Surprise! Nelly’s gonna play Chuck Berry... only in Hollywood!
Things we talked about include:
- Breaking on camera and Caitlin’s bad audition
- Ellen Chenoweth, casting director (True Grit, A Bronx Tale, Meet the Parents, Doubt - the list goes on!)
- The Buddy Holly biopic “Clear Lake” with Colin Hanks, Ruairi O'Connor and Nelly
- That Thing You Do! (1996)
- Our endless ongoing discussion of Almost Famous (2000).
- What a biopic?
- Franklin Leonard and The Black List
- Elizabeth Shapiro, actress, writer, singer - multi hyphenate AF!
- Impact Creative Systems, Imagine Entertainment’s incubator program
- Walk the Line (2005) and Rocketman (2019)
- Actors who sing in music biopics versus ones who don’t.
- Beyond the Sea (2004)
- Ray (2004) and Jamie Foxx’s singing bits in his stand-up
- Selena (1997 movie) and Selena (2020 Netflix series)
- John Llyod Young and the Jersey Boys (2014 musical film adaptation)
- Straight Outta Compton (2015)
- Guest appearance by Brittany’s cat, Boots - meow!
- Love & Mercy (2014) and the Wrecking Crew, session musicians (Here’s a cool doc on them!)
- Are biopics better or worse with the artist and their families being involved?
- Elyse Hollander, screenwriter and her Madonna biopic screenplay “Blonde Ambition”
- Madonna to direct and co-write her own biopic at Universal. Diablo Cody to co-write project (Juno, Tully, Young Adult)
- When are you being a control freak and when are you taking control of your narrative?
- Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)
- “13 Reasons Why” actress Ann Winters dresses up as Madonna to get the role in her biopic and... knocks it out of the park. (Instagram)
- Our music biopic “People Like Us” - the rise and fall of the Mamas and the Papas.
- Telling the story of the band from the POV of Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot.
- Michelle Phillips autobiography (California Dreamin': The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas) and the Vanity Fair article
- A Dolly Parton biopic - Megan Hilty, Reese Witherspoon or Scarlett Johansson?
- Marilyn Monroe biopics - My Week With Marilyn (2011), SMASH (2012) and Blonde (2021)
- Jenna Evans Welch, author and her book series “Love & Gelato”, “Love & Luck” and “Love & Olives”
- Regina King’s directorial debut “One Night in Miami” (trailer here!)