Dick Johnson Is Dead 2020
Documentary shortlist.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Roundtable · Review · Interview
Top Five Biopics and the Brilliance of ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
February 12, 2021/ 93 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda go through the Oscar shortlist, argue about what makes a good biopic, and each name five favorites, then Sean talks to Shaka King about writing and directing ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’.
37 films across 6 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The documentary and international feature shortlists
Crip Camp 2020
Documentary shortlist.
Boys State 2020
Documentary shortlist.
Time 2020
Documentary shortlist.
Another Round 2020
International feature shortlist, Thomas Vinterberg directing Mads Mikkelsen. Amanda still hadn't seen it.
La Llorona 2019
International feature shortlist, the Guatemalan film streaming on Shudder.
Dear Comrades! 2020
International feature shortlist, the Russian entry.
A Sun 2019
International feature shortlist, the Taiwanese entry, streaming on Netflix.
Honeyland 2019
Not this year's shortlist, but the comparison point: last year's Macedonian beekeeper documentary that landed nods in both documentary and international feature.
The original song and score shortlists
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 2020
Its end-credits song, 'Wuhan Flu,' made the original song shortlist.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga 2020
'Husavik' was last year's shortlisted example of the category doing something weird.
A Star Is Born 2018
Sean's example of a song actually written into the plot: 'Shallow.'
Belly of the Beast 2020
Original song shortlist; neither host had heard of the film.
Giving Voice 2020
Original song shortlist, for 'Never Break'; same complaint.
Judas and the Black Messiah 2021
Its song also made the shortlist; the film gets its own segment below.
Mank 2020
Original score shortlist, one of two Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross nominations.
Soul 2020
Original score shortlist, the other Reznor/Ross nomination.
Tenet 2020
Original score shortlist, Ludwig Göransson.
Minari 2020
Original score shortlist, Emile Mosseri.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco 2019
Mosseri's earlier score, which Sean calls one of the best of the last five years.
What makes a good biopic?
Gandhi 1982
Their example of the airless 'great man' biopic: Richard Attenborough's film, a Ben Kingsley Oscar, and, in Amanda's words, 'kind of boring.'
Malcolm X 1992
The exception that proves the rule: a cradle-to-grave biopic that still works. Left off both of their five-favorites lists because they'd covered it recently on the show.
Five favorite biopics each picked five, not strictly ranked
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Amadeus 1984
Milos Forman's Mozart/Salieri film, told through Salieri's jealousy. Tom Hulce plays Mozart as 'a little maniac,' nothing like the solemn historical bust.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Julie & Julia 2009
Nora Ephron's film splits between Julia Child in Paris and a blogger cooking through her cookbook; Meryl Streep's performance goes past impersonation.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Catch Me If You Can 2002
Spielberg's Frank Abagnale film, a con-man story about someone unfamous, and Sean's pick for best Leo DiCaprio biopic.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
The Queen 2006
Stephen Frears and Peter Morgan's film, Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II in the week after Princess Diana's death. Peter Morgan later expanded the same source material into 'The Crown.'
Picked by Sean Fennessey
The Elephant Man 1980
David Lynch's John Hurt/Anthony Hopkins film about Joseph Merrick, shot in black and white: a hushed, classically staged outlier in Lynch's filmography.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters 1985
Paul Schrader's Yukio Mishima film, built from dramatized chapters of Mishima's own fiction.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Love & Mercy 2015
Brian Wilson split across two eras and two actors, Paul Dano and John Cusack, with no attempt at physical continuity between them.
Picked by Amanda Dobbins
Jackie 2016
Pablo Larraín's film, Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy in the days after JFK's assassination: more about image-making than impersonation.
Picked by Amanda Dobbins
32 Short Films About Glenn Gould 1993
François Girard's patchwork portrait of the pianist, structured after Gould's own Goldberg Variations recording. Amanda's dad showed it to her at age nine.
Picked by Amanda Dobbins
I'm Not There 2007
Todd Haynes splits Bob Dylan into seven different performers and personas.
Judas and the Black Messiah
Judas and the Black Messiah 2021
Shaka King's Fred Hampton film, out on HBO Max. LaKeith Stanfield plays FBI informant William O'Neill (the Judas of the title), Daniel Kaluuya plays Hampton, Dominique Fishback plays Deborah Johnson (Akua Njeri), and Jesse Plemons plays O'Neill's handler, Roy Mitchell. Martin Sheen plays J. Edgar Hoover. Sean and Amanda call it a Trojan-horse biopic: a crime thriller and cat-and-mouse movie about a socialist revolution, funded by Warner Bros.
MLK/FBI 2020
Sam Pollard's documentary, also on this year's shortlist. Sean recommends pairing it with 'Judas and the Black Messiah' as a double feature, for more on Hoover's playbook against Martin Luther King Jr. and then Hampton.
Shaka King on ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
Shaka King on
Judas and the Black Messiah 2021
How it came together: the Lucas Brothers pitched King on 'The Conformist' meets 'The Departed' inside COINTELPRO. King brought in writer Will Berson to combine drafts, Ryan Coogler and Charles King's Macro came on to produce, and the cast (Kaluuya, Stanfield, Fishback, Plemons) was attached before the studio deal closed. Fred Hampton Jr. and Akua Njeri signed on as cultural consultants during the second week of filming.
Shaka King on
Newlyweeds 2013
King's debut feature, which premiered at Sundance the same year as Ryan Coogler's 'Fruitvale Station,' where the two met.
Shaka King on
Lovers Rock 2020
The 'Small Axe' installment King calls the last thing that blew him away, for capturing what loving music feels like without being a musical.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The pop-star biopic wave JudyStraight Outta ComptonRocketmanBohemian RhapsodyRay
More of the genre they didn't get to The Social NetworkMoneyballMarie AntoinetteYankee Doodle DandyA Man for All SeasonsCoal Miner's DaughterSerpico
Comparisons for 'Judas and the Black Messiah' J. EdgarReds
Shaka King's references while making the film HeatThe Killing of a Chinese BookieThe Friends of Eddie CoyleThe Battle of AlgiersWhen We Were KingsGloriaThe ConformistThe DepartedOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodBlack PantherFruitvale Station
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The CrownEyes on the PrizeMike L. Mike (Netflix pilot presentation)
Games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition (Netflix)
Ads Boar's HeadFanDuelNOS EnergyPricelineUberStamps.com