Music Biopics That Lied To Your Face

Even the best biopics can be littered with inaccuracies, revisionist history, and wishful thinking. But these musician focused films seriously stretched the truth. >> You need to know this. >> No spice [music] girl. >> 2024’s Back to Black offered a glimpse at the tragic life of singer Amy Winehouse, covering the period from the start of her musical career to the peak of her success.
But the film oversimplifies Wine House’s complicated life challenges and downplays the media’s role in them. Some of the minor ways Back to Black [music] deviates from Wine House’s story include attributing her iconic beehive hairstyle to her jazz musician grandmother. >> What do you think? [music] There’s a magnificent.

[clears throat] >> It was actually Wine House and her stylist Tracy Cahoun who created her distinctive look. Wineous’s ex-husband Blake Fielder Civil didn’t introduce her to the music of the Shanganger either. Then there are the creative timeline tweaks like putting her 2008 Grammy win after her infamous Glastonbury show for the sake of a happyish ending.
Back to Black’s depiction of Wine House and Fielder Civil’s doomed romance had greater consequences on the overall narrative. The film [music] mostly skipped over Wine House’s other relationships, painting her as someone whose entire world revolved around her partner. >> Got a knife for the bad boys, Sammy Wine House.
Most notably, Winehouse was hardly hounded or bullied by paparazzi throughout Back to Black. [music] A rather dreadful omission considering the impact paparazzi’s viciousness had on the singer near the end of her life. Kathy Cash, daughter of the American music legend to one of his other wives, [music] didn’t like how her mother was depicted and walked the line.
She told the Tennessian, “My mom was basically a non- entity in the entire film, except for the bad little psycho who hated his career. That’s not true. She loved his career and was proud of him until he started taking drugs and stopped coming home. Another of Cash’s daughters, Roseanne, broadened the scope of criticism against Walk the Line, arguing that the film reduced his complicated life to a bland love triangle.

She told the Guardian, “The movie was painful. The three of them in the film were not recognizable to me as my parents in any way. It’s a Hollywood movie, very complex lives reduced to 2 hours, so how [music] can it possibly show the depths of truth?” 1994’s Backbeat is a fairly accurate portrayal of a period in the Beatles history that doesn’t get much attention.
Their early days of woodshedding in Hamburg’s Redlight District. >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Where the band? >> You’d be happy to know we keep our clothes on. >> The film focuses on the relationship between John Lennon, original basist Steuart Sutcliffe, [music] and Astred Kercher. But there’s one moment in particular that made hardcore Beatles fans cringe.
[music] In backbeat, when Klouse Vornin tells Lennon their show was fun, Lennon goes off calling it a hard day’s [music] night. [music] >> It’s well known that the phrase minus the obscinity, which was used as the name for their first film and its title song, was coined by Ringo Star, who was still 2 years away from joining the band.
[music] It’s a minor point, but it wouldn’t have been difficult to get it right. >> There goes Stuart. So cliff, he could have been in the Beatles. >> Paul McCartney was also annoyed with how he came off in the movie, telling the Guardian, “They’ve actually taken my rock and rollness off me. They give John the song Long Tall Sally to sing, and he never sang it in his life.

” Songwriter Cole Porter’s life story was criminally straighted from 1946’s Night and Day. Because of the motion picture production code, which governed what was deemed appropriate for Hollywood movies from 1930 to 1968, Porter’s homosexuality couldn’t be shown on screen. >> You are [singing] the one. [music] >> Instead, his real life marriage of convenience to Linda [music] Lee Porter was depicted as a traditional one.
>> And maybe you don’t know it, but marriage is more than a card game. >> Ironically, the role of Porter was played by closeted actor Carrie Grant. While a 1937 horseback riding accident that left Porter paralyzed happens in the film, the constant painter endured for the rest of his life is ignored. [music] Porter actually saw the film and according to Cole Porter, a biography by Charles Schwarz, he [music] declared, “None of it’s true.
” The intense rivalry between composers Antonio Salieri and Wolf Gang Amadeus Mozart serves as the emotional core of the 1984 film Amadeus. If the movie is to be believed, that animosity reached a murderous crescendo. >> The only thing that worried me was the actual killing. How does one do that? >> Mozart’s laughter continues to haunt Salaryi even after his death, but there’s little evidence of that.

It’s far more plausible that the two musicians respected each other’s talent. [laughter] Given that Amadeus is an adaptation of an extremely theatrical 1979 play, it makes sense that the film takes creative liberties in weaving a compelling tale. The opening scene features a deeply disturbed Salieri covered in his own blood, a hearttoppping moment that almost certainly didn’t happen in real life.
And if it did, who was there to tell about it? Amadeus also depicts Salaryi as a bachelor when in reality he had a wife, kids, and even an extrammarital lover. And perhaps the biggest biopic sin is that the film depicts Mozart’s operas the marriage of Figaro and Don Giovani as flops, which couldn’t be further from the truth. 2001’s Hysteria: The De Leopard Story, which lead singer Joe Elliot bluntly described as the biggest pile of ever made, features some questionable choices in its depiction of the band’s early years, ranging from inacronisms to
flatout inaccuracies. The film shows the band recruiting guitarist Phil Collin after watching him perform, but in reality, he was already friends with the band when asked to sit in on 1983’s Pyromania. The movie also sets the firing of Pete Willis, the guitarist Colin replaced, in the middle of a live performance. Not true.
It happened during a recording session for Pyromania. Mont Lang returned as De Leopard’s producer before the band recorded the song Pour Some Sugar on Me, not after. And the real life Lang doesn’t have an American accent. He’s South African. Perhaps the most egregious of the biopic’s departures from truth was its rather serious implication that right before the 1984 car accident [music] that cost him his left arm, drummer Rick Allen was using, which no reputable account supports.

The tragic death of Brian Jones, co-founder of the Rolling Stones, who drowned in his pool in July 1969, was officially declared death by misadventure. But there’s long been an alternative theory out there that Jones was actually murdered. This idea became the basis for the 2005 film Stoned, which offered a fictionalized version of Jones’s death at the hands of a builder named Frank Thorogood.
[music] There’s been little evidence that any of this happened, say for an alleged deathbed confession made by Thorogood to the Rolling Stones chauffeur, Tom Kelock. You’re supposed [music] to be looking after him. Frank, what the hell happened? In Stoned, Thorogood is portrayed as a disgruntled worker who slips people drugs, commits sexual assault, and is obsessed with Jones.
In other words, a convincing murder suspect. The film doesn’t do Jones any favors either. It highlights his unpleasant characteristics to the point where murder seems like an inevitable conclusion. Then again, as director Steven Woolly explained to the Telegraph, Stoned isn’t a documentary. During the promotional tour for the 2004 biopic Beyond the Sea, Kevin Spacy, who co-wrote, co-produced, directed, and starred as singer Bobby Darren in the film, explained that he didn’t intend to make a conventional biopic about Darren, and that his focus was more on creating
almost a fantasy around the life of the entertainer. This explains why Beyond the Sea glossed over some aspects of Darren’s life and made major changes in others. [music] Arguably, the most glaring creative choice was Spacy himself. Isn’t the real truth? He’s too old to play this part. >> HE WAS BORN TO PLAY THE PART.

>> At 44, the actor chose to play Darren from his young adult years until his death at age 37. How can you be too old to play yourself? Come on. >> But Beyonce is riddled with errors. For example, it makes zero mention of Darren’s second wife, who was with him at the hospital when he died. In fact, the film puts his first wife at Darren’s deathbed.
The movie also glamorizes Darren’s relationships with both his adoptive and his real mother, which were far less ideal in real life. Lastly, Darren’s health issues, which drove him to work hard on his career, were downplayed and only became a major factor at the end of the film. >> Steven, what are you waiting for? [music] >> Take a chance.
Released in 2017, England is Mine is an unauthorized biopic focused on the early life of Steven Patrick Morrisy, the controversial singer of the Smiths. >> Create your own world. You are the only version of yourself in existence. >> According to director Mark Gil, the production team made multiple attempts to reach out to the infamously private performer, not to seek out his blessing, but as a gesture of respect.
When the film came out, critics panned it for being bland and focusing too much on teenage romance while doing a poor job of showing Moresy’s journey toward becoming a musician. But there is perhaps no bigger critic of England is Mine than Moresy’s childhood friend and fellow musician James Maker, who took to Facebook and a [music] since deleted post to write, “According to the trailer of England is Mine, Moresy was an autistic retiring creature who had to be physically pushed into becoming a singer by a well-meaning friend. The premise

that if Moresy could be a singer, then anybody could is disingenuous and rather insulting to his original talent as an artist. The 2016 biopic Nenah was mired in controversy even before it hit [music] theaters, largely due to the casting of Zoe Sana as Nina Simone. Jeff El Lieberman, who directed a documentary about the singer, wrote in the Hollywood Reporter, “Recognizing and admitting themselves that Salana did not look the part and was not going to disappear into the role, they dressed her up poorly in blackface makeup and prosthetics,
ignoring the horrible history of this type of portrayal.” The movie also received significant backlash from Simone’s estate [music] for its inaccuracies. Simone’s daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, told Time, “The project has been tainted from the very beginning. Clearly, it is not the truth about my mother’s life, and everyone now knows that.
She called out the filmmakers for the implication that Clifton Henderson, a gay man, was her mother’s romantic partner. The film also depicted Simone as slender and middle-aged despite covering a period during her 60s when she’d put on weight. Want to go to the gym? [laughter] >> No. Finally, [music] the film ends with a madeup scenario in order to end on a positive note.
The free Central Park concert that marked her recovery from cancer surgery never happened. Released in 1994, Immortal Beloved shines the spotlight on classical music prodigy Ludvig Bon Beethoven while attempting to answer the long-standing mystery. Who was Beethoven’s secret love? >> Who could this be? >> I don’t think she wanted to be recognized.
>> It’s true that an unscent love letter addressed to immortal beloved [music] was found in Beethoven’s papers after his death. The film took that idea and ran with it, proposing that the letter was meant for his sister-in-law. [music] What was this idea based on? Not a thing. In fact, it’s well documented that Beethoven couldn’t stand the woman.

Immortal Beloved takes some other liberties with Beethoven’s story. The character is portrayed as deaf as [music] a young adult, but in reality, the composer didn’t go totally deaf until his mid-40s. Additionally, Immortal Beloved depicts Beethoven granting custody [music] of his nephew Carl banned Beethoven to the boy’s mother, which never happened in real [music] life.
In fact, the bitter custody battle between them ended with the composer getting full legal guardianship of Carl. Over 20 years after the release of Immortal Beloved, director Bernard Rose defended his creative choices he made to the American cinematic saying Beethoven scholars attacked the film on historical inaccuracies.
But that’s inaccurate in itself because everything about Beethoven is disputed. Beethoven was so famous and difficult as a man that there were so many [music] conflicting attempts to try and sabotage his reputation because he was this giant in music. The story of Freddy Mercury was so extraordinary and dramatic that it almost seemed perfect for a big screen [music] adaptation.
>> Freddy, we’re a family. >> No, we’re not. We’re not a family. You’ve got families, children, wives. What have I got? >> And that’s [music] why it was such a shame that Bohemian Raps City wasn’t the real life, but just fantasy [music] instead. Despite what Bohemian Raps City told you, Freddy Mercury didn’t introduce [music] himself to Brian May and Roger Taylor after the gig in which Smile lead singer Tim Stafle quit.

In fact, he already [music] knew all three of them, and they were even roommates for a short amount of time. The movie would also lead you to believe that John Deacon [music] was their original basist, although they went through three other men between the band’s founding and Deacon’s first show in July 1971. And then there’s the treatment of Paul Printer, Mercury’s former manager.
Although he’s rightfully [music] portrayed as the villain in the story, Bohemian Rapsidity got many of the details surrounding his firing wrong. For starters, the film says he was fired prior to the Live A concert in 1985 and that he went on television to out Mercury in retaliation. However, the truth is that Printer was fired in 1987 after he sold his story about Mercury to the Sun, a notorious British tabloid.
It may seem strange that Mley crew, who made a career out of being unapologetically excessive, would play with the truth for the dirt, the film version of their notorious 2001 memoir. But strangely enough, the cinematic [music] take on the dirt gave short shrift to those times when either Vince Neil or Tommy Lee weren’t in the band.
[music] And while it makes sense for the film to focus on the lineup with whom they made their biggest hits, firing of former manager Doc McGee [music] depicted in the movie doesn’t jive with the officia

l story. In the movie, Nikki 6 gets upset when McGee tries to [music] reunite Six with his aranged mother.
But in reality, firing happened after McGee slotted them below headliners Bonjovi [music] at the Moscow Music Piece Festival. Upon learning they were to be Bonjov’s opening act, Lee wrote in the dirt that he [music] hunted Doc down and found him backstage. I walked right up to him and pushed him in his fat little chest, knocking him over onto the ground like [music] a broken weeble.
The Buddy Holly Story received uniformly strong reviews on its release in 1978, except from those closest to Holly. Shortly after the film hit theaters, Chad Flippo of Rolling Stone spoke with some of those who were slighted. Because Jerry Allison and Jo Malden, two of the other members of the Crickets, had sold their rights to another studio, their names were changed in the film to Jerry Charles and Joe Bob Simmons.

Norman Penny, who produced the bulk of Holly’s classic recordings, was also left out of the story entirely. And neither Holly’s mother nor his brother were happy with the way his family life was portrayed, claiming the filmmakers went back on their word to consult with them. In response to the film’s claim that she and her husband pushed Buddy to quit rock and roll, Ella Holly said, “We were behind Buddy 100%.
We were very anxious for him to make a career as a singer. We were his biggest fans.” Buddy’s brother Larry added, “It didn’t portray his life at all. Really, they didn’t ask us about a thing. [music] I didn’t feel that was my brother up there on the screen. We weren’t happy with the movie at all.” Jonathan Herman and Andrea Burof received an Oscar nomination for their screenplay about the formation of NWA, but Straight Out of Compton earned just as many headlines for what they left out of it.
Some of the film’s omissions are fairly minor, such as the fact that Dr. Dre was arrested for unpaid tickets rather than for defending his brother or the lack of mention of the contributions of founding member Arabian prince. Perhaps more importantly, however, Straight Out of Compton completely omits Dre’s early history of violence against women, particularly high-profile incidents involving his girlfriend Michelle and hiphop television host D.
Barnes, [music] who wrote a lengthy Gawker article about it in 2015. They grabbed me by my hair and started slamming me up against the wall. >> Barnes wrote that she didn’t necessarily want to relive the experience on screen, but that she did want some acknowledgement that it was part of his character.

She wrote, “In his lyrics, Dre made hyperbolic claims about all these heinous things he did to women. But then he went out and actually violated women.” Straight Out of Compton would have you believe that he didn’t really do that. That’s what they’re trying to do with Straight Out of Compton. They’re trying to stay hard and look like good guys.
Jamie Fox earned an Academy [music] Award for his portrayal of Ray Charles and Ray. Taylor Hackford’s 2004 smash hit biopic about Ray Charles. But a week before it was released, David Ritz, the co-author of Charles autobiography, [music] wrote an article for Slate discrediting the film for its portrayal of the music legend’s life.
Although he praised Fox and the film’s key supporting players, he said that Ry was a quote [music] saccharine movie that trivializes the compelling complexity of Ray Charles character. Ritz said the film left out the importance of one of his father’s ex-wives, Mary Jane, who indulged him where his actual mother, Artha, instilled in him the need for self-reliance.

The writer also took exception to how the film downplayed the jazz [music] side of Charles music in favor of his soul hits and reduced many of the important people in his life to one-dimensional stereotypes. According to Ritz, the movie ends with the implication that Charles lived in a happy marriage with Dela and never used drugs again.
But in reality, they divorced in 1976 and Charles continued to drink and smoke marijuana until his death. Floria Sages Monday’s 2010 movie about the Runaways was based on singer Sheree Curry’s 1989 biography Neon Angel. Curry told the AV Club that she was mostly happy with the movie and especially Dakota Fanning’s portrayal of her, but admitted that Sages Monday took license with some of the band’s history.
Notably, she said the depiction of manager Kim Fley, whose behavior Curry alleged to be abusive, was toned down for the runaways. She said, “My book is the real story. This is just a lighter kind of flash of what the runaways were for a specific amount of time. How do you possibly take 2 and 1/2 years and make it a film that’s an hour and a half and [music] make it even closely touch what was truly going on? Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Valley himself didn’t dispute anything specific that took place in the film’s plot, but agreed

that it was Curry’s side of the story with Sigis Monday’s perspective added. She said, “Every movie needs a villain, and I’m a good one. The issue is whether or not this is a good movie. And the answer is yes. This is not a historical document. It took 43 years from his death in 1970 for a Jimmyi Hendricks biopic to finally be made.
And even then, [music] Hendricks’s former girlfriend Kathy Etchingham wrote a lengthy post on her website denying some of the accounts shown in the film. 2013’s Jimmy All is by My Side starred Andre 3000 as the guitar legend and [music] dealt with the period between his arrival in England in 1966 and his guitar burning US breakthrough at the Mterrey Pop Festival a year later.
Most importantly, she revealed that a scene in which Hendrickx beat [music] her with a telephone never actually happened and that when she complained that it was fictional, the filmmakers told her they had heard from a different source that it was true. She also criticized how the love triangle between herself, Hrix, and [music] Linda Keith was portrayed.
She also lambasted the accuracy of the costumes and even the music since Hrix’s estate wouldn’t authorize its use in the movie and they had to rely on a trio of studio pros to recreate it. Etchingham also disliked the film’s characterization of Hendrickx. She wrote, “The biggest disappointment of this film was that after expecting at least some kind of depiction of Jimmy’s humor and creativity [music] and the amusing and creative times that were happening in London, instead we were shown a gloomy and depressing dark tale that pictured Jimmy as some sort of

moronic mumbling mystic.” Speaking to the LA Times in 1991, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzeric spoke out about Oliver Stone’s biopic about his band. Although he admitted that Val Kilmer managed a nice attempt at playing Jim Morrison and liked the recreation of their concerts, he [music] told the paper that he walked out on the film, having mostly become upset at Stone’s interpretation of Morrison.
Manzeric [music] said, “All you see is Jim as a drunken hedonist. The tragedy is that fame consumed [music] him, but that wasn’t Jim’s message. He was intelligent. He was loving. He was a good man who believed in freedom and in questioning authority. But you’d never know that from seeing this film.” CBGB wasn’t really a biopic, but rather a movie about the famed New York club that was at the heart of the birth of punk rock, but it still wound up being widely panned for its mistakes.
>> You’re not telling me the whole story. >> It’s not supposed to win. >> The Village Voice, which chronicled the rise of New York punk in its pages back in the mid70s, was all too happy to point out where the film went wrong. In addition to bemmoning the lack of people of color, even though plenty of bands that played the club had black members, they noted that the club’s walls are shown littered with band stickers before it had even opened, and that Patty Smith is shown singing her hit because the night long before it had been written by
her and Bruce Springsteen. In their piece on the film, Village Voice wrote, “The whole thing has about as much punk credibility as an off therackck $30 Ramon’s t-shirt from Hot Topic.