Timothée Chalamet stars in “A Complete Unknown.” Credit: Macall Polay via TNS
Biopics have been a fan-favorite film genre for decades, evolving into a major Hollywood force and frequently featuring top stars in their leading roles.
Films such as “A Complete Unknown,” “Maestro,” “Oppenheimer” and “Elvis” are just a few examples of the genre’s biggest releases in the past three to four years. With this recent surge of biopics hitting theaters, Ohio State film experts are breaking down why filmmakers continue to choose to produce these real-life stories and why audiences keep coming back for more.
Scott Spears, a lecturer in Ohio State’s Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts, said he believes the lasting appeal of biopics comes from the familiarity and cultural significance of their subjects.
“These people in the biopics have been in our lives for decades, if not longer, and so there is an interest,” Spears said.
Michael Kaplan, also a lecturer in the Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts, said biopics not only serve audiences, but also provide a distinct challenge for actors who must reproduce distinguished individuals’ mannerisms and quirks.
“Biopics give performers an opportunity to work in a different way, expand their range a bit,” Kaplan said. “In some cases, they get to perform as the person they are most enamored by.”
Beyond performance, Kaplan said biopics feed into audiences’ fascination with larger-than-life people.
“They are fascinated by the cult of personality,” Kaplan said. “They are interested in origin stories and [seeing] where a person grew from and [how they] developed their fame.”
Kaplan compared the organic allure of origin stories to that of the popular Marvel franchise.
“It’s not unlike the audiences’ fascination with the Marvel Universe’s origin stories,” Kaplan said. “Just like how you want to see where superheroes came from, you want to know where a famous person came from.”
This natural curiosity — paired with Hollywood’s ability to shape compelling narratives — gives biopics the power to influence public perception, Kaplan said.
“If you don’t know the story of a person, and then you base your perception on a biopic, then you’re gonna walk away thinking that is an accurate representation of that person’s life,” Kaplan said. “It has a profound influence on the public’s perception of famous people.”
Spears said though these films set out to portray historical figures’ lives and experiences, they often tread a fine line between fact and creative interpretation.
“They capture an essence,” Spears said. “Do they capture the full truth? Probably not. Sometimes, accuracy doesn’t make a good story, and so you will take liberties to add some drama, or collapse time or combine characters.”
Kaplan agreed.
“Filmmakers will latch onto things that are perhaps more exploitative, and the result is you get a slanted point of view,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said whether these films fully capture reality or not, viewers continue to adore them and are drawn in by seeing their idols on screen.
“Audiences will always find a place for those kinds of movies because they want to align themselves with famous people in some way,” Kaplan said.
Supreeth Koppula, a December 2024 graduate in psychology and social chair of Ohio State’s Film and Video Society, said award season also plays a crucial role in the popularity of biopics.
“The main selling point, besides the public’s opinion, is award season,” Koppula said. “I think a lot of awards, if you look in the past decade, most of them are given to real-life portrayals and those biopics.”
Koppula said another key factor in the rapid production of biopics comes from the film industry’s increased reliance on adapting existing material rather than developing original stories.
“I think Hollywood has always relied on non-original material, at least within the 21st century, whether that be a person’s life, a book [or] a reboot of something,” Koppula said. “So, it’s not just to blame biopics per se, but I feel like Hollywood is going away from any originally developed film.”
As biopics continue to dominate theaters, their influence on public perception and industry trends remains undeniable. However, as filmmakers balance accuracy with dramatic liberties, Spears said the line between truth and entertainment becomes increasingly blurred.
Regardless, Spears said audiences remain captivated and eager to see their favorite celebrities immortalized via film.
“The great thing is, it does recognize people that achieve greatness against great odds,” Spears said. “It keeps their name in the history books.”
