The Ugly Truth
As music biopics keep booming, will filmmakers dare to go deeper? After a year of polished tributes, upcoming films on Dylan and Springsteen, backed by the artists themselves, promise a grittier take. Could 2025 finally break the mold?
We’re heading steadily into 2025, which is already shaping up to be a big year for biopics on the lives and tribulations of iconic rock and pop stars. The fact though, is that 2024 was a major year for these films too. With releases like Bob Marley: One Love, Back in Black, and Maria, we’ve seen a legacy of blockbuster movies trying to capture, in less than three hours, the multifaceted lives of artists who have been etched into the collective consciousness.
These movies are intended as tributes to the journeys of these artists—often exploring both their success and demise (as most of the time, it’s deceased musicians we see portrayed on the big screen). However, they often end up as polished and shiny shrines, reducing complex personalities to glossy portrayals that fail to reveal the well-known darker sides of their lives, regardless of the involvement of family or estate.
This year’s biopics on Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse are prime examples. The former paints a “saintly” portrait of Marley, albeit with a debatable representation of Caribbean culture, while the latter attempts to honor the life of an incredibly talented yet controversial singer-songwriter, softening the impact of her struggles and clearing the names of her father and then-boyfriend, who had a part in her downfall.
It’s become somewhat predictable to see an upcoming biopic and anticipate only an edulcurated version of events. Take Elvis by Baz Luhrmann and Priscilla by Sofia Coppola, which tell stories about the same people but are worlds apart in tone. Luhrmann crafts the image of a tragic hero, destroyed by a failed support system, while Coppola uses Priscilla Presley’s biography to tell the story of a 14-year-old girl drawn into the world of a susceptible and corruptible 24-year-old rock star—a perspective that drew criticism from the daughter of the late singer for depicting her father in such an unflattering light while basing it on her mother’s painful, but honest, account.
Not all music biopics, however, follow this path. The discriminant? When the subject is still alive. Take 2019’s Rocketman, which was finally produced after nearly 20 years of discussions and negotiations. Much of the wait was to secure the right script, director, and distribution deal to authentically include the dark details of Elton John’s struggles with addiction and his sexuality. The British pop star was deeply involved in the film’s development and had nothing but praising words for the final work.
2024 isn’t over yet, and we’re still looking forward to seeing Bob Dylan on screen with Timothée Chalamet in the lead role. A Complete Unknown focuses on the “great schism” Dylan caused in 1965 in the New York folk scene just by embracing an electric guitar, pushing against the suffocating boundaries the genre was already pushing on a young successful artist from Minnesota. Dylan himself has taken at heart director James Mangold’s project because of its focus on just one yet still very crucial phase of his career, even providing notes on the script to ensure its authenticity
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in ‘A Complete Unknown’, Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Grffin via Vanity Fair © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Looking to 2025, Deliver Me From Nowhere is in production, starring Jeremy Allen White wearing the heavy clothes of Bruce Springsteen. Like Dylan’s film, this biopic narrows in on a specific chapter: the making of Springsteen’s sixth album, Nebraska. A pivotal album for his career, a stark musical and thematic detachment from what was before and what had yet to come, because reflective of the ongoing mental health battle he was going through, and that he would fully confront only decades later. Based on the book by Warren Zanes, the film and the script had Springsteen’s approval, with the artist himself involved to support the cast and ensure a nuanced portrayal of a delicate story.
So, could this be the recipe for a compelling yet considerate music biopic? Greater involvement from the musicians themselves, a focus on a short, meaningful period of their lives, and a well-crafted script? Perhaps we could also dispense with the fairy-tale heroics in favor of raw honesty, particularly for those artists who were unafraid to tell it like it was when they were alive—even if their families might prefer a more polished version. All we can do now is wait and see.
Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen in ‘Deliver me From Nowhere’, Via 20th Century Fox. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
