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Even great actors such as Laurence Olivier and Peter O’Toole tend to overact on film. Early films follow conventions of the stage where actors are more animated and dialogue carries most of the story line. The speeches are usually clear, smart, and rhythmic – not unlike an automatic weapon spitting out bullets (often laden with clichés and glib one-liners). This was fine before the age of the Internet. Now, the audience tends to have great knowledge about the historical figures in question, including their mannerisms and temperament.
Because of viewer education, attention to detail is more important in the modern biopic. Basically, historical accuracy in regard to details such as costumes, architecture, social etiquette, speech accents, lingoes, and slang works well for movies like The Godfather (1972) and Goodfellas (1990), where the social structures portrayed are actually romanticized sub-cultures. But these films tend to be longer as directors will go out of their way to present situations that reflect the times and aspects of those worlds. But the audience is fascinated nonetheless! If not taken to extremes (as was done with the semi-biographical Heaven’s Gate of 1980), historical tapestry makes the situation more enjoyable and real for the viewers, and after all, that’s the reason why they wanted to watch a biopic in the first place. Older biopics simply lack the meticulous details that modern biopics possess even when they may be historically accurate. One reason is that in the past, studios have greater influence over production companies and film content. Now, outside influence from special interest groups, historical societies, educational institutions, and others tend to have a degree of input into the film project.
By S. S. Wong; 2010. All rights reserved.
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