Brian Wilson biopic: Love and Mercy

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Vidiot, Apr 17, 2013.

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  1. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    They just announced today that John Wells (producer of E.R. and The West Wing, among other shows) is putting together a bio feature on the life of Brian Wilson. In the running to play the troubled singer/songwriter is John Cuask -- famous for his portrayal of the record store owner in the classic film High Fidelity.

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    The news says: "A co-production between Pohlad's River Road Entertainment and John Wells Productions, "Love & Mercy" will take an unconventional look at the life of the Beach Boys leader and explore his legendary battle with mental illness. The film will reimagine seminal moments in Wilson’s life, from his artistic genius to his profound struggles and the love that keeps him alive. Paul Dano is attached to play Wilson as a young man, while Cusack is in negotiations to play Wilson during his later years."

    Could be a very interesting movie, particularly if they tell the truth about some of Wilson's dark days of the 1980s.

    Full story at this link:

    http://www.thewrap.com/movies/colum...-play-brian-wilson-love-mercy-exclusive-86436
     
    theMess likes this.
  2. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    I thought it was announced that they cast Paul Dano.
     
  3. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    taking the tile literally...love and mercy? nah, Brain just got the best of his parents gene pool...:) I do want to see this!
     
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  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    As young Brian. John Cusak as older Brian.
     
  5. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    TITLE...typo.:)
     
  6. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Love and mercy are what we need tonight!

    I swear, there's a good 5- or 6-hour mini-series in the life of Brian Wilson, especially if they could show his teenage years and the first 20 years of the Beach Boys. Good god, what a nightmare some of that stuff would be...

    My fear is that a 2-hour movie would have to skim the surface and barely cover this stuff in a very superficial way. Telescoping 70 years of a major celebrity's life... that ain't gonna be easy. Even if they just deal with the 1980s and 1990s (which I suspect is what they're going to do), it's gonna be a real downer story that I suspect mass audiences may not want to see.
     
  7. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    you are probably right they will focus on the negative...but, his early years should have been at least half the focus of the 2 hour show...I'll watch it either way.
     
  8. let him run...

    let him run... Senior Member

    Location:
    Colchester, VT USA
    Or, will Love & Mercy tell Brian's story like 2007's I'm Not There, told Dylan's story?
     
  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Maybe they'll hire a half-dozen people to play him! Naaaaaaa.
     
  10. listner_matt

    listner_matt Still thinks music is an inexhaustible resource

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    If it's a regular feature, it could be on the same level as Ray or Walk the Line. In other words, possibly not deep enough for fans.
     
  11. Paul Saldana

    Paul Saldana jazz vinyl addict

    Location:
    SE USA (TN-GA-FL)
    Visions of Cusack in a fat suit and a pompadour are now lodged in my head
     
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  12. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    he could play Brian... josh.jpg
     
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  13. shmuckler

    shmuckler Forum Resident

    Location:
    Munich, Germany
    I thought after Walk Hard this whole biopic craze was over, but obviously I was wrong.
     
    Lownote30 likes this.
  14. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    Why would the biopic genre ever go away? 42 seems to be doing pretty well at the box office right now.
     
  15. shmuckler

    shmuckler Forum Resident

    Location:
    Munich, Germany
    I haven't seen 42, but I was not talking about the box office success. It's the about the genre being formulaic and boring. Have you seen Walk Hard?
     
  16. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    Yes, I have.
     
  17. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    I can't imagine this being very good...To make a really good Beach Boys / Brian related biopic, you need two things: Licensing and a clear eyed script that is going to be quite ugly for everyone at some point. You can't get both of those at once with the Beach Boys / Brian still alive. And you can't get a production green lit without the music. So you get a mamby pamby script...
     
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  18. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    But at least the script will show what a vital integral part of the BB Mike Love is and how all those hits would've never been written if it hadn't been for his essential contributions.:D
     
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  19. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Oh, I dunno. The 2004 biopic Ray won an Oscar for Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles. A year after that, Walk the Line did extremely well with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash.

    So a biopic can work, and I don't think Walk Hard counts, since that was a satire. The trick is, they better hurry if they're going to do biopics on 1960s artists like Brian Wilson, because the audience who remembers them is not getting any younger. I do think there's a smaller audience for stuff like this as made-for-cable movies, like the upcoming Liberace movie on HBO, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

    I hope you're wrong, but I fear you're right. I've said the same thing about a huge, epic Phil Spector movie, which is something I'd really like to see. But I don't think the people who control Spector's publishing and song rights would allow the songs to be used unless they could approve the script and how Phil was portrayed.
     
    Classicolin likes this.
  20. ReadySteady

    ReadySteady Custom Title

    Walk Hard is a parody, so I don't quite get the connection. Plus, Dewey Cox is my hero.
     
  21. let him run...

    let him run... Senior Member

    Location:
    Colchester, VT USA
    I think Brian has already green lit the project, at this point in his life he's stared down much scarier stuff than a clear eyed script getting ugly.
     
  22. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    Too often, these kinds of music biopics follow the same predictable arc: the idealistic rise to glory, the increasing decadence and decline into madness/addiction, confronting the demons followed by the inspiring return. It's easy to see how Brian's story could fit this kind of outline, but will they really be able to capture the essence of the man and his music without being trite?

    I'm cautiously optimistic about Dano in this role, but Cusack doesn't seem right to me somehow. It might be tricky to avoid caricature with a role like this.
     
  23. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    Unfortunately, they follow that arc because so many actual musical careers follow that arc.
     
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  24. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    My younger friends who play in bands or are the type who stand in line on Record Store Day are very aware of Brian Wilson. I doubt that's a large enough audience to support a major motion picture, but contemporary artists such as Animal Collective and Fleet Foxes have turned some young people onto Brian and the Beach Boys, I think.
     
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  25. moople72

    moople72 Forum Resident

    Location:
    KC
    Your avatar has to be the coolest avatar here. I'd never seen the un-messed-with cover of Rubber Soul. Awesome!

    Pardon the interruption.
     
    let him run... likes this.
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