By Erin Free
NATALIE PORTMAN IN JACKIE (2016) She had a successful career as a book editor and went on to marry wealthy shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, but Jackie cogently and fiercely hones in on the most defining and public moment of the life of Jacqueline Kennedy: the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. Natalie Portman brilliantly essays America’s favourite First Lady in her darkest hours, as this famously refined and composed woman goes through a rolling swathe of psychological torment as she deals with a crippling sense of loss and fear as the world watches.
WILL SMITH IN ALI (2001) Passing away last year after a lengthy and much publicised battle with Parkinson’s Disease, Muhammad Ali remains one of the greatest sporting icons of all time, as renowned for his speed with a quip as his prowess in the boxing ring. While his life was packed with incident from the cradle to the grave, Michael Mann’s underrated 2001 drama (which boasts a wholly transformed Will Smith in one of his key roles) goes right to the heart of the matter, tracking the burgeoning boxer in the decade from 1964 to 1974, which marked Ali’s rise to fame and deepening connection to social activism.
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN IN CAPOTE (2005) A renowned author and socialite (he wrote Breakfast At Tiffany’s and mixed it up with some of the biggest names of the fifties, sixties and seventies), Truman Capote was as famous for his effete mannerisms as he was for his literary work. His defining moment, however, was the publication of the “non-fiction novel”, In Cold Blood (about the murder of a Kansas family), which literally changed the literary form. Concentrating solely on the research, writing and aftermath of that groundbreaking tome, Capote boasts a stunning, Oscar winning turn from Philip Seymour Hoffman, who literally disappears into the strange skin of one of America’s most transfixing literary figures.
HELEN MIRREN IN THE QUEEN (2006) A characteristically pointed work from director, Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons), and screenwriter, Peter Morgan (who has shown a facility for unconventionally approached true stories with Rush, Frost/Nixon and The Last King Of Scotland), this quietly daring drama takes an intimate look at the interaction between Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren, who picked up the Best Actress Oscar for her note perfect portrayal) and Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen, who also played the politico in 2003’s The Deal and 2010’s The Special Relationship, both penned by Morgan) following the death of Princess Diana, and the compromise that they come to in dealing with this nation-shattering tragedy.
DANE DE HAAN IN LIFE (2015) Visually arresting and emotionally on-point, Life takes one brief, essential moment from the all-too-short life of movie icon, James Dean, and investigates it with astute precision. Anton Corbijn’s cruelly under-celebrated film (scripted by Aussie, Luke Davies) documents the beginnings of what would become the important friendship of fifties figurehead, James Dean (Dane DeHaan makes his all-too-recognisable character a truly mercurial and utterly absorbing creation), and Dennis Stock (a fine Robert Pattinson), the young photographer from Life Magazine whose stark, beautifully composed black-and-white images of the rebellious actor are among the greatest celebrity portraiture ever committed to film.
GAEL GARCIA BERNAL IN THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (2004) While Steven Soderbergh’s Che: Parts One and Two (2008) dig deep into both the early and later revolutionary career of the iconic Che Guevara (with a revelatory Benicio Del Toro in the title role), Walter Salles’ 2004 drama, The Motorcycle Diaries, looks at what turned this Argentinean activist into a Cuban hero and a famous T-shirt print. With no beret and only a hint of the Marxist fervour to come, Gael Garcia Bernal expertly channels the inherent decency of Guevara, who we meet as a young medical student learning about love, life, and politics while on an 8,000km motorcycle journey through South America.
MORGAN FREEMAN IN INVICTUS (2009) Nelson Mandela lived a life of staggering enormity, and Clint Eastwood’s Invictus sensibly concentrates on just one small aspect of it, as the new, officially elected South African leader (Morgan Freeman delivers a magisterial masterclass on restraint and quiet power) seeks to heal his wounded nation by uniting them behind the Springboks rugby team (traditionally despised by blacks during Apartheid) at the 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa. Mandela’s partner in this seemingly impossible mission is the dedicated, noble team captain, Francois Pienaar (a brilliant turn from Matt Damon), with the two forming a moving friendship in what is essentially a high stakes buddy flick.
AARON JOHNSON IN NOWHERE BOY (2009) Years before he formed The Beatles with Paul McCartney, and decades before he fell to the gun of the deranged Mark Chapman, John Lennon was a gifted but deeply troubled adolescent. With great sensitivity, director, Sam Taylor-Wood, and actor, Aaron Johnson, recreate the little detailed formative years of the song writing genius, who was raised by his stern Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) while longing desperately for his free spirited absentee mother, Julia (Anne-Marie Duff) …a relationship triumvirate that would ultimately end in tragedy and inspire one of Lennon’s greatest songs.
COLIN FIRTH IN THE KING’S SPEECH (2010) A roaring success at the Oscars, The King’s Speech is that cinematic favourite: a little known true story. The film tells of the future King George VI (Colin Firth finds both the vulnerability and snobbish sense of superiority in this complex man) – the father of the future Queen Elizabeth II, spouse of the eventual Queen Mother (Helena Bonham Carter), and a chronic stutterer – and his unlikely friendship with Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). The film’s focus is the crunch point at which the socially awkward George must take the throne when his oddball brother, King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), abdicates in the name of (most unlikely) love.
ANTHONY HOPKINS IN HITCHCOCK (2012) Producers, Allen Barnette and Tom Thayer, initially had the idea of making a biopic about Alfred Hitchcock, but upon optioning Stephen Rebello’s acclaimed 1990 book, Alfred Hitchcock And The Making Of Psycho, they instead decided to focus in on that singular period of the director’s life. It was a time of high drama when, despite all his earlier successes, Hitchcock (played with full bodied vigour by a perfectly cast Anthony Hopkins) was unable to get financing for his epochal slasher flick. Determined to make his movie, he received the blessing of his beloved and highly influential wife, Alma Reville (Helen Mirren in fine form), to mortgage their home to bankroll the film.
ALSO WORTH WATCHING: WALK THE LINE (2005), BARRY (2016), TRUTH (2014), SAVING MR. BANKS (2013), RUSH (2013), FROST/NIXON (2008), LINCOLN (2012), MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2011), A DANGEROUS METHOD (2011), THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010), CREATION (2009), INFAMOUS (2006), DOWNFALL (2004).
