually like them both, so I'm inclined to blame the director. I'd rather Oldman had won for [italic]Sid and Nancy[/italic] Others: George Hamilton as Hank Williams, Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison (but I love the Thanksgiving scene)

R105 Kristin Scott Thomas is apparently a real cunt.

Angela Bassett as Tina Turner