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As the Queen biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ proved, the best music biopics can have a cultural impact that goes far beyond devoted fans. Here are 30 must-sees.

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Technology may have impacted on the way we consume music in the 21st Century, but our love of the cinema remains undiminished. Indeed, as global smashes such as Bohemian Rhapsody, Judy, and Straight Outta Compton have shown, the best music biopics can account for some of the biggest draws in the movies. So grab some popcorn, dim the lights, and enjoy our list of the 30 best music biopics to grace screens both big and small. If we’ve missed any of your favorites, let us know in the comments section.

30: Jersey Boys

Directed by Clint Eastwood, Jersey Boys is adapted from the Tony Award-winning stage musical of the same name, which first debuted in 2005. In both cases, the subject is the story of New Jersey rock and pop troupe The Four Seasons, with original members Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio serving as executive producers, and Gaudio composing the film’s music. The biopic was advertised as the story of four kids “from the wrong side of the tracks”, and thus drugs, excess, and The Four Seasons’ regular run-ins with mobsters are all part and parcel of one of 2014’s most memorable films.

29: Miles Ahead

First released in 2017, Miles Ahead was something of a labor of love for Don Cheadle, who co-wrote the script, and co-produced and made his directorial debut with the movie, not to mention while also playing the lead, the colossal jazz legend Miles Davis . Cheadle’s herculean efforts failed to win over some of the critics, but he did a great job capturing Davis’, attitude, drug-fuelled paranoia, and even his famous death-ray stare in this compelling and passionate biopic.

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28: Nowhere Boy

First released in the UK in 2009 and then granted a US cinema release to coincide with what should have been John Lennon ’s 70th birthday, on 9 October 2010, Nowhere Boy revisits the future Beatle’s early years in Liverpool, taking in the creation of his first band, The Quarrymen, and their gradual transition into The Beatles . Unlike Ian Hart in Backbeat , Aaron Taylor-Johnson bears little physical resemblance to the young Lennon, but he captures the wit of the adolescent future Beatle. There’s a strong supporting cast, too, with Anne Marie-Duff playing Lennon’s mother, Julia, and Kristin Scott-Thomas attempting to instill discipline as John’s stern yet dependable Aunt Mimi.

27: Get On Up

Tate Taylor’s James Brown biopic, Get On Up , is a rollercoaster ride for the viewer as the action jumps around from the 80s to the 60s and the 30s, connecting events through thematic links rather than chronology. If you can keep up, however, there’s plenty to savor here, not least because Chadwick Boseman puts in a superlative performance in the lead role, capturing Brown’s strutting, fireproof confidence in all its glory. Curiously, Get On Up struggled at the box office in 2014, but it’s a critical favorite (renowned US critic Robert Christgau wrote, “It’s great – better than The Help , which I quite admire, and Ray , which I love”) that’s well worth rediscovering.

26: Great Balls Of Fire!

Jerry Lee Lewis’ reputation as one of rock’n’roll’s greatest hellraisers will always precede him. However, Jim McBride’s 1989 biopic leans more towards the positive, concentrating on The Killer’s irresistible rise to rock’n’roll stardom, which may have seen him overtake Elvis Presley if it hadn’t been for his controversial marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, whose biography the film is partially based upon. Great Balls Of Fire! has its critics, but Alec Baldwin plays Jerry Lee’s infamous pastor cousin, Jimmy Swaggart, with aplomb, and Dennis Quaid – whose performance was praised by Lewis himself – is superb in the lead role.

25: The Doors

The Doors should perhaps simply have been titled The Jim Morrison Movie , as director Oliver Stone ( Midnight Express , Wall Street , Natural Born Killers ) homes in almost exclusively on the life and times of the band’s iconic frontman, often pushing the contributions of his bandmates off into the sidelines in this big-budget biopic from 1991. However, while hardcore fans, and The Doors themselves, voiced their disapproval, the critics disagreed, with Rolling Stone awarding it four stars. In retrospect, it’s fair to say Stone took some hefty liberties with the real story, but for all that, Val Kilmer is hypnotic as Morrison, and if you can overlook the more hackneyed Hollywood clichés, The Doors is well worth searching out.

24: 24 Hour Party People

Director Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People follows the seismic – and sometimes surreal – career arc of Factory Records boss Tony Wilson through the decades. It takes in his work with Joy Division, including the memorable scene where Wilson (his dry-witted persona captured beautifully by Steve Coogan) inks their recording contract in his own blood, through to the opening of the iconic – if bank-breaking – Haçienda nightclub. Fiction sometimes makes a mockery of fact (though there is real-life footage of Sex Pistols ’ legendary gig at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall), but it’s still an enthusiastic and heartfelt tribute to both the late 80s Madchester era and one of the UK’s most singular independent record labels .

23: The Runaways

Based on lead singer Cherie Currie’s book, Neon Angel: A Memoir Of A Runaway , this self-explanatory 2010 biopic covers the rise and fall of groundbreaking all-girl 70s rock sensations The Runaways. Primarily centering around the relationship between the band’s two prime movers, Currie (played by Dakota Fanning) and Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart), but with Michael Shannon also doing a sterling job as their Svengali-esque manager/producer, Kim Fowley, The Runaways offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight. Jett herself told Interview magazine that the film perfectly captured “the glam and intensity” of Los Angeles in the mid-70s.

22: Love & Mercy

Director Bill Pohlad and writers Michael Alan Lerner and Oren Moverman cast The Beach Boys ’ Brian Wilson in an honest light in 2015’s Love & Mercy . The iconic singer-songwriter’s story is tailor-made for cinema, with Love & Mercy homing in on the pivotal mid-60s period during which the group created their masterpiece, Pet Sounds , and the struggles Wilson subsequently faced. Actors Paul Dano and John Cusack weigh in with astonishing dual performances as Wilson, in different stages of his career, and further kudos should be doled out for the film’s painstaking recreation of The Beach Boys’ recording methods.

You could argue that 8 Mile isn’t truly a biopic, as Eminem ’s Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith is a fictional character. However, you could just as easily feel it deserves a high ranking on any self-respecting list of the best music biopics for providing genuine insight into Detroit’s millennial hip-hop scene through the superstar rapper’s early career in the city. Further lifted by Eminem’s passionate and ultra-frank performance, 8 Mile significantly raised hip-hop’s global profile and, thanks to its Oscar-winning spin-off hit, “Lose Yourself,” it not only recouped its expensive budget ($40 million), but generated whopping box office receipts believed to have topped $240 million.

20: Backbeat

Director Iain Softley’s Backbeat (1994) delved into The Beatles’ pre-fame Hamburg era, when The Fab Four were The Fab Five with the ill-starred Stu Sutcliffe on bass. The Beatles’ songs were re-recorded for the film by an all-star alt.rock outfit including Dave Grohl , R.E.M. ’s Mike Mills, and Sonic Youth ’s Thurston Moore, while the script concentrated on the close friendship between Sutcliffe and John Lennon, played convincingly by Stephen Dorff and Ian Hart, respectively. Backbeat has since been praised by insiders including Julian Lennon and Pete Best, and it was adapted into a successful theatrical production in 2010.

1997’s Selena is the story of Selena Quintanilla-Perez, who transitions from precocious child talent to fast-rising pop star in both the US and her native Mexico, only to be murdered by Yolanda Saldivar, the president of her fan club, when she was just 23. In itself, it’s a sensational storyline, though the biopic’s appeal may have remained at cult level had Jennifer Lopez not been cast in the starring role. In fairness, J-Lo plays the part to perfection, earning earned widespread praise and a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of the singer. Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, Jr, meanwhile, served as producer and consultant to ensure the film avoided the worst Hollywood excesses.

18: Bound For Glory

Loosely adapted from his partly fictionalized 1943 autobiography of the same name, Bound For Glory is a beautifully framed portrait of the enigmatic Woody Guthrie. Luxuriously shot by director Hal Ashby, it features David Carradine in the lead role and follows the pioneering folk star on his Grapes Of Wrath -esque migration from his Dust Bowl Oklahoma home to the promised land of California during the height of the Great Depression. Carradine puts in a compelling performance as Guthrie, and may well have secured an Oscar had Bound For Glory not been up against the likes of All The President’s Men , Rocky, and Taxi Driver in 1976.

17: La Bamba

His tragic death alongside Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper in a plane crash on February 3, 1959 , inevitably overshadowed Richie Valens’ life prior to La Bamba . However, Luis Valdez’ heartfelt 1987 portrayal of the charismatic, Mexico-born rock’n’roll trailblazer helped redress the balance. Lou Diamond Phillips is electric in the lead role, but while the film is broadly chronological, it isn’t a straight depiction of Valens’ life, as it delves into how Valens’ professional success impacted on the lives of his half-brother, Bob Morales, his girlfriend Donna Ludwig and the rest of his family. The film did brisk business on both sides of the Atlantic, with Los Lobos’ version of the titular song topping the US and UK charts.

Produced and directed by Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood, Bird (1988) stars Forest Whitaker as the brilliant but mercurial jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker . The stuff of legend, Parker’s storied life struggles included battles with drug addiction, the death of his child, and a heart attack before his own premature death, aged 34, by which time he’d long since joined jazz’s pantheon of greats. Constructed as a montage of scenes from Parker’s life, Bird is riveting and it later yielded a Best Director Golden Globe for Eastwood and a Cannes Film Festival Best Actor gong for Whitaker.

15: Sid & Nancy

Sid & Nancy , Alex Cox’s retelling of punk icon Sid Vicious’ doomed love affair with Nancy Spungen, polarised opinion from the off. Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon later savaged it in his autobiography – and he has a point, because (as Malcolm McLaren did with The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle ) the script takes major liberties with the band’s real story. Despite this – and the fact it was a financial failure upon release, in 1986 – Sid & Nancy has since been reappraised. Respected US critic Roger Ebert dubbed the late duo “punk rock’s Romeo and Juliet”, and the film’s leads, Gary Oldman ( Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy , Darkest Hour ) and Chloe Webb turn in passionate, poignant performances which have set Sid & Nancy ’s reputation as a cult classic in stone.

14: I’m Not There

The collective brainchild of Love & Mercy ’s Oren Moverman and Velvet Goldmine director Todd Haynes, the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There (2007) is often as enigmatic as its influential subject. On paper, the premise – on-screen stars Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, and the much-missed Heath Ledger portray Dylan at different stages in his life – would seem ambitious to say the least, yet Haynes weaves the narrative together beautifully and the cast all play a blinder, ensuring that I’m Not There is a Bob Dylan biopic that even the casual fan should watch.

13: Behind The Candelabra

Directed by Steven Soderbergh ( Sex, Lies, And Videotape , Erin Brockovich ), the Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra (2013) was in production for the best part of a decade and was originally a made-for-TV movie. After hitting the silver screen, however, the film won several Emmys and a Golden Globe. Based on Liberace’s latter-day lover Scott Thorson’s memoir of the same name, it details the flamboyant pianist’s final decade, with both Michael Douglas (Liberace) and Matt Damon (Thorson) turning in terrific performances. Moving and salacious, it’s an absorbing biopic that even the vaguely curious should check out.

Several directors have attempted to capture Elvis Presley ’s mercurial life since his premature death, in 1977, but John Carpenter’s made-for-TV Elvis (1979) remains the benchmark. The then little-known Kurt Russell received an Emmy nomination for his memorable portrayal of The King, capturing his brooding charisma without lapsing into parody. While Russell didn’t actually sing in the movie (he lip-synched to vocals recorded by country star Ronnie McDowell), he succeeded in channeling the raw power of Presley at his electrifying best onstage.

11: Control

Inevitably creating a myth and a lasting cult status, Joy Division singer Ian Curtis killed himself aged just 23, just as his Manchester-based band were on the cusp of mainstream success after two superb, critically-acclaimed albums. Anton Corbijn’s excellent 2007 biopic, Control , peels away much of the legend and hearsay to reveal Curtis the human being: a complex and flawed individual who ultimately can’t reconcile having an affair while being married with a young child. Both Sam Riley, as Curtis, and Samantha Morton, as his wife, Deborah, are highly compelling, and the director’s reliance on black-and-white footage vividly captures the starkness of the Mancunian landscape a decade before the city morphed into the epicenter of cool during the Madchester era.

10: What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Adapted from the book I, Tina , by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder, this popular biopic was big news at the box office in 1993, grossing almost $40 million in the US alone. Directed by Brian Gibson, it deals with the tempestuous relationship between Ike and Tina Turner, whose string of remarkable, Phil Spector-produced hits are unable to mask the fact Tina is suffering at the hands of her abusive spouse. Post-divorce, Tina would become a global superstar in her own right, and she’s portrayed sympathetically here by the Golden Globe-winning Angela Bassett, while Laurence Fishburne is equally inspired as the cruel, volatile Ike.

9: La Vie En Rose

French actress Marion Cotillard had already begun to prove herself on the global stage during the early 00s with roles in mainstream films such as Ridley Scott’s A Good Year , in which she played opposite Russell Crowe. However, few would have expected her to shine as brightly as she did while playing chanteuse extraordinaire Edith Piaf in Olivier Dahon’s La Vie En Rose . Indeed, Cotillard does a remarkable job of capturing The Little Sparrow’s vulnerability and volatility as she rises from the gutter to staging performances in France’s grandest music halls in this memorable 2007 biopic. The actress rightly received an Academy Award for the role, marking the first time an Oscar was awarded for a French-language role.

8: The Buddy Holly Story

Released in 1978, director Steve Rash’s Buddy Holly biopic features Gary Busey turning in an admirable portrayal of the Lubbock-born singer-songwriter who influenced iconic future names including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones . Still eminently watchable, it charts Holly’s life from teen rocker in Texas to global stardom with The Crickets, and his latter-day solo career, involving a heavy touring schedule that would prematurely claim his life in an ill-fated plane crash in February 1959. Busey rightly received an Oscar nomination for his performance and The Buddy Holly Story remains a consistently acclaimed entry in the best music biopics of all time.

7: Coal Miner’s Daughter

Reputedly hand-picked by the artist herself, Sissy Spacek turned in an arguable career-best performance in her portrayal of troubled country star Loretta Lynn in this much-acclaimed 1980 biopic. Based upon Lynn’s autobiography, and also featuring Tommy Lee Jones and The Band ’s Levon Helm, Coal Miner’s Daughter follows the legendary singer’s life, from her desperately poor childhood to superstardom, with Spacek’s inspirational performance yielding her an Academy Award. It remains a biopic with across-the-board appeal, and its spin-off soundtrack album also sold half a million copies and went gold.

Lavishly shot with no expense spared, 1984’s Amadeus is One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest director Miloš Forman’s fictionalized biography of the groundbreaking 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with the plot homing in on the notorious rivalry between Mozart (played with ruthless intensity by Tom Hulce) and Italian composer Antonio Salieri (F Murray Abraham) at the court of Emperor Joseph II. Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, it’s a grandiose epic in the best possible sense of the term and it went on to win a staggering eight Academy Awards, including an Oscar for Best Picture.

5: Lady Sings The Blues

One icon played another in 1972’s Lady Sings The Blues , with soul diva Diana Ross turning in a commanding performance as legendary jazz chanteuse Billie Holiday . Directed by Sidney J Furie of The Ipcress File fame, the film follows the jazz star from her traumatic youth through her rise to fame. While the storyline pulls few punches where Holiday’s personal demons are concerned, it ends on a high note, recreating her triumphant return to the stage at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Lady Sings The Blues received five Academy Award nominations, and even notoriously sniffy US film critic Roger Ebert admitted Ross’ portrayal of Holiday was “one of the great performances of 1972.”

4: Walk The Line

One of 2005’s most successful films, director James Mangold’s much-anticipated Johnny Cash biopic didn’t disappoint. Based upon two separate autobiographies penned by the iconic singer-songwriter, Walk The Line featured electrifying performances by Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, and delves into the highs and lows of The Man In Black’s life, from his musical career and his romance with Carter through to his tussles with drugs and alcohol, and his legendary shows at America’s notorious Folsom Prison, in January 1968. Widely acclaimed, Walk The Line bagged five Oscar nominations, with Witherspoon taking home the Best Actress Award.

3: Straight Outta Compton

NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton (2015) was directed by F Gary Gray, but the influential hip-hop outfit’s surviving members were involved all the way down the line, with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre producing, and Ice Cube being played by his real-life son O’Shea Jackson, Jr. Consequently, this is a biopic which pulls few punches and strives to keep it real – at least from the group’s perspective. Highly absorbing throughout, Straight Outta Compton went on to scoop a truckload of industry awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and it also inspired Dr. Dre’s widely-acclaimed solo album Compton .

Written, directed, and produced by Taylor Hackford, Ray (2004) focuses on 30 years in the life of pioneering soul music/R&B icon Ray Charles , tracing the arc of his career from his early years in the clubs on North America’s chitlin’ circuit through his crossover success with Atlantic Records, his commercial decline during the 70s and his remarkable latter-day comeback, winning a Grammy for his Chaka Khan collaboration “I’ll Be Good To You.” Jamie Foxx oozes charisma in the lead role and his career-defining performance earned him five industry awards, including an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe.

1: Bohemian Rhapsody

One of the biggest releases of 2018, Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody blew away the competition in the commercial sense, with Billboard dubbing it the highest-grossing music biopic of all time at the end of the year. Critically, however, it was also a phenomenon, attracting multiple industry awards, including the coveted Best Actor for Rami Malek’s magnificent portrayal of Freddie Mercury . It completely changed all expectations of what the best music biopics can achieve.

June 4, 2021 at 4:36 am

Dirt – Motley Crue

June 5, 2021 at 1:52 am

‘…then little-known Kurt Russell’?

The Real Thang

September 14, 2023 at 7:06 am

Bohemian Rhapsody was hot garbage and an obvious Hollywood controlled retelling. THE TEMPTATIONS for whatever is not in this list and should be top 10.

Daniel A Ribel

March 27, 2024 at 4:13 pm

Not including Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS shows you have little attention span. It was nominated everywhere and Austin Butler made Kurt Russell look ridiculous. Butler was not only Oscar and SAG nominated, but won the Foreign Press Golden Globe,International Press Satellite,UK BAFTA Australia AACTA international,Irish IFTA International, Catalonia Spain Sant Jordi, South African Film Critics ect and actually made millions of new Elvis fans around the world

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30 Best Music Biopics of All Time

Many musicians secretly want to be actors — and most actors (not-so-secretly) want to be musicians. And for those thespians who don’t start their own bands with words like 30 Odd Foot of Grunts or Bacon Brothers in their names, the next best thing is to play a real-life musical genius in a movie. If the subject’s story happens to have a great rags-to-riches arc, or include a dive into drug-fueled, near-death depths with redemptive rise, phoenix-like, included in the third act, great; if such dramatic recreations attract the attention of Oscar voters, hey, all the better. But the chance to belt out a greatest-hits collection of songs from rock stars, hip-hop legends and country-and-western crooners is too tempting to pass up for most folks. You may never be Elvis — but you can play him on TV. (If you’re Eminem, however, you do get to play a barely fictionalized version of yourself. It’s complicated.)

Music biopics are a bona fide genre, and there’s no sign that their popularity is dimming in the slightest. Last year’s N.W.A origin story Straight Outta Compton was one of 2015’s biggest hits, and in the next month, we’re getting not one, not two, but three biopics on big-time musicians: the Ethan-Hawke-as-Chet-Baker opus Born to Be Blue ; the honky-tonkin,’ high-lonesome tale of Hank Williams I Saw the Light ; and Don Cheadle’s free-form look at several specific points in Miles Davis’ life, Miles Ahead.

So we’re counting down our choices for the best music biopics of all time. Some films weren’t considered due to technicalities (the great Gilbert and Sullivan movie Topsy-Turvy is a better backstage film than a music biopic; The Rose features a Janis Joplin-like singer, but you can’t say it’s a Joplin biopic), while others fall in a weird interzone that helped them make the cut (the main jazz player in Round Midnight hews close enough to both its inspirational subjects’ lives that it’s practically a dual portrait). But for us, these 30 titles are the ones that stay on tune as much as possible.

‘Selena’ (1997)

Arriving just two years after the murder of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, Selena is an elegant, deified portrait of the "Queen of Tejano." The biopic allowed Selena to posthumously cement the crossover success she tragically didn't live to experience, while also thrusting actress Jennifer Lopez — who earned a Golden Globe nomination in what was her first leading role — on her own path to superstardom. Although more of a warts-free tribute than a realistic depiction of the singer's life, Selena  served both as a worthy memorial her still-grieving fan base and a compelling introduction for those unaware of her massive impact. DK

‘Notorious’ (2009)

Directed by George Tillman Jr., this competent biopic chronicles the Notorious B.I.G.'s too-brief growth into one of the greatest rappers who ever lived, and his tragic 1997 murder at the age of 24. But it gets too many small details wrong, whether it's Angela Bassett's wavering Jamaican accent as Violetta Wallace; or the scenes of Biggie's "Big Poppa" peaking at Number One on the Billboard charts before the infamous November 30th, 1994, Quad Studios shooting of 2Pac, even though the reverse happened in real life. More importantly, rapper and first-time actor Jamal "Gravy" Woolard isn't quite good enough to carry an entire film, although he does a decent job of evoking Biggie's legendary charisma. Strong supporting performances aid Woolard, including a gregarious Derek Luke as Sean "Puffy" Combs, and Anthony Mackie as crazy ol' 2Pac. Naturi Naughton (formerly of Nineties R&B act 3LW) nearly steals the movie with her visceral depiction of Lil Kim. M.R.

‘The Runaways’ (2010)

Biopics live or die on their performances, and Floria Sigismondi's take on the early days of the pioneering all-female rock band has two dynamite ones in Kristen Stewart's Joan Jett and Michael Shannon's Kim Fowley. The Runaways walked a thin line between exploitation and empowerment; Fowley assembled the group and gleefully played up their jailbait appeal, but Jett and her bandmates used success to wrest control from their Svengali's hands. (The movie was released before the band's latter-day bassist, Jacqueline Fuchs — a.k.a. Jackie Fox — went public with allegations that Fowley had drugged and raped her; Fuchs is not a character in the film.) Dakota Fanning doesn't come close to Cherrie Currie's confident strut, but Stewart's Jett is pure badass, and Shannon manages to make Fowley both charismatic and repellent. SA

‘La Vie en Rose’ (2007)

If you'd have assembled a shortlist of actresses to play the chanteuse extraordinaire Edith Piaf in a movie, Marion Cotillard might have shown up somewhere between Mariah Carey and Martha Plimpton — the French actress had already proven she was much more than a pretty Gallic face, but there was little to suggest she'd be perfect to portray the Little Sparrow. Which makes her astounding take on Piaf that much more impressive, as Cotillard channels the vulnerability, volatility, and perpetual defensiveness of the woman who sang her guts out from the gutter to the grandest music halls. Neither Olivier Dahan's typical cradle-to-grave take nor the combo of fake teeth and frizzy can diminish her accomplishment — she may be lip-syncing, but the Oscar-winner is the reason the movie sings. DF

‘Liztomania’ (1975)

Short on fact and long ( really long) on phallic symbolism, Ken Russell's 1975 musical salute to 19th-century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt is so unhinged that it makes his nutty take on the Who's Tommy seem measured and dignified. Roger Daltrey stars as Liszt, who was said to drive female fans wild with his passionate piano performances; his reputation as "the world's first rock star" is all the excuse Russell needs to conjure up dreams of having a ten-foot dick, a Scouse-accented Pope (played by Ringo Starr), and the composer from the dead to defeat the Nazis during World War II. Oh, and Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman appears as the Norse god Thor. Any questions? DE

‘Backbeat’ (1994)

If there's a worse idea than stuffing a movie full of Beatles imitations, it's re-recording their music as well. But what Backbeat 's soundtrack lacks in authenticity, its songs, performed by an alt-rock supergroup that included Thurston Moore, Dave Grohl, Mike Mills and Greg Dulli, make up in anarchic energy. (It helps that the movie focuses on the then–Fab Five's Hamburg days, back when they were still playing Little Richard covers.) Reprising his role from Christopher Münch's The Hours and Times , Ian Hart plays John Lennon with an eerie verisimilitude that goes beyond mimicry into channeling, but Iain Softley wisely throws the spotlight on the group's forgotten early members, especially doomed bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, played by Stephen Dorff. Like John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln , Backbeat is about icons before they were icons, just discovering the traits that would soon make them immortal. SA

‘Love & Mercy’ (2014)

Longtime producer Bill Pohlad stepped into the director's chair for this touching, challenging dual portrait of Brian Wilson, showing him as he prepares to make Pet Sounds (played by Paul Dano) and in the 1980s as he's struggling to pull himself out of depression (played by John Cusack). Love & Mercy jumps between time periods, forcing us to see the life of a genius not as a straight timeline but as a collection of events and impressions, the past and the present constantly in conversation with one another. Both Wilsons are superb in their own way — Dano is sweet and restrained, Cusack melancholy and haunted — but the best performance may belong to Elizabeth Banks, who plays Melinda Ledbetter, a onetime model who helped Wilson break free of the controlling therapist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) in the Eighties. It's through Banks' tough but compassionate turn that the troubled Beach Boys star finally finds his happy ending.  TG

‘The Doors’ (1991)

At the time of its release, film critic Roger Ebert complained of The Doors , "Watching the movie is like being stuck in a bar with an obnoxious drunk, when you're not drinking." Perhaps, but Oliver Stone's celebration of Jim Morrison is so kinetically, preposterously grandiose that it's magnificently bombed out on its own rock & roll excess. Val Kilmer gave the performance of his life as the Lizard King, not by deifying the singer (who died at 27) but by making him the embodiment of 1960s L.A. hedonism, doped up on hormones, liquor and smack. His Morrison is both heroic and ridiculous, full of shit but also full of poetry, and Stone refuses to judge, creating an orgy of psychedelic sound and images that would point the way for his later films JFK and Natural Born Killers . Few watching The Doors will want to emulate Morrison's arrogant self-destruction. But it's a hell of a ride. TG

‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story’ (2013)

While TLC would go on to become one of the decade's most successful and popular groups, the lives of the three members were marred by Behind the Music levels of drama. A decade after Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' untimely death and the group's essential dissolution, 2013's VH1 film  Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story cast real-life musicians Keke Palmer (Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas), Drew Sidora (Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins) and Lil Mama (Left Eye), whose performances eschewed histrionics in favor of believable performances and striking resemblances. Perri "Pebbles" Reed, the group's former manager, is the closest the film gets to a villain, with Rolling Stone noting in 2013 that the film portrays her as "a parasitic thief who knowingly bilked millions from the naive group." Still, there's no shortage of crazy moments, music-industry scum and dubious characters that lend the film its requisite air of tabloid intrigue. JN

‘The Pianist’ (2002)

You don't have to know much about Wladyslaw Sziplman's acclaimed career as a concert pianist to be moved by this harrowing depiction of his survival in the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust. Directed by Roman Polanski and based on the late Jewish musician's autobiography, Adrien Brody embodies the Polish composer's struggle to maintain his artistry through years of horrifying scenes, from watching in despair as his family is sent to a labor camp; to using his gifts as a pianist to try to convince a Nazi officer to spare his life, even as he trembles from malnutrition and jaundice. Brody's haunted portrayal earned him the 2003 Oscar for Best Actor. The Pianist may not show much actual music, but it's still one of the best classical-music films ever made. MR

‘Get on Up’ (2014)

This James Brown biopic, which flopped at the box office in the summer of 2014, deserves a second look primarily for Chadwick Boseman's tremendous performance as Mr. Dynamite. Forget the actor's mastery of Brown's cadence — it's his capturing of the man's strutting, bulletproof confidence and otherworldly sexiness that electrifies every scene in Get on Up , even when the legendary artist isn't onstage. Directed by Tate Taylor, Get on Up jazzily reshuffles Brown's story, jumping around from the 1980s to the Sixties to the Thirties, connecting events through their thematic links rather than straight chronology. In the process, the movie makes the case that Brown was larger than any decade, greater than any single generation — the Hardest Working Man in Show Business who couldn't be contained by a single nickname. TG

‘La Bamba’ (1987)

Buoyed by stellar performances from Lou Diamond Phillips as Richie Valens and Esai Morales as the doomed rocker's troubled half-brother Bob, La Bamba richly details the last eight months of the 17-year-old Valens' life, from high school student to unlikely overnight sensation to victim of the tragic plane crash that forever reshaped the music world. La Bamba doesn't just offer a sanitized portrait of Valens as a gone-too-soon rocker; it also tackles the racial tensions that percolated in Los Angeles in the late Fifties as well as the day-to-day struggles of the Latino community. However, at its heart, the film remains a stunning reminder of Valens' lasting impact on pop music: Fittingly, La Bamba helped bring Los Lobos' cover of his signature song to Number One upon its release. DK

‘Last Days’ (2005)

Kurt Cobain died proclaiming it was "better to burn out than fade away," but the barely veiled Cobain doppelgänger at the center of Gus Van Sant's Last Days is so faded he's practically transparent. Shuffling around a large, empty house in the Washington woods, surrounded by hangers-on who take notice of him only when they want money or drugs, Michael Pitt's Blake seems less like a man about to take his own life than one who's already died and is waiting for his body to catch up. Like Elephant 's riff on the Columbine massacre, this fictionalized version of a rock star's path to suicide offers ambiguity in lieu of explanation, challenging the biopic's inherent promise of tidy explanations and comforting rationales. It's as cryptic and fragmented as Cobain's lyrics, but with none of the cathartic anger that for a time burned away the fog. SA

‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ (1993)

Director Brian Gibson's adaptation of Tina Turner's best-selling autobiography is unfortunately best remembered for its graphic and borderline salacious depictions of domestic violence. But that viewpoint overlooks the subtler early scenes between the excellent Laurence Fishburne as Ike Turner and Angela Bassett as Tina — who rightly earned Best Actor and Actress Oscar nominations for their performances — which demonstrate how the artists' clear rapport with one another is ultimately betrayed by Ike's abuse. Throughout the film, Bassett ably embodies Tina Turner's purposefulness, whether strutting across the stage as she sings "Proud Mary," or learning to chant "Om" as a Buddhist convert. MR

‘Control’ (2007)

Anton Corbijn spent most of his life hanging out with rock stars, photographing everyone from U2 to Depeche Mode to Tom Waits. So it's little surprise that, for his directorial debut, he made a movie about a singer. In Control , Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) is a melancholy boy even before committing suicide at age 23, but what gives this stripped-down drama its pathos is its lack of illusions about the unhappiness that dogged him throughout his short life. In this way, Control eschews the typical rags-to-riches-to-rags biopic narrative: Riley doesn't play Curtis as a raging egotist but, rather, as a deeply troubled soul who turned his pain into beautiful music for as long as he could before the pain eventually consumed him. Just like Joy Division's albums, Control is gloriously, candidly bleak. TG

‘The Jacksons: An American Dream’ (1992)

Based largely on Katherine Jackson's 1990 autobiography My Family, this biopic on the brothers Jackson charts the rise of the chart-topping siblings from their early "ABC" days to the Victory tour — as well as the subsequent solo career of Michael as he tries to both retain a fleeting sense of normalcy amid superstardom. Tawdriness is inescapable when dissecting America's most famous musical family, and it's now impossible not to view the movie through the lens of the allegations that would haunt the Thriller hitmaker for the rest of his life. But real clips of the group interspersed with dramatic re-enactments still makes this a compelling portrait of pop's first family. JN

‘Behind the Candelabra’ (2013)

The first project after his "retirement" from making movies, Steven Soderbergh's HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra went further than a Hollywood feature would in detailing the full scope of Liberace's hermetic lifestyle. Michael Douglas' lead performance attracts and repels sympathy for the Vegas legend, showing him at worst as a vampiric narcissist who drained the life out of young and beautiful men and at best as a sensational performer who glittered in the spotlight. Liberace's relationship with Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), a lover he seduced and abandoned, brings him down to earth, but Douglas's charisma makes it impossible to push him away. Soderbergh paints him as a tragic figure, isolated by fame and fiction, living out his dreams while confined to gilded cage of his own creation. ST

‘Ray’ (2004)

Jamie Foxx's uncanny, Oscar-winning incarnation of the late Ray Charles dominates this chronicle of the beloved rhythm & blues pioneer's Fifties and Sixties heyday. He gets everything right about Charles, who died just before the box office hit was released in the fall of 2004, from the blind pianist's look and shuffling gait to his vocal intonations. The movie is filled with terrific acting, like future Scandal superstar Kerry Washington as Charles' wife, Bea, and Clifton Powell as Charles' long-suffering assistant, Jeff Brown; Regina King's portrayal of one of Charles' mistresses and backing singers, Margie Hendricks of the Raelettes, is a true revelation. She should have been nominated for an Oscar too. MR

‘Round Midnight’ (1986)

Dexter Gordon embodies his lead role of the aged, world-weary tenor saxophonist Dale Turner (based loosely on both Bud Powell and Lester Young) so well that the late musician had to remind people that Round Midnight is a work of fiction. His Oscar-nominated performance is complemented by Bertrand Tavernier's solid direction, which gives his flick the smoky, melancholic atmosphere of a slow blues. Watch for Gordon's sessions with fellow jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, as well as a cameo from Martin Scorsese as a New York club owner. MR

‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ (1980)

Sissy Spacek received a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of country queen Loretta Lynn in this straightforward approach to the singer’s story, from her impoverished beginnings in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to her eventual ascendance to country stardom. Completely believable whether portraying Lynn as a love-struck teen, harried working mother or the “Queen of Country Music,” Spacek also impresses with her singing; the film’s soundtrack, featuring her vocals instead of Lynn’s, would actually make it all the way to No. 2 on the country charts. Everyone from Tommy Lee Jones to Levon Helm and Beverly D’Angelo (as Patsy Cline) turn in strong performances — and Apted’s attention to visual detail really brings the late Fifties/early Sixties world of honky-tonks and C&W radio stations to dusty life. DE

‘Bound for Glory’ (1976)

Were it not up against one of the greatest Best Picture slates in Oscar history — All the President's Men , Network , Rocky  and Taxi Driver were the other four — Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory might have gotten the recognition it deserved. As it stands, this gorgeous Woody Guthrie biopic — which netted a second Oscar for the late cinematographer Haskell Wexler — speaks profoundly to the relationship between the artist and the ravaged land that inspired and absorbed his music. Set during the height of the Great Depression, the film follows Guthrie (David Carradine) on a westward migration from his home in Dust Bowl Oklahoma to the fertile promise of California. Typical of Seventies heroes, Carradine's Guthrie is a flawed, difficult, enigmatic figure, but a potent symbol of righteousness and relief for a country that ached for understanding. ST

‘Amadeus’ (1984)

Based on Peter Shaffer's Tony-winning play, this lavish period drama puffs up the supposed rivalry between 18th-century composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) and Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) into a fabulously entertaining drama about male competiveness and the mystery of genius. Told through flashbacks, the film finds an elderly Salieri recounting his sad life, lamenting that his legacy has been erased because of Mozart's brighter star, which sets the stage for a story of envy and revenge. "With MTV on the scene, we [had] a three-hour film about classical music, with long names and wigs and costumes," director Milos Forman later recalled about the risk of bringing Amadeus to the screen, but its success (eight Oscars, including Best Picture) speaks to the film's timeless themes — not least of which is our collective nervous suspicion that, like Salieri, we're merely the supporting player in someone else's grand narrative. TG

‘8 Mile’ (2002)

Loosely inspired by Marshall Mathers' life as a struggling rapper in Detroit, 8 Mile is a 21st-century Rocky , with the man who dubbed himself Eminem bobbing and weaving through his first starring role. But there's no point worrying over the biographical details: What matters is that Em's naturalistic performance as the scrappy, blue-collar Rabbit embodied the same raw vulnerability and edgy candor that powered his music. (The movie isn't as shockingly funny as The Marshall Mathers LP , but it shares with that album the scared bravado of a troubled young talent ready to break free.) Directed by L.A. Confidential filmmaker Curtis Hanson, 8 Mile was a word-of-mouth hit that didn't settle for Hollywood fantasy or pat happy endings. When Eminem's steely underdog finally wins the big rap showcase, the moment of triumph quickly gives way to him having to catch his next shift at the auto plant — an apt illustration of the lowered expectations of the movie's working-class heroes. TG

‘Walk the Line’ (2005)

There are two ways of looking at this Johnny Cash biopic: As a middle-of-the-road highlight reel of formative childhood events, eureka moments, and the rise-and-fall (and rise again) trajectory of a great musician, or as a genuine standard-bearer for the genre. James Mangold's biopic walks on the right side of the line, mainly because it puts Cash's creative and personal relationship to June Carter at the heart of the movie and casts both roles perfectly. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon would be an odd romantic pairing in any circumstance — he brooding and self-serious, she bright and energetic — but that opposites-attract chemistry makes sense of their playful duets onstage (where both acquit themselves beautifully) and their charged relationship off it. ST

‘Straight Outta Compton’ (2015)

Produced by the surviving members of N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton is the authorized biography of the hip-hop trailblazers, and the worst thing that could be said about it is that Dr. Dre and Ice Cube have made a glossy monument to their own importance. But that's the best thing about it too: For inner-city black men forced to work with powerful white gatekeepers in the music industry — and getting ripped off most of the time — it's a triumph that they'd be the ones to print the legend nearly three decades later. The movie goes deep into the internecine squabbles, the Faustian bargains and the touring excesses that made N.W.A. such a volatile bunch, but the performance sequences are particularly electric. From Eazy-E finding his voice in the studio to the group getting arrested for singing "Fuck tha Police" in Detroit, the film rediscovers their lightning-in-a-bottle vitality. ST

‘The Buddy Holly Story’ (1978)

Big up Gary Busey, who sang Holly's songs live during the filming of Steve Rash's take on the late, great Texas rocker, and received a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for his efforts — he injected the film with a legitimate rock-and-roll energy of the sort rarely seen in Hollywood music films. Ultimately, the movie's lasting legacy is that it successfully re-introduced Holly's music to American listeners; at the height of the disco movement, the film's buzz helped propel the greatest hits collection Buddy Holly Lives to Number 55 on the Billboard album charts. DE

‘Sid and Nancy’ (1986)

Alex Cox's account of ex–Sex Pistol Sid Vicious' descent into drug addiction, culminating with the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, and his fatal heroin overdose, now looks less like punk than prog: It's a movie of grand, orchestrated gestures rather than guttural immediacy. (See the slow-motion shot of Vicious and Spungen kissing against a dumpster while trash rains from the sky above them.) But Gary Oldman's incarnation of Vicious' self-abnegating charisma is so magnetic than even the Pistols' John Lydon, who told Cox after seeing the film that he ought to be shot, was moved to praise the performance. And Chloe Webb's glass-shattering Nancy is the perfect soul-sucking Bonnie to his malignant Clyde. SA

‘Elvis’ (1979)

Several Elvis Presley biopics have been made since the King's premature death in 1977, but this John Carpenter-directed made-for-TV movie is still the one to beat. Still chiefly known for starring in live-action Disney films as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes,  Kurt Russell received an Emmy nomination for his memorable portrayal of the King, perfectly capturing the singer's brooding intensity without ever lapsing into parody. Russell didn't actually sing for the film — he lip-synced to vocals done by country artist Ronnie McDowell — but his performance sequences still tap deeply into the power and visceral excitement of Presely's stage presence. It doesn't soft-pedal the darker side of his personality, either; the scene in which Russell shoots up a hotel television may be as iconic as anything from any of Elvis' actual films. DE

‘Bird’ (1988)

Less of a straight-up biopic than a long, dreamlike series of impressionistic sequences, Clint Eastwood's atmospheric paean to jazz legend Charlie Parker focuses as much on the heroin addiction that shaped (and consumed) the man they called Bird's short life as on the development of his revolutionary sound. But Forest Whitaker delivers a monumental performance as the be-bop pioneer, fully radiating the joy, passion and torment of Parker's creative process. Eastwood doesn't dumb down the music or its milieu; part of the film's enduring appeal lies in its expertly staged nightclub scenes, which thrillingly transport the viewer back to the jazz demimonde of the Forties and Fifties. DE

‘I’m Not There’ (2007)

How do you possibly try to encapsulate the life of Bob Dylan — one of the rock era's greatest shape-shifters — in a single film? If you're Carol director Todd Haynes, by splitting that life into different eras and influences, casting everyone from Cate Blanchett to Richard Gere to Heath Ledger to Christian Bale to portray separate shards in Dylan's rich, confounding mosaic. I'm Not There is both thrilling and inquisitive, staying away from chronology and straight biography to grasp, in a larger sense, how Dylan remade the world while constantly reinventing himself over the years. On one level, the film is merely a joyride through cinematic styles — aping the look and feel of Godard, A Hard Day's Night , 8 1/2 and 1970s revisionist Westerns — but, more profoundly, it pays the singer-songwriter the highest compliment by crafting a fractured, often brilliant exploration that's as vibrant as the man it honors.  TG

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The 30 best films about music, chosen by musicians

M ovies about musicians, whether biopics, fictions or documentaries, are a fixture in cinema, but judging by the flurry of activity over the past 12 months – with acclaimed films about Aretha Franklin, Freddie Mercury and Elton John among others – we are in an uncommonly busy period, if not a flat-out golden age.

Good news for music fans, but even better news for the music industry, where these films represent an increasingly vital revenue stream in an era of slumped record sales, bumping a band’s back catalogue and getting a new generation hooked on their work.

There is, of course, far more to these movies than money-spinning: a good biopic or documentary can bring the songs to life, and illuminate the struggles of their creators. But what do musicians make of this lively cinematic category? We asked six eminent songwriters – including a few who have scored movies, and others who have been the subject of movies – to each pick their five favourite music films.

Born in 1980 to an English mother and Italian father, Anna Calvi grew up in Twickenham and studied music at Southampton University, specialising in violin and guitar. Her eponymous debut album , released in 2011, was nominated for a Mercury prize, as were her 2013 follow-up, One Breath , and her latest album, Hunter : “A serious-minded collection of pop songs about desire… [that] recalls the films of Douglas Sirk,” said the Guardian in a five-star review . Calvi recorded a track for the 2015 sci-fi movie Insurgent and has scored the new season of Peaky Blinders .

Walk the Line ( Drama; James Mangold, 2005 )

I watched this film about Johnny Cash’s early life and career before I was signed, and it gave me my first taste of what touring might be like. I remember thinking: ah, OK, that’s what to expect – driving around in great cars, hanging out with really famous singers and watching Elvis backstage. Sadly, touring for me is more about hanging out in a dressing room for hours and having cold rider food for dinner – not quite as glamorous. But this is a great film, and Joaquin Phoenix is really well cast as Cash – he’s got this bad-guy thing about him and seems a bit dangerous. And the songs are timeless.

Amy ( Documentary; Asif Kapadia, 2015 )

Such a devastating and beautiful film. It’s interesting to see Amy Winehouse as a young girl with raw talent, and watch how, like a wave, she goes up and up and up and then crashes. As a viewer, you feel almost guilty to be watching her – she was watched enough – but this is a respectful portrait and I like that it celebrates her music. A lot of the time, in films about female artists, they only focus on the tragedy of their emotional lives and not enough about how amazing their craft was – and with this film you definitely get a sense of what an amazing singer and songwriter she was. She was much more than someone with addiction problems: she was a singular talent.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch ( Drama; John Cameron Mitchell, 2001 )

This is about an East German singer who has a botched sex-change operation and is left with an “angry inch” of flesh between her legs. Moving to the US, she gets involved with another singer, who steals her songs and becomes famous, while Hedwig, played by the director John Cameron Mitchell, ends up playing in a chain of seafood restaurants called Bilgewater’s. It’s a beautiful film that touches on Greek mythology and the origins of love, as well as gender identity. It’s a lot of fun too – a comedy with a serious message. And the songs are great.

The Doors ( Drama; Oliver Stone, 1991 )

I remember watching this, stoned, while at university, and I think you kind of have to be stoned to watch it, because it’s so psychedelic and weird. I’ve always had a fascination with Jim Morrison and regularly I ask myself: “What would a female Jim Morrison do in this moment?”, because I like his commitment to the moment as a performer, and his shameless expression of his sexuality, which, as a woman, I think is a nice thing to exploit. I don’t know how I would feel watching this film now, not being stoned, but at the time it seemed like a really romantic portrayal of a poetic artist.

Whiplash ( Drama; Damien Chazelle, 2014 )

This is about what a music student who really wants to be great has to sacrifice to pursue greatness. It reminded me a little of my own experience at university, and how there’s such a difference between studying music, which is quite sterile, and then actually going out and doing it. You have to unlearn everything and just try to be honest, using your instrument to speak in a way that people can understand.

Andrew’s (Miles Teller) relationship with his music teacher in the film is very extreme, but I had music teachers at school who I felt really passionate about and who I wanted to get better for, so they would believe in me.

Neil Tennant

Neil Tennant co-founded the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys with Chris Lowe in London in 1981 and went on to sell more than 100m records worldwide, including the hits West End Girls and Always on My Mind. The duo have released 13 studio albums, with videos directed by Derek Jarman, Bruce Weber, Wolfgang Tillmans and Martin Parr. Their latest EP, Agenda , came out in February. They headline Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park on 15 September.

The Young Ones ( Drama; Sidney J Furie, 1961 )

A group of teenagers, led by Cliff Richard, rally together to stop a theatre being demolished. They succeed by putting on a show there. The Young Ones is a gorgeous fantasy, so optimistic and beautiful, about the potential of pop music for young people. It made me want to join a youth theatre, which I did a few years later, and it introduced the six-year-old me to the thrill of both pop music and theatre. They’re still thrilling me today.

Cracked Actor ( Documentary; Alan Yentob, 1975 )

As a huge David Bowie fan who was at the last Ziggy Stardust gig – when he said he was quitting, I remember turning round to my friend and saying, “As if!” – this BBC documentary from a couple of years later felt very special. And very new. It’s the document of Bowie in America, and gets you so close. He’s so vulnerable, sniffing – obviously taking cocaine – and looks like an alien; but when talking Alan Yentob through his old tour outfits, he’s still something of a chirpy cockney lad.

The film also shows the sharpness and originality of his musical mind, especially when he’s directing his amazing backing singers through their parts. It’s fascinating to see him at work as a musician.

Cabaret ( Drama; Bob Fosse, 1972 )

The story of singer Sally Bowles in the Weimar Republic, which came out late in 1972, into a very dreary Britain. I think of it as a glam-rock document, really: all those fantastic songs, confined to the stage, plus the brilliant makeup, in this frightening city. The notion of “divine decadence” was very intriguing when you were an 18-year-old student from Newcastle, recently arrived in London. It also had an impact on punk – look at Siouxsie Sioux: obviously influenced by Liza Minnelli. My friends and I would listen to the soundtrack in our Tottenham student flat, back-to-back with Lou Reed’s Transformer and Roxy Music’s second album. It had the same impact.

Song of Summer ( Drama; Ken Russell, 1968 )

This was a BBC Omnibus drama about a young composer from Yorkshire, Eric Fenby, in the late 1920s. He reads that the composer Delius, also from Yorkshire, is now blind, partly paralysed and can no longer compose, with work left unfinished. Fenby manages to help him deliver those last works.

It’s an elegiac film about the painful process of creating music and the end of a creative life. It’s very emotional, unsettling and moving. Delius is an incredibly tragic figure, both fragile and brutal. Russell was brilliant at creating images to accompany music.

The Wrecking Crew! ( Documentary; Denny Tedesco, 2008 )

A film about this extraordinary, charming, unegotistical group of LA session musicians in the 60s and early 70s who played on everything, and didn’t publicly get proper credit. They made Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, they played the backing tracks for the Beach Boys, they’re on Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ and Glenn Campbell’s Wichita Lineman (with Carol Kaye’s bassline). You realise all these records have a sound, and the sound is this band.

I wanted us to go to LA to make an album [ 2012’s Elysium ] and record in Capitol Studios because of this film. It’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen about the process of making pop music.

Nadine Shah

Born in South Tyneside to a Pakistani father and an English mother of Norwegian heritage, Nadine Shah has recorded three albums over the past six years, including Love Your Dum and Mad (2013) and Holiday Destination , which was nominated for a Mercury prize in 2018. The 33-year-old is currently recording a new album and plays the Legitimate Peaky Blinders festival in Digbeth, Birmingham on 14 September.

20,000 Days on Earth ( Documentary; Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, 2014 )

When you’ve got a favourite artist, you want to know everything about them, from their favourite colour to what they have for breakfast, and you get that with this Nick Cave documentary. It’s clear how every detail has been carefully and thoughtfully curated by him. I love the glimpse into the friendship between him and Warren Ellis when they’re discussing the time they met Nina Simone, and she said what she wanted to have after her gig: “I want champagne, cocaine and sausages!” They look like little boys when telling the story. It’s a beautiful insight into their world outside of music-making.

What Happened, Miss Simone? ( Documentary; Liz Garbus, 2015 )

A really definitive film about an incredible woman. She’s mint – the end! But seriously: I’m obsessed with the model Nina Simone set out for women. She allowed us to sing in lower, stranger registers. She made politics a central part of her art. She was uncompromising. The way her daughter leads her story in this film also gives it a really special perspective. You can’t help but feel humble before her.

Little Voice ( Drama; Mark Herman, 1998 )

A film that absolutely nails the experience of really wanting to perform – that feeling that you’re weird to do so when you’re not being encouraged – and of music being a brilliant form of escape. Even though I’m not working-class, the story described a world and an attitude to women I knew well.

It’s also about finding your identity through music, how you can find your own voice through singing other people’s songs. I used to do that myself as a child, trying to become Tina Turner by singing Private Dancer!

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man ( Documentary; Stephen Kijak, 2006 )

Years ago, I went to see this documentary with a friend, not knowing who Scott Walker was. When I came out of the cinema he was my new favourite artist. I’m absolutely not kidding! It was made at the time he made [2006 album] The Drift , and it sets out how he moved his career away from his early years, on his own terms. If you haven’t seen it, I swear you’ll be wanting to punch a piece of meat for percussion, as he does on Clara , by the end of it. It’s that good.

Vox Lux ( Drama; Brady Corbet, 2018 )

Natalie Portman plays a young teenage pop artist, Celeste, who starts making music after surviving a school shooting. Then it becomes a film about what the pop industry can do to people, what not to do within it, and about messiah complexes. It’s a really over-the-top, sinister film – it becomes almost alien. But it also reminds you to keep your ego in check, pull your baseball cap down, don’t get lost in the madness, and just keep working.

Wayne Coyne

Wayne Coyne is the lead singer of the Flaming Lips, which he founded in 1983. The band has released 15 studio albums, including At War With the Mystics , which won two Grammy awards in 2006. In 2005 he appeared in a documentary about the Flaming Lips called The Fearless Freaks , and three years later released his own sci-fi feature film, Christmas on Mars . Born in Pittsburgh in 1961, Coyne grew up in Oklahoma City, where he now lives with his wife and baby son.

Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii ( Documentary; Adrian Maben, 1972 )

This film changed my life. I wouldn’t have known it existed if I hadn’t gone to see a terrible Don Johnson movie, A Boy and His Dog , in a double bill with my brother. We’d see anything in Oklahoma City to pass the time, and we were the only kids in the theatre, smoking a joint. Then the second film came on.

I hadn’t known this period of Pink Floyd. It opened up a new world of music to me.

I was 16, wanting to be a rock star, and they actually talked about how they made their songs. I went out and bought a Stratocaster like Dave Gilmour’s soon after. I still can’t believe I had the luck to see it.

Cocksucker Blues (Documentary; Robert Frank, 1972)

This unreleased Rolling Stones documentary was a film you’d always hear about but know you’d never, ever see. Now I can watch it online anywhere within seconds. It’s better than you think. It shows just how insane their lives were while they were making some of their best music, in hotel rooms doing drugs, with all this weird shit going on. People who see them in stadiums now wouldn’t relate to those characters, but this proves they were always phenomenal, even in their craziest hours.

Woodstock (Documentary; Michael Wadleigh, 1970)

By contrast, everyone had seen Woodstock : this movie played and played. I saw it late, expecting to just watch this bunch of weird hippies rolling around and Jimi Hendrix popping up at the end. But the performances were great: this turned me on to the Who, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker. The editing was so ahead of its time, so dynamic. Woodstock really made people realise that music isn’t just about hearing it: it’s about seeing it, and getting more of the personalities behind it. About getting more of everything.

The Kids Are Alright

(Documentary; Jeff Stein, 1979)

More than any other band, the Who put that thing in me that made me who I am now, and this documentary told their story in a way that really zapped me. That connection you see between Pete Townshend and Keith Moon: you rarely see people get so possessed by their music, their energy and connection to each other. Then there’s Roger Daltrey being this flawless singer, an angel, in the chaos of it all.

This documentary shows how much of the band’s exuberance is in their music, and when we’re watching their performances being constructed, I don’t see them being fakes – I see them making art out of their imaginations.

Urgh! A Music War

(Live music compilation; Derek Burbidge, 1982)

Oklahoma City was a test city for MTV, and this compilation of US and UK punk rock bands – XTC, the Cramps, the Dead Kennedys – came out around the time, and had that same spirit. One song each, blam-blam-blam. You didn’t know who was American and who was English and it didn’t matter – what did was every band was doing it themselves and looking bizarre.

And in a world where you knew you could never be the Beatles, here was John Cooper Clarke performing to 50 people and being fantastic. That felt huge. Seeing the energy coming off the audience when he made that effort really did something to me.

Nitin Sawhney

A musician and composer, Nitin Sawhney was born in London in 1964 and raised in Kent by parents who had emigrated from Punjab. He started as a comedy writer, working with Sanjeev Bhaskar on a sketch show that would eventually become Goodness Gracious Me . He has released 11 solo albums, including 1999 breakthrough Beyond Skin , and collaborated with Paul McCartney, Akram Khan and the London Symphony Orchestra. Sawhney has scored TV programmes, computer games and more than 50 films, including Mira Nair’s The Namesake (2006).

Control ( Drama; Anton Corbijn, 200 7 )

An incredibly bold portrait of Ian Curtis’s life, which manages to take his story away from mythology really convincingly. You’re shown a young man trying to balance life in music and his illness with a domestic existence, and the performances of Sam Riley as Curtis and Samantha Morton as his wife, Deborah, are very powerful.

I wasn’t a huge Joy Division fan when they were around – I was studying nearby in Liverpool – but this film absolutely captures the mood of that time, as does the black-and-white cinematography. It also nails that struggle of being an artist and a human being. That isn’t captured enough.

Latcho Drom ( Documentary; 1993, Tony Gatlif )

This film traces the evolution of flamenco, from its origins in India through Egypt, through eastern Europe to the west – “latcho drom” means safe journey. The director is Romany himself, and there’s no narrator, so the story is told through song and subtitles with no contrivance at all. You feel properly immersed in new worlds as a result – I play flamenco, and you feel the echoes of ancient traditions in it, but this is something else. The most powerful scene is of three women singing on a hilltop about how they’ve been disenfranchised. It’s unbelievably moving.

Searching for Sugar Man ( Documentary; Malik Bendjelloul, 2012 )

A superb documentary about the once little-known American singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, and his huge popularity in South Africa, which starts with a rumour about him killing himself by setting fire to himself on stage. His real story then reveals itself to be very different.

This film delves into mythology, how it develops, and the way we elevate musicians as beacons in culture. It’s also a film about an incredibly underrated guy, and how difficult it was to find lost stars before the internet took off. It couldn’t happen now.

This Is Spinal Tap ( Comedy; Rob Reiner, 1984 )

I’ve played in heavy rock bands, funk bands, jazz bands, and this film captures the hilarious madness of touring life: the egos of musicians and managers, the pedantry behind getting the right things on riders, the bathos behind big epic concerts… I got lost in a labyrinth of corridors before getting to the stage once, just like Spinal Tap!

This remains a tour bus favourite because of the attention to detail, particularly in the actors’ performances. I couldn’t believe it when I realised that Michael McKean from Better Call Saul was the guy who played David St Hubbins. But of course he was. He was always that good.

Bird ( Drama; Clint Eastwood, 1988 )

A beautiful film about Charlie Parker, played brilliantly by Forest Whitaker, and directed by an actor who’s obviously a big jazz fan. Bird really shows you how ludicrously gifted Parker was, how his mind worked on a completely different level, but also how much he got lost in self-loathing, and how addiction made everything fall apart. Parker was 34 when he died, but the coroner thought he was 60, looking at his body. By getting into the New York club scene and looking at aspects of racism, this film also shows just how much Parker achieved, given everything he was fighting against.

Anna Meredith

Anna Meredith was born in London in 1978 and grew up outside Edinburgh. She studied music at York University and the Royal College of Music and spent several years as composer in residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Her debut album, Varmints , won the Scottish album of the year award in 2016. Last year she recorded the soundtrack for Eighth Grade , and her music was used in the films Dheepan (2015) and The Favourite (2018). Meredith’s new album, Fibs , will be released on 25 October.

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé ( Documentary; Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Ed Burke, 2019 )

Homecoming tells the story behind Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella show, which makes a huge statement about the importance of African American education and the college experience. It cuts through the idea of pop stars just arriving into culture, being presented to the world as if they’re just naturally talented and what they do is absolutely no effort.

Beyoncé works so hard! She’s on top of every detail – the choreography, the costumes, the lighting, the staging – and it’s so great seeing a woman so much in charge of her ideas. It makes you want to work harder.

The Making of West Side Story ( Documentary; Christopher Swann, 1985 )

This documentary is about the Leonard Bernstein-conducted recording of the score in the 80s, with Kiri Te Kanawa and José Carreras. That soundtrack was a staple at home when I was growing up – we had this glossy, massive four-cassette tape box of it.

Bernstein is such an interesting person: temperamental, feisty, impatient, funny, smoking cigarettes in his red polo neck. And to see him conduct his music – this incredible, ambitious, interesting, crazy, heartbreaking music, which is never schmaltzy, but crunchy and angsty, and then with these moments of release – is really amazing.

George Michael: Freedom ( Documentary; David Austin & George Michael , 2017)

This was made before George died and released shortly after, so you can’t watch it without a lump in your throat. He’s such a brilliant musician, an effortless singer, but also just an ordinary, interesting guy with a natural gift.

I used to have this unhealthy habit of playing his songs when I was drunk and maudlin. I love how this film shows how he took control of his image early on, and how we see the lyrics to Freedom as being so astute, not vacuous at all. He’s also funny and filthy – the kind of person you’d love to have a drink with. It’s so sad that he’s not here.

A Mighty Wind ( Comedy; Christopher Guest, 2003 )

A great mockumentary about a reunion of three folk bands that’s gently observed but also spot-on. I love how it quietly gets behind the scenes into the backbiting and the jealousy that leads up to their reunion concert, and I especially love the attitudes towards the shiny sellouts. The characters are so well done, too – the troubled former couple, the old-school trio, the Folksmen – but not every moment is mined for gags, which is what makes it work. You can tell everyone taking part genuinely loves music, and that’s why Christopher Guest always gets it right.

Queen: Days of Our Lives ( Documentary; Matt O’Casey, 2011 )

I was a teenager when I got into Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody was everywhere after it was on Wayne’s World . There’s so much joy in their music, a real not-giving-a shit-ness. It’s great to see them in this documentary being these normal, geeky people. You see all the mundanity that goes on behind the scenes of Freddie’s showmanship on stage, plus there’s the unexpectedness of hearing his gentle English accent. Then you hear him live, and see the sweat in his moustache, and it’s spine-tingling.

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25 Musical Biopics That Actually Rock

From Joy Division to Mozart.

Moviegoers love to see movies based on true stories, which is part of the reason musical biopics are so popular. The other being, of course, that the musicians who are the subjects of such movies themselves are also incredibly popular. There's something exhilarating about watching a movie about a famous singer, seeing a behind-the-scenes look at the songs we know so well. These movies often show us what we don't get to see on stage: the struggles, the determination, the falls from grace. And there's definitely something appealing about watching actors perform as musicians—either lip-syncing along to famous tracks or tackling vocals themselves. While there are almost too many movies about musicians to count, here are the 25 best musical biopics ever made.

25. The Runaways

Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart star as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett, respectively, in this behind-the-scenes look at the early days of teen girl rock band The Runaways. Michael Shannon co-stars as infamous record producer Kim Fowley in this movie based on Currie's memoir.

24. The Doors

Oliver Stone lends his outrageous hand to this biopic of Jim Morrison, The Doors, and the wild sex, drugs, and rock and roll of the '60s counterculture. Meg Ryan and Kyle MacLachlan co-star as Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson and bandmate Ray Mazarek, respectively.

23. Nowhere Boy

Julia Baird's memoir of her brother John Lennon serves as the basis for this biopic about the musician's early life, which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the young man who would become one of the most famous musicians in the world.

22. Love & Mercy

This biopic of Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson stars Paul Dano and John Cusack as the musician. Love & Mercy alternates between Wilson in the 1960s, during the recording of the seminal album Pet Sounds , and the 1980s, depicting his struggles with mental illness and his psychotherapy program.

21. Get On Up

Years before Black Panther , Chadwick Boseman had a starring role as the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown, in this underrated biopic that co-stars Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Dan Aykroyd.

20. Bound for Glory

An early standout in the contemporary musical biopic genre, Bound for Glory stars David Carradine as legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. Hal Ashby's gorgeous film earned six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and won the award for Best Cinematography.

19. The Buddy Holly Story

Gary Busey earned an Oscar nomination (you read that right) for his iconic performance as rock musician Buddy Holly. The 1978 film is another classic biopic that set the standard for the genre, charting Holly's successful but short career—and his lasting impact on American culture.

Ethan Hawke co-wrote and directed this biopic of the often-overlooked singer-songwriter Blaze Foley (Ben Dickey), who helped spawn the Texas outlaw movement that later made Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson major stars. The film follows Foley's unconventional life and career—both cut tragically short.

17. Lady Sings the Blues

Diana Ross made her film debut in this Motown-produced film about the turbulent life of jazz great Billie Holiday, adapted from her own autobiography. Co-starring Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor, the biopic follows Holiday from her humble roots, to stardom, to her subsequent heroin addiction and career comeback.

16. 24 Hour Party People

The Manchester music scene from the late '70s to the early '90s serves as the backdrop to Michael Winterbottom's cult classic, which stars Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson, the Factory Records head responsible for the success of Joy Division and New Order.

15. Control

Photographer Anton Corbijn's directorial debut tells the story of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis (Sam Riley), one of the most compelling performers in the late-'70s post-punk scene. Based on the memoir of Curtis's wife, Deborah (played here by Samantha Morton), the film is shot in stark black and white—a stylistic choice that compliments Joy Division's dark and moody songs.

14. La Vie En Rose

Marion Cotillard's breakout performance as famed French singer Édith Piaf—whose life was marked with tragic events as she rose from an impoverished young street performer to international star—earned the actress an Oscar.

13. Velvet Goldmine

While it's not a true David Bowie biopic—Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays an androgynous musician named Brian Slade, modeled on Bowie, Jobriath, and Marc Bolan—he did threaten to sue writer-director Todd Haynes for his glam rock epic that co-stars Christian Bale as a music journalist and Ewan McGregor as a Iggy Pop-Lou Reed hybrid.

The short life and career of Tejano music star Selena is the subject of this movie, which stars Jennifer Lopez in her breakout film role. The film portrays Selena's rise as a singer who breaks out of the Latino music scene and becomes an international pop star before she was murdered by the president of her fan club.

Clint Eastwood directs Forest Whitaker in this Oscar-winning film about jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, who battles mental illness and drug addiction throughout much of his life—but whose signature style of performing changed the jazz world forever.

Eminem plays Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith in this slightly fictionalized film based on his own life as a young white rapper who breaks free from an abusive household in Detroit and becomes a rap superstar. (The rapper won an Oscar for Best Original Song for the film's famous track, "Lose Yourself.")

Jamie Foxx nabbed an Oscar for his realistic portrayal of R&B legend Ray Charles, who went from a blind child of sharecroppers in the South to one of the greatest American musicians of all time.

8. Straight Outta Compton

Hip-hop biopics are becoming a dime a dozen (you can skip the films about Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac), but Straight Outta Compton offers a powerful and emotional look behind the founding and early success of N.W.A. (and features O'Shea Jackson Jr. playing his own father, Ice Cube).

7. Walk the Line

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon both won Oscars for their performances in this film about country musicians Johnny Cash and June Carter, following Cash's career as a solo artist and eventual musical and romantic partner to Carter.

6. Sid and Nancy

Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb give incredible—maybe even unbelievable—performances as Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, whose love affair devolves into drug abuse, violence, and Nancy's murder—all set against the rise of the punk scene in late-'70s London.

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The Best Music Biopics Of All Time

Over 900 music fans have voted to shape these rankings of the best music biopics of all time. With its unique blend of documentary and drama, a great music biopic can transport you into the world of your favorite artist - their struggles, successes, and everything in between.

From the Ray Charles's  Ray  to Johnny Cash's Walk The Line , some of cinema's most memorable films have been based on real-life musicians. It takes real skill for filmmakers to capture an artist’s essence while keeping them grounded in reality, but when they succeed it results in cinematic magic - moments that stay with us long after the credits roll.

For those who want a more accurate portrait than fiction can provide, there are plenty of documentaries about famous musicians available too. Whether it's Queen or Elton John that you're interested in learning more about, this list has something for everyone. So why not take a look at our ranking and see which music biopics come out on top? Then be sure to vote up your favorites so they rise even higher.

Walk the Line

Johnny Cash and June Carter

• # 364 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 8 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 12 of 99 on The Greatest Movie Soundtracks Of All Time

Ray Charles

• # 34 of 99 on The Best Period Movies Set in the '80s
• # 40 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 141 of 675 on The Best Movies Roger Ebert Gave Four Stars

Bohemian Rhapsody

Freddie Mercury and Queen

Coal Miner's Daughter

Loretta Lynn

• # 220 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 14 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 47 of 99 on The Greatest Movie Soundtracks Of All Time

Ritchie Valens

• # 35 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 17 of 99 on The Greatest Movie Soundtracks Of All Time
• # 9 of 171 on The Best Movies About Music

What's Love Got to Do with It

Tina Turner

• # 15 of 99 on The Best Period Movies Set in the '80s
• # 44 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 11 of 80 on Great Historical Black Movies Based On True Stories

• # 79 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 250 of 279 on 'Old' Movies Every Young Person Needs To Watch In Their Lifetime
• # 23 of 86 on The Best Movies Of 1991, Ranked

• Dig Deeper... Everything The J. Lo Movie Got Wrong About The Meteoric Rise And Tragic End Of Selena Quintanilla
• # 19 of 99 on The Best Period Movies Set in the '80s
• # 116 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story

The Sound of Music

The Von Trapp Family Singers 

• Dig Deeper... The Real Story Behind ‘The Sound of Music’ Is Far More Depressing Than The Film
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• And Deeper... Every Song in The Sound of Music, Ranked by Singability

The Buddy Holly Story

• # 101 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 95 of 199 on The Best Movies Of The '70s, Ranked
• # 17 of 171 on The Best Movies About Music

Straight Outta Compton

• # 33 of 99 on The Best Period Movies Set in the '80s
• # 131 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 5 of 89 on The Greatest African American Biopics

Great Balls of Fire!

Jerry Lee Lewis

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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• # 174 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 19 of 96 on The Very Best Oscar-Winning Movies For Best Picture

The Pianist

Wladyslaw Szpilman

• # 126 of 262 on The 200+ Best War Movies Of All Time
• # 4 of 133 on The Most Utterly Depressing Movies Ever Made
• # 22 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story

Don Shirley

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• # 69 of 96 on The Very Best Oscar-Winning Movies For Best Picture

Sweet Dreams

Patsy Cline

• # 90 of 96 on The 90+ Best Movies Of 1985, Ranked
• # 106 of 171 on The Best Movies About Music
• # 30 of 50 on The Best Country Movies, Ranked

Jersey Boys

Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons

The Runaways

• # 195 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 49 of 58 on The Best Movies Based on Non-Fiction Books
• # 138 of 185 on Movies With The Best Soundtracks

Sid and Nancy

Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen

• # 313 of 675 on The Best Movies Roger Ebert Gave Four Stars
• # 56 of 171 on The Best Movies About Music
• # 65 of 87 on The Best Movies of 1986

James Brown

• # 194 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 12 of 89 on The Greatest African American Biopics
• # 22 of 80 on Great Historical Black Movies Based On True Stories

The Glenn Miller Story

Judy Garland

Cadillac Records

Leonard Chess

• # 152 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 17 of 89 on The Greatest African American Biopics
• # 25 of 80 on Great Historical Black Movies Based On True Stories

Love & Mercy

Brian Wilson

• # 71 of 99 on The Best Movies Of 2015
• # 191 of 228 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 83 of 97 on The Best Period Movies Set in the '80s

Lady Sings the Blues

Billie Holiday

• # 179 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 42 of 54 on The Best Movies 'Loosely' Based On True Stories
• # 32 of 89 on The Greatest African American Biopics

Beyond the Sea

Bobby Darin

• # 5 of 15 on 15 Actor Passion Projects That No One Wanted To See
• # 66 of 106 on Great Movies That Take Place In The '60s
• # 5 of 14 on The Most Wildly Inaccurate Biopics Of Famous Musicians And Bands

Immortal Beloved

Ludwig van Beethoven

• # 274 of 279 on 'Old' Movies Every Young Person Needs To Watch In Their Lifetime
• # 60 of 80 on The Best Period Romance Movies
• # 4 of 14 on The Most Wildly Inaccurate Biopics Of Famous Musicians And Bands
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Lists that rank some of cinema's most delightful productions: musicals.

The best music biopics: great films about musical icons

Stories of the great, the good, and the ugly.

With Elvis' biopic a hit, proving that there is a lot of life yet underused genre, we thought it time to run down the best music biopics.

Considering that they’re the world’s two premier art forms, it’s surprising how rarely movies have attempted to tell the stories of famous musicians.

Perhaps the replication of live performances, and the difficulty of portraying musical icons produces a barrier; there’s no doubt that to truly pull off a memorable biopic, an extraordinary lead performance is required.

Luckily, on at least 20 occasions, this has been achieved: we present our list of the must-see musical biopics in movie history.

The best music biopics

1 . Elvis (2022)

For those looking for a more grounded biopic of Elvis, then head to John Carpenter's fantastic TV movie (starring Kurt Russell). If you want want one that's bombastic, full of pomp and ceremony and frames the Elvis story around his devious manager Colonel Tom Parker (a cartoon-like Tom Hanks), then this is for you. It's filled and fuelled by the exuberance you have come to expect from director Baz Luhrmann but it's the central performance by Austin Butler that is standout here.

2 . Walk The Line (2005)

Telling the full, legendary story of the man in black was always going to be a difficult task and Walk The Line decided to focus mainly on the early years of the Johnny Cash story. Despite apparently believing that there were at least ten other actors better suited to the role, Joaquin Phoenix turned in a towering performance as the country legend, with Reese Witherspoon matching him as the great June Carter - both also producing fantastic vocal performances which did justice to the talents of their subjects. The story didn’t skirt around Johnny’s many issues with drug addiction and was, at times, a harrowing watch. While it would be great to see another biopic explore the fascinating latter stages of his life, Walk The Line will do very nicely for now.

3 . ​Straight Outta Compton​ (2015)

Straight Outta Compton may be an official biopic (it was sanctioned by the remaining members of NWA) but there's still a brilliant menace to the whole thing. It's a powerful film filled with fantastic performances (O'Shea Jackson Jr is brilliant as his dad Ice Cube and Corey Hawkins nails Dr Dre) and a soundtrack that brought Dre himself out of retirement to produce.

4 . Ray (2004)

A movie that took director Taylor 15 years to make, it was well worth the wait, as Jamie Foxx’s stunning performance as Ray Charles won him an Oscar and kick-started his acting career. In addition, the movie was a box office hit, grossing over $120m. The only negative about the entire project was Charles himself sadly dying months before the premiere: we’re sure he would have approved of the finished film.

5 . Rocketman (2019)

Bohemian Rhapsody may have gotten all of the accolades when it was released around the same time, but Rocketman is a much more assured, honest biopic. Taron Egerton steps into the specs of Elton John and makes the role his own, with flamboyance and frailty. It's a film about excess and all the trappings that come with that - even though it is produced by Elton, there are moments that will surprise. Directed by Rhapsody's Dexter Fletcher , here he offers up a more surreal, kaleidoscopic vision of his subject matter and the movie is all the more better for it.

6 . The Doors (1991)

A film full of faults but for the central performance of Val Kilmer alone, this movie needs to be on the list. Kilmer is Doors' frontman Jim Morrison, all leather, posturing and psychedelia. The movie has the tics of every Oliver Stone movie (politics, surrealism, the 60s) but still manages to be a coherent look at one of the most influential bands of all time.

7 . Love & Mercy (2014)

Criminally under seen, Love & Mercy is a superb biopic focusing on the life of Brian Wilson. Set in two timelines, Wilson is played by two fantastic actors: Paul Dano in his younger years and John Cusack in his latter. Layered with pathos for the troubled genius behind the band, the focus of the film is on both the making of Pet Sounds and Wilson in an extreme type of therapy in the '80s. Don't come expecting a linear movie, but do expect a fantastic watch.

8 . Great Balls of Fire (1989)

A fascinating look at one of the more controversial characters in rock and roll history, Great Balls Of Fire told the story of Jerry Lee Lewis. An astonishing piano player, and musical visionary, he was predicted to usurp Elvis as the king of rock and roll until a scandal erupted when he married his 13-year-old cousin. Dennis Quaid shone, playing Lewis, who also had to battle with alcoholism throughout his career. For the record, Lewis himself disliked the movie, but praised Quaid, saying, “he really pulled it off”. Goodness gracious: that’s a compliment.

9 . Amadeus (1984)

Milos Forman's Amadeus is one of the grandest music biopics around. While it's based around fictionalised events, it follows an idea that has been around for centuries - that Mozart and Italian composer Antonio Salieri were at war with each other. Here we see that feud take place in the most grandiose manner. This tale of jealousy and genius and the toll is takes on mental health is dazzling.

10 . 24 Hour Party People (2002)

A total riot of a film, this purported to tell the story of Manchester TV and Music impresario Tony Wilson (played by Steve Coogan, who was seemingly born for the role), but as the legendary figure admitted during the course of the picture, “I’m a minor character in my own story”. Really, this film was an excuse to chart and champion the music of the golden period of Manchester music, featuring a host of huge and cult names: Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, Vini Reilly, Quando Qunago and many more besides, many guided by the genius/lunatic producer Martin Hannett. As if this wasn’t enough, it told the story of the rise of the acid house scene. How truthful was all of it though? As Wilson was fond of saying, “If it’s a choice between the truth and the legend, print the legend.”

11 . What’s Love Got To Do With It (1993)

A huge hit, but also a controversial one, with a host of scenes and storylines disputed by the parties involved. However, what was not disputed was that it was a gripping film, which captured the essence of Tina Turner’s fighting spirit and inner strength, as well as her incredible talent and pure star-quality. Whitney Houston was originally offered the role of Tina, but had to decline after becoming pregnant; no matter, as Angela Bassett turned in a powerhouse performance, matched by Laurence Fishburne as the domineering Ike.

12 . Control (2007)

The first feature film directed by legendary photographer Anton Corbijn and boy, did it show. This was a visually stunning film but, of course, it would have been nothing without the, in turns, inspiring and heartbreaking story of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis being told in a sensitive and compelling fashion. Thankfully, for Joy Division fans everywhere, this was achieved with aplomb - not least due to Sam Riley’s stirring performance as Curtis - incredibly his first appearance in a movie.

13 . La Vie en Rose (2007)

La Vie En Rose features a powerhouse performance by Marion Cotillard as French singer Édith Piaf who had one hell of a life. Rising from poverty - she was brought up by her grandmother in the Paris slums - to the superstar singer she became, this movie has a scattershot approach to telling Piaf's tale. It lingers longer than it should but you can't help be enthralled by the brilliant Cotillard.

14 . The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

Yes, Gary Busey is 10 years too old to play the twenty-something Buddy Holiday but that doesn't matter when he puts in such a blistering performance. For the most part you will forget you are watching Busey as he it perfect in a film that plays a little with historical accuracy but is a great, straight-laced music biopic about a genius who was taken far too soon.

15 . Nowhere Boy (2009)

A UK-produced film which received widespread acclaim, Nowhere Boy told the story of John Lennon’s teenage years between 1955-1960, eschewing the more famous era of his life and thus becoming arguably more intriguing. This biopic had many parallels with Control - a director principally famous for photography in Sam Taylor-Wood, and Matt Greenhalgh writing the screenplay, as he did for the Ian Curtis film. A young Aaron Johnson starred as Lennon, receiving widespread plaudits, and even ended up marrying Taylor-Wood. Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono both gave their blessing to the film - so if it can unite those two, it must have been good - and it was.

16 . Last Days (2005)

In may ways a simple film, Last Days is almost hypnotic in how normal the movie is. Showcasing the last days of Kurt Cobain (framed around a musician called Blake, played by Michael Pitt), there's no big incident to latch on to - and not much music per se - as we watch the musician steep further into their mental decline. It will be seen as boring for some, but there is something poetic and unsettling about Last Days that kept us gripped.

17 . Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010)

Forget Gollum, the best performance Andy Serkis has done so far in his impressive career is that of Ian Dury. This music biopic about the punk who was stricken by polio early in his life is a brilliant look at the singer. This is one of the more experimental biopics on this list.

18 . Sid And Nancy (1986)

Appropriately, given the subject matter, Sid & Nancy was a controversial film, with John Lydon strongly criticising the whole thing (bar Gary Oldham’s performance as Sid) as being far removed from the reality of events - stating that “this movie is the lowest form of life”. However, critics disagreed as well as audiences - eventually; it was a box office flop, but has since established itself as a cult classic. Whatever people’s opinions, it was an essential look at one of the most fascinating characters in music history, made all the more intriguing by the fact that no-one really knows what the true story of the eponymous characters’ ending was. In addition, it created a couple of trivia classics: a pre-Hole and Kurt Cobain Courtney Love starred in a minor role after auditioning for Nancy and all five original members of Guns ‘n’ Roses were hired independently as extras for a club scene.

19 . I’m Not There (2007)

Trying to tell the life story of Bob Dylan was always going to be a herculean task, so I’m Not There took a cleverly alternative approach instead. Strictly speaking, a biographical musical film rather than a straight biopic - indeed, the only time Dylan’s name appears in the film is in a caption at the start - it used six different actors to depict different elements of the ever-changing Dylan’s life. It was a successful way to tackle a compelling and chameleonic life, and was also notable for being one of the last movies to feature Heath Ledger.

20 . Notorious (2009)

The story of Biggie Smalls is a real rags to riches tale, following his journey from drug dealing hustler to world famous rap star, but sadly there was no happy ending, as the East Coast-West Coast rivalry span out of control, taking the lives of both Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Not a perfect film by any means, but a fascinating look at a hip hop icon - and, of course, the soundtrack is impeccable.

• The best end credit songs in movies.

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Additional reporting Marc Chacksfield

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Top 15 Music Biopics: The Best Movies about Musicians

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25 best biopics about musicians, according to critics

A biopic is a biographical film made about great historical figures, actors, and musicians. They tell fascinating stories, and many are peppered with a mix of fact and fiction. These films focus on childhood, rise to fame, major life achievements, relationships, and even loss and death. They inform and entertain, providing life stories for some of the most entertaining people who have ever lived.

Musical biopics, a subgenre of the biopic, cover the lives of some of the greatest musicians. Whether it is the story of a Beach Boy who struggled under the control of an abusive therapist or a country music legend and the woman who helped him battle his addiction or the tragic tale of a rock star taken too soon, these films shine an entertaining light on lives we can only imagine, and often have.

To celebrate these remarkable stories, Stacker took a look at all the biographical movies on Metacritic and ranked the top 25 biopics about musicians. To qualify as a music biopic, the film had to feature actors portraying real musicians. Films were ranked by Metascore and ties were broken by their rank among all biography films on the list, a much larger list that includes documentaries and films on non-musician subjects of all kinds.

#25. 'La Bamba' (1987)

- Director: Luis Valdez - Metascore: 65 - Rank among all biographical films: #645

This popular 1980s film focuses on the brief but meaningful life of Ritchie Valens, who was 17 when he died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The title of the film is based on Valens' hit song, which was adapted from a traditional Mexican folk song often played at weddings. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips played the young rock star, and Esai Morales played his brother Bob Morales.

#24. 'La Vie en Rose' (2007)

- Director: Olivier Dahan - Metascore: 66 - Rank among all biographical films: #609

Édith Piaf becomes one of France's greatest singers despite the tragic circumstances surrounding her as she grows up the daughter of an alcoholic mother, who sang on the streets, and a circus performer father in "La Vie en Rose." Marion Cotillard stars as Piaf and Gérard Depardieu stars as Louis Leplée, the nightclub owner who discovered the singer and who would eventually be murdered .

#23. 'Jimi: All Is by My Side' (2013)

- Director: John Ridley - Metascore: 66 - Rank among all biographical films: #591

Rapper André 3000 was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his performance as rocker Jimi Hendrix. The film focuses on the making of Jimi Hendrix who started out in New York as James Hendrix, a guy who played the guitar and moved to London to establish his career. Hendrix would go on to become arguably one of the greatest guitar players of all time before his death at 27 from a drug overdose in 1970.

#22. 'Nowhere Boy' (2009)

- Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson - Metascore: 67 - Rank among all biographical films: #581

Chronicling John Lennon's boyhood and teen years, "Nowhere Boy" also examines the musician's relationship with two important women in his life—his absent mother, who eventually reappeared, and Mimi, the strict aunt who raised him. The film, based on the biography written by Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird, also explores how John started the band the Quarrymen, which eventually became The Beatles, and it also documents the first time he met Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Lennon, and Kristin Scott Thomas plays Aunt Mimi.

#21. 'Selena' (1997)

- Director: Gregory Nava - Metascore: 67 - Rank among all biographical films: #580

Before becoming "J.Lo," Jennifer Lopez played Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, who left her mark on fans and the world before her life ended at 23. The film touches on Selena's childhood, her relationship with her family, and her romance and marriage to Chris Pérez, and features her rise to fame as well as her tragic shooting death by Yolanda Saldívar, an obsessed fan and head of her fan club.

#20. 'The Sapphires' (2012)

- Director: Wayne Blair - Metascore: 67 - Rank among all biographical films: #575

All-girl group the Sapphires head to Vietnam to entertain the troops from their native Australia with the help of a talent scout played by Chris O'Dowd in this musical comedy. The film is based on a play by Tony Briggs, which is loosely based on the true story of Briggs' own mother and aunt. Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, and Miranda Tapsell play the Sapphires.

#19. 'Last Days' (2005)

- Director: Gus Van Sant - Metascore: 67 - Rank among all biographical films: #564

The film "Last Days" is loosely based on Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's final days. Michael Pitt plays the Cobainesque musician Blake who lives out his existence in a beautiful but rundown mansion. Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth appears in the movie, which also stars Asia Argento, the daughter of Italian filmmaker Dario Argento.

#18. 'Leto' (2018)

- Director: Kirill Serebrennikov - Metascore: 69 - Rank among all biographical films: #488

In the 1980s, the Soviet city of Leningrad had an underground rock world, and "Leto" takes its inspiration from that scene. Loosely based on the lives of Viktor Tsoi and Mike Naumenko, two well-known rockers at the time, the film throws them into a mentor/mentee situation and adds a love triangle that includes Mike's wife. Roman Bilyk plays Mike and Teo Yoo plays Viktor in this film that blurs fact and fiction.

#17. 'Green Book' (2018)

- Director: Peter Farrelly - Metascore: 69 - Rank among all biographical films: #480

The title of this biopic is based on " The Negro Motorist Green Book ," a driving guide that allowed African Americans to avoid segregation on America's roadways during the Jim Crow era. The Oscar-winning film was inspired by the true story of the friendship that developed between African American pianist Donald Shirley and Italian American bouncer Tony "Lip" Vallelonga as they drove from Manhattan through the Deep South in 1962 for Shirley's musical tour, with the "Green Book" as their guide. Mahershala Ali plays Shirley and Viggo Mortensen plays Vallelonga.

#16. 'Rocketman' (2019)

- Director: Dexter Fletcher - Metascore: 69 - Rank among all biographical films: #472

Taron Egerton plays singer Elton John in this fantastical biopic based on the eccentric artist's life. Egerton also sang all of John's songs in the film that focuses on the musician's early breakthrough years. "Rocketman" snagged an Oscar for best achievement in music written for motion pictures for the original song, "I'm Gonna Love Me Again."

#15. 'Bound for Glory' (1976)

- Director: Hal Ashby - Metascore: 70 - Rank among all biographical films: #441

David Carradine plays singer Woody Guthrie in this film based on Guthrie's autobiography of the same name, which was published in 1943. Guthrie left Texas during the Dust Bowl and traveled throughout the country stirring up morale for the migrant laborers and eventually wrote the nation's new anthem, "This Land is Your Land."

#14. 'Get on Up' (2014)

- Director: Tate Taylor - Metascore: 71 - Rank among all biographical films: #436

Chadwick Boseman plays Godfather of Soul James Brown in "Get on Up." The film covers Brown's rags-to-riches story from his poverty-stricken childhood to his many brushes with the law and his rise as a musician. The film also stars Dan Aykroyd, Octavia Spencer, and Viola Davis as Susie Brown, James' mother.

#13. 'Walk the Line' (2005)

- Director: James Mangold - Metascore: 72 - Rank among all biographical films: #394

Based on country singer Johnny Cash's life, "Walk the Line" featured Joaquin Phoenix as the "Man in Black" and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, a member of country music's first family, the Carter Family. The film covered the accident that killed Cash's brother in his boyhood, his days in the military, his failed first marriage, the drug addiction that nearly killed him, and his romance and eventual marriage to June, which lasted until her death in 2003, four months before Cash's own death. Witherspoon won an Oscar for her portrayal of June Carter Cash.

#12. 'Straight Outta Compton' (2015)

- Director: F. Gary Gray - Metascore: 72 - Rank among all biographical films: #360

"Straight Outta Compton" is the story of legendary rap group N.W.A.'s rise to fame from the streets of Compton and its contribution to West Coast rap. Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, MC Ren, and D.O.C. are portrayed by Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, and Marlon Yates Jr., respectively, while Paul Giamatti plays manager Jerry Heller. The film was nominated for an Oscar for best writing, original screenplay.

#11. 'Ray' (2004)

- Director: Taylor Hackford - Metascore: 73 - Rank among all biographical films: #348

Based on the life of musician Ray Charles, "Ray" stars Jamie Foxx in the titular role. The film focuses on Ray's life from his humble southern roots to glaucoma that left him blind at 7 to his rise to fame beginning in the 1950s. Regina King and Kerry Washington also star in this biopic that won two Oscars, including one for Foxx for best performance by an actor in a leading role.

#10. 'I'm Not There' (2007)

- Director: Todd Haynes - Metascore: 73 - Rank among all biographical films: #331

Six different iterations of Bob Dylan are presented in this film that the musician approved himself. Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, and Marcus Carl Franklin all offer their take on Dylan's work and life when they play Bob Dylan. Blanchett received an Oscar nod for best performance by an actress in a supporting role for her work in "I'm Not There."

#9. 'Blaze' (2018)

- Director: Ethan Hawke - Metascore: 75 - Rank among all biographical films: #249

Based on Sybil Rosen's memoir, "Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley," the film focuses on the life and times of the Texas singer and songwriter. Rosen was Blaze's muse, and the film focuses on their relationship as well as the musician's turbulent life and career and eventual murder at 39. Alia Shawkat plays Rosen, and Ben Dickey plays Foley.

#8. 'What's Love Got to Do With It' (1993)

- Director: Brian Gibson - Metascore: 76 - Rank among all biographical films: #224

Starring Angela Bassett as rock legend Tina Turner and Laurence Fishburne as her volatile and abusive husband Ike Turner, "What's Love Got to Do With It" focuses on Turner's life, and their music and tumultuous relationship. The biopic is based on Turner's book "I, Tina," which she wrote with music journalist Kurt Loder. Both Bassett and Fishburne earned Oscar nods for their performances in the film.

#7. 'Sid and Nancy' (1986)

- Director: Alex Cox - Metascore: 76 - Rank among all biographical films: #217

"Sid and Nancy" is the story of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen and their volatile relationship from start to finish . Chloe Webb plays Nancy and Gary Oldman plays Sid. Courtney Love also stars in the film, making her film debut.

#6. 'The Buddy Holly Story' (1978)

- Director: Steve Rash - Metascore: 78 - Rank among all biographical films: #187

The film covers the life of Buddy Holly, including his musical success with hits like "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue," his marriage, the breakup and makeup with his band the Crickets, and his tragic death at 22 in 1959 with fellow musicians Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Gary Busey received an Oscar nomination for best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of the rock star.

#5. 'Hilary and Jackie' (1998)

- Director: Anand Tucker - Metascore: 78 - Rank among all biographical films: #161

Flutist Hilary du Pré-Finzi tells the story of her sister, classic cellist Jacqueline du Pré, whose life was cut tragically short after a battle with multiple sclerosis. The film was based on du Pré-Finz's book, "A Genius in the Family." Both Emily Watson, who played Jackie, and Rachel Griffiths, who portrayed Hilary, received Oscar nominations.

#4. 'Love & Mercy' (2014)

- Director: Bill Pohlad - Metascore: 80 - Rank among all biographical films: #136

Brian Wilson, the frontman of the 1960s band The Beach Boys, is brought to life in this film that documents his struggles with mental illness, his relationship with an abusive therapist, and the woman who helped him break free and eventually became his wife, Melinda Ledbetter. Elizabeth Banks plays Ledbetter, and John Cusack and Paul Dano both play Wilson.

#3. 'Shine' (1996)

- Director: Scott Hicks - Metascore: 87 - Rank among all biographical films: #45

Geoffrey Rush plays pianist David Helfgott in this film that documents Helfgott's breakdown and eventual return to the piano. Rush won an Oscar for best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of Helfgott and "Shine" received six additional Academy Award nominations.

#2. 'Coal Miner's Daughter' (1980)

- Director: Michael Apted - Metascore: 87 - Rank among all biographical films: #37

Sissy Spacek won an Oscar for best actress in a leading role for her portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn. The film is based on Lynn's 1976 bestselling memoir, "Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter," which tells of her years growing up in Butcher Holler, Kentucky; her marriage at a young age; and her rise to the top of country music. Spacek also sang all of Lynn's songs in the film.

#1. 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' (1942)

- Director: Michael Curtiz - Metascore: 89 - Rank among all biographical films: #30

American entertainer George M. Cohan, who during his childhood performed with his family as "The Four Cohans," a vaudeville act, went on to become an American treasure and the subject of "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Cohan was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for his Broadway hits like "The Yankee Doodle Boy" and "Give My Regards to Broadway," and the film itself was nominated for eight Oscars and won three, including best actor in a leading role for James Cagney, who played Cohan.

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50 music biopics to see before you die

From rap renegades to popstar sensations

Words by Mark Beaumont

’24 Hour Party People’

With Steve Coogan playing the missing link between Alan Partridge and Tony Wilson, Michael Winterbottom’s retelling of the Factory Records story (misadventure? Farrago?) was a ferocious rock ’n’ roll farce of a biopic shot through with tragedy, rebirth, vision, extravagance, blood-inked record contracts and some of the worst business decisions this side of Elon Twitter.

Where to watch: Prime Video

‘8 Mile’

Ostensibly fictional, Eminem ’s gritty cinematic debut as struggling Detroit battle rapper B-Rabbit was a semi-autobiographical outing more thinly veiled than Matt Hancock’s contempt for the public. Add in an award-winning original soundtrack and this de facto Marshall Mathers: The Movie began looking like rap’s own Rocky.

Where to watch: Netflix

‘Amadeus’

Deciding not to let the inconvenient facts of history get in the way of a good yarn, Peter Shaffer and Milos Forman concocted a fictional clash of the classical titans as the young, flighty and alcoholic Mozart – renowned pop star of the powdered wig – becomes embroiled in a deadly rivalry with court composer Antonio Salieri.

Where to watch: Rent it on Rakuten TV

‘Backbeat’

Recommended.

With anything beyond Beatlemania presumably considered too over-documented – or simply sanctified ground – filmmakers have leant towards The Beatles ’ lesser-known early years. And the tragic romance of original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and his fiancée Astrid Kirchherr, and his troubled relationship with John Lennon , was a fascinating, little-told story that helped illuminate the near-mythological Hamburg era, recreated for the soundtrack by a supergroup of Dave Grohl , Greg Dulli, Thurston Moore and Mike Mills.

Where to watch: Blu-ray available on Amazon

‘Behind The Candelabra’

Michael Douglas and Matt Damon won plaudits aplenty for their portrayals of one-man Vegas show Liberace and the “assistant” and lover he tried to mould into a younger version of himself, right down to actual plastic surgery. A case study in how loneliness, obsession and addiction can sometimes come emerald-studded.

‘Bird’

Forest Whitaker’s breakthrough performance was as revered jazz saxophonist Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker in Clint Eastwood’s time-hopping, impressionistic biopic, delving into his collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie at the dawn of bebop and his ultimately fatal descent into hard drugs. The jazz club scenes, though, offer full ’40s immersion.

Where to watch: Rent on Prime Video, YouTube and others

‘Blaze’

The stories of lesser-known figures meeting early ends before their genius is fully appreciated tend to add a heart-wrenching twist to the genre of tragic music biopics. Ethan Hawke’s evocative and music-filled tribute to country singer Blaze Foley who, after a string of misfortunes which saw all three of his studio album recordings confiscated, lost or stolen, was shot dead at 39.

Where to watch: Rent on Amazon Prime, Google Play and others

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

For all its powerful recreations of musical landmarks like the Live Aid set, it was Rami Malek’s Herculean achievement in bringing Freddie Mercury to life in all his stage-stealing glory that made the Queen biopic unmissable, and a bar-setter for the big name biopics to come.

Where to watch: Netflix and Disney+

‘Born To Be Blue’

The drug-drenched days of classic jazz proved rich territory for the music biopic in the wake of 1988’s Charlie Parker flick Bird . Robert Budreau’s semi-fictional portrait of Chet Baker, played by Ethan Hawke, was more cavalier with the facts than most, taking Baker’s biography as a launch point for its own engrossing interpretation of the master.

Where to watch: Freevee

‘Bound For Glory’

Loosely adapted from an already semi-fictional autobiography, Hal Ashby’s film about Woody Guthrie hitch-hiking and box-car jumping his way to Los Angeles to find work during the Great Depression, there to become a musical voice for downtrodden casual workers and one of radio’s first protest singers, was distant cousins to the truth by the time it reached the screen. But a beautiful evocation of Guthrie’s formative Americana and its marriage to the nation’s landscapes and principles nonetheless.

Where to watch: DVD available on Amazon

‘Cadillac Records’

Revolving around the colourful stories of Chuck Berry , Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Etta James and Howlin’ Wolf – played by a starry cast list including Mos Def and Beyonce – Cadillac Records was to Chicago of the 1940s-60s what 24 Hour Party People was to the Manchester of the 1970s-90s. Adrien Brody plays Leonard Chess of the legendary Chess Records, and even Keith Richards makes an appearance, albeit played by Marc Bonan.

Where to watch: Rent it on Apple TV, CHILI and more

‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’

Sissy Spacek perfectly captured Loretta Lynn through the ages, from troubled teens through honky-tonk hardships and the Grand Ole Opry to her years of celebrated – and equally troubled – 1960s successes. Recording the soundtrack herself, Spacek won an Oscar for her portrayal of the First Lady Of Country Music.

Where to watch: Rent it on Prime Video, Google Play and more

‘Control’

One-time NME photography legend and video director for U2 and Depeche Mode , Anton Corbijn was ideally placed to tell the cinematic story of Joy Division , based on Deborah Curtis’ book Touching From A Distance . His moody, monochrome visual aesthetic carried the film all the way to the Oscars.

Where to watch: Sky and Now Cinema

‘Creation Stories’

If Factory deserved a biopic, Creation was undoubtedly next of the rock ’n’ roll independent labels in line. Alan McGee ’s life has been lived as on-the-edge as many of the bands he signed (besides maybe Primal Scream ) and – in a film co-written by  Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh – Ewen Bremner captured his brash, wild-at-heart vivacity and vision, and the drug-fuelled chaos of the label itself, in this indie cinephile’s fantasia. Oasis , the Mary Chain, the Scream and My Bloody Valentine all feature and the soundtrack is virtually a Best Of of ‘80s and ‘90s indie rock.

Where to watch: NOW

‘Elvis’

Baz Luhrmann brought every ounce of his Moulin Rouge energy and pizazz to The King’s full biographical span, spotlighting his turbulent and exploitative relationship with Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). Austin Butler’s Elvis , meanwhile, challenged Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury for the most convincing on-screen rendition of a seemingly unplayable icon.

Where to watch: Rent it on Prime Video, Apple TV and more

‘Funny Girl’

With Barbra Streisand reprising her Broadway role in her first cinema outing, several stars were reborn with Funny Girl : Streisand as an acclaimed screen actress – she won an Oscar for a performance that Roger Ebert described as “more fun to watch than anyone since the young Katharine Hepburn” – and Fanny Brice, the singer, actress and comedienne from the 1920s whose life story, and stormy relationship with gambler Nicky Arnstein, was plucked from the annals of entertainment history, Hollywood-ed up a bit and transformed into one of the finest cinema musicals ever made.

‘Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life’

From his childhood in occupied France during WWII to his affairs with the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, Gainsbourg’s rise to fame might have been more charmed than heroic. But Joann Sfar’s biopic injected surrealist notes into an already mysterious life story – Gainsbourg’s animated alter-ego The Mug, for instance, guides him down dark paths at pivotal moments – making for a fantasy-meets-reality movie as enigmatic as Gauloises cigarette smoke.

Where to watch: Prime Video/Studio Canal

‘Get On Up’

From the pen of Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, James Brown ’s biopic was an unconventional, non-linear, stream-of consciousness affair, all the better to portray one of funk’s most conflicted characters: Godfather Of Soul, abusive husband, civil rights activist, gun-toting drug maniac and more. With this much drama, and Chadwick Boseman strutting and leaping like the sex machine in overdrive, who needs a fourth wall?

Where to watch: Rent it on Prime Video, Apple TV+ and more

‘Greetings From Tim Buckley’

Delivering two folk heroes for the price of one, Daniel Algrant’s Buckley dynasty biopic centres more around the younger Jeff than the elder Tim as he wrestles with the legacy of a father he’d only met once, as well as his own burgeoning talent. Sensitive and touching, it highlights the inter-generational power of music; a bloodline when all else is staunched.

Where to watch: Rent it on Google Play and YouTube

‘I’m Not There’

By his own calculation, Bob Dylan contains multitudes. In trying to capture him on celluloid, then, director Todd Haynes clearly decided one actor would never be enough. Instead, he cast six separate actors, including Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Cate Blanchett, to play separate fictionalised facets of Dylan’s persona, interlocking into a bizarre but brilliant impression of both myth and man.

Where to watch: ITVX

‘Jimi: All Is By My Side’

The simple idea of Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix – surely the most no-brainer casting in music biopic history – made Jimi… a must-watch. And, for all its faults (not least the factual ones, with Hendrix’s lover Kathy Etchingham proclaiming the depiction of her relationship with the guitar god “absolute nonsense”) ‘Dre’s charisma carried the film so convincingly you’d barely notice they couldn’t clear any of Hendrix’s songs.

Where to watch: Prime Video/Curzon

‘Judy’

Renée Zellweger earned herself an Oscar by taking on the life and songs of the iconic Judy Garland, revisiting her childhood and tortured Oz years in flashback from the struggles of her final year on the London stage. Zellweger’s barnstorming and heartbreaking renditions of Garland classics power the movie along; no Johnny One Note, she.

Where to watch: Disney+

‘La Bamba’

Overshadowed for several decades for the misfortune of having died in the same 1959 plane crash as Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens finally had his story told in La Bamba , a rags-to-far-too-brief-riches tale packed with drama, exuberance and sentimentality, which made stars of both Lou Diamond Phillips (as Valens) and soundtrack mainstays Los Lobos .

Where to watch: To rent on Amazon Prime, CHILI and more

‘Lady Sings The Blues’

Noting, perhaps, the awards heaped upon Streisand’s turn in Funny Girl , Diana Ross made the screen that bit more silver in the role of Billie Holiday , a part which was all diva but precious little glamour. Pulling no punches in portraying the drug and alcohol abuse which saw Lady Day dead at 44, this was Ross as downtrodden as we’ve ever seen her and Holiday as the very embodiment of the blues.

Where to watch: Roku

‘Last Days’

Gus Van Sant’s depiction of the final hours of Blake – a fictionalised Kurt Cobain (yes, it counts as a biopic) – was a solemn, mundane watch, encapsulating the thin façade of fame and the everyday nature of mental collapse. Michael Pitt’s blankness, whether entertaining Yellow Pages reps, dead-eyed in a rock club or simply wandering the house waiting for the right time to die, spoke volumes.

Where to watch: CHILI

‘La Vie En Rose’

The story arc of a legendary torch singer surviving a gritty childhood to rise to fame through the clubs, then descend into hard drugs and romantic trauma and die at 47 – particularly when told in non-linear flashback from backstage at their final show – has become something of a biopic cliché. But Olivier Dahan’s Edith Piaf movie transcended the genre largely thanks to Marion Cotillard’s Oscar winning (albeit lip-synced) performance.

Where to watch: Prime Video, Disney+ and more

‘Love & Mercy’

Flitting between the psychological tumult surrounding the recording of ‘Pet Sounds’ in 1966 and his mistreatment at the hands of Dr Eugene Landy in the 1980s, The Beach Boys ’ tortured keystone Brian Wilson received a sensitive and touching portrayal in Love & Mercy . Atticus Ross’ hallucinogenic soundtrack, melting Beach Boys harmonies into kaleidoscopic soundscapes, made it all the more relevant.

‘Lisztomania’

With Roger Daltrey playing Franz Liszt, Ringo Starr as the Pope and Rick Wakeman as Thor, Ken Russell’s surrealist fantasy vision of the world’s first pop star played merry hell with the facts – although, to be fair, history doesn’t record whether Liszt could maintain a 10-feet erection or cheated death to fly back to earth from heaven in a spaceship to destroy a vampire Wagner, who had transformed into a Frankenstein Hitler with a machine gun guitar. But everyone involved, including the modern viewer, has a blast.

Where to watch: Rent it on Prime Video, Apple TV+ and CHILI

‘Miles Ahead’

More time-hopping around the life of a drug-troubled jazzster, this time focusing on Miles Davis ’ reclusive late-‘70s period. Don Cheadle is convincing as the numbed-out Davis and Ewan McGregor brings the (fictionalised) drama as a music writer who convinces him to get his career back on track by chasing down lost recordings of recent work. As free-form as jazz itself, Miles Ahead was an impressionistic triumph.

Where to watch: Prime Video/Freevee

‘Notorious’

The first cinematic retelling of the East Coast-West Coast feud between Biggie Smalls and Tupac had all the trappings of a blockbuster – drugs, guns, sex, money, assassinations – but made for a more insightful, human experience by probing the man behind the hip-hop bravado. Naturi Naughton’s Lil’ Kim is a scene-stealer too.

‘Nowhere Boy’

Sam Taylor-Johnson’s directorial debut took Julia Baird’s biography of her half-brother John Lennon ’s early life as the basis for a dramatic dissection of Lennon’s tangled teenage years. With the formation of The Quarrymen with Paul McCartney and George Harrison acting as a backdrop, Lennon’s dislocated relationship with his mother Julia, and its tragic end, help root Lennon’s artistic fire in the ultimate roc k’n’ roll origin story.

‘Ray’

Among all of the jazz, blues and R&B legends with a hardship tale fit for the big screen, Ray Charles had one of the toughest – poverty, abuse, blindness, family loss, heroin, affairs, arrests, rehab, Charles survived it all. Jamie Foxx brought all this to vivid life, and plenty of stunning performance scenes to boot.

‘Respect’

It was a tough ask for Jennifer Hudson to live up to the Queen Of Soul’s formidable vocals, but the sheer drama of Aretha Franklin ’s life is gripping enough on its own. Alcoholism, domestic abuse, tragedy and assault, though somewhat glossed over here, fuel Franklin’s powerhouse songs, which still bulge the screen.

‘Rocketman’

Having scored a major hit with Bohemian Rhapsody, director Dexter Fletcher turned his lens to another flamboyant superstar of the era; Taron Egerton slipped into Elton John’s devil-falcon jumpsuit with the requisite vivacity, and charted his descent into hedonistic addiction, depression and isolation with convincing pathos. Happily, unlike so many biopic’d singers, Elton emerges, well, still standing.

Where to watch: Rent it on Apple TV+, Prime Video and more

‘Selena’

Jennifer Lopez came into her own as a screen darling with her portrayal of Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla Pérez, murdered at 23 by the embezzling president of her thriving fan club. Released just two years after Selena’s death, the film was more of a fact-setting exercise than a deep dive into Pérez’s character, but Lopez tackled it with relish.

Where to watch: Rent it on Prime Video, YouTube and more

‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’

Having become the king of motion capture by playing a virtual Gollum in the Lord Of The Rings franchise as well as King Kong, Andy Serkis turned his physical skills to the more subtler cause of depicting polio-stricken new wave icon Ian Dury, carrying Mat Whitecross’s tribute with appropriate cockiness.

‘Shine’

Having restarted the piano lessons he gave up at 14, Geoffrey Rush picked up an Oscar for his portrayal of disturbed Australian pianist David Helfgott in Scott Hicks’ celebrated Shine . The film followed the troubled home life of this piano prodigy up to his breakdown while becoming obsessed with perfecting Rachmaninov’s highly challenging ‘Concerto No. 3’, named after the number of hands you need to play the damn thing.

Where to watch: DVD for sale on Amazon

‘Sid And Nancy’

The least romantic Romeo & Juliet in rock ’n’ roll history, the fatal love affair between heroin addicts Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen is viscerally delivered in Alex Cox’s fittingly punk portrait of the doomed duo. Gary Oldman’s Sid gained most plaudits, but you can also spot Iggy Pop , Nico , Courtney Love and a pre-fame Slash in there.

Where to watch: Rent it on Apple TV+, Prime Video and BFI Player

‘Straight Outta Compton’

Riots, FBI raids, internal fights and electric gigs; Straight Outta Compton’s official depiction of the rise, split and resurrection of N.W.A. is amongst the most vital music biopics of all time. And if you’re after casting authenticity, having Ice Cube’s own son play him was a stroke of genius.

Where to watch: Sky and NOW

‘Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story’

Years before Team America: World Police , Todd Haynes made this short college biopic of Karen Carpenter largely using modified Barbie and Ken dolls to play the characters on scaled-down sets, and featuring a completely unlicensed soundtrack. One copyright infringement lawsuit from Richard Carpenter later the withdrawn film became a cult classic, although we may never know why Barbie Karen was being spanked so much throughout.

Where to watch: You’ll have to seek this one out yourself…

‘Telstar: The Joe Meek Story’

Adapted from Nick Moran and James Hicks’ play, Telstar… set about detailing the madcap sonic inspirations and strange obsessions (poltergeists, aliens, Phil Spector bugging his phone) of schizophrenic 1960s producer Joe Meek, right up to the mysterious circumstances of his death, shooting his landlady and then himself. Con O’Neill is a live-wire tour de force; nice cameo from The Libertines ‘ Carl Barat as Gene Vincent too.

Where to watch: Prime Video, Rakuten TV and Pluto TV

‘The Buddy Holly Story’

As riveting as any disaster movie, Holly’s legendary end on February 2, 1959 – The Day The Music Died – looms as large as Titanic ’s iceberg over The Buddy Holly Story , a film akin to the opening chapter of a regular biopic that’s cut horrifically and meaninglessly short. Gary Busey’s Holly – setting the bar for actors playing and singing the songs in music films – injects the whole thing with a fitting rock ’n’ roll fervour and, in cinema history, tragedy has rarely struck at such a high.

Where to watch: Rent it on Apple TV+

‘The Doors’

Hazy and hallucinogenic – the “kiss the snake” acid trip in the desert sequence is so iconic in drug cinema circles that The Simpsons spoofed it – Oliver Stone’s Doors movie captured the mythology of Jim Morrison to sensual and whiskey-sodden perfection. Val Kilmer plays the Lizard King as a beautiful/doomed rock poet caught halfway between Sunset Strip and the seventh dimension, pure self-destructive hedonism in human form.

‘The Pianist’

That Roman Polanski’s WWII drama concerned the real-life Polish-Jewish pianist Władysław Szpilman, a popular Polish radio artist and composer, was almost secondary to the film’s importance as a record of the inhumanities of the Holocaust. Still, with music a lifeline helping Adrien Brody’s Szpilman survive the atrocities of the Warsaw Ghetto, it remains one of the most powerful music films to date.

‘The United States Vs. Billie Holiday’

A bit of a muddle of a movie – and some jazz experts even question the premise that the FBI targeted Holiday with drug charges to stop her singing civil rights ballad “Strange Fruit” – but Andra Day inhabits Holiday with a hypnotic intensity and vulnerability in Lee Daniels’ spotlight on her tempestuous 1950s.

‘Velvet Goldmine’

Transposing Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and Berlin era onto the fictional Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), adding elements of Bryan Ferry and Marc Bolan – and with Ewan McGregor as an amalgam of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed – Todd Haynes mashed the ‘70s rock world into a colourful and surreal blast of glam pop culture, and a love affair between British and American music (we’re counting it).

‘Walk The Line’

The rags-to-riches-to-drugs-to-breakdown story is the blueprint for most music biopics. But James Mangold’s exploration of the life and many hardships of Johnny Cash stands apart for its ability to channel the pain of the man into the impact of his music, largely thanks to Joaquin Phoenix’s glowering presence as Cash and Reese Witherspoon’s charming June.

Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video

‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’

Proudly proclaiming that no actual research into accordion pop spoofster Al Yankovic ’s real life was conducted for the film, Weird… is a canny pastiche of the rock biopic, covering Al’s ‘childhood’ being told to give up on his dreams by his parents to his rebellion teenage polka parties, a spoof-pop revelation over a packet of bologna and the LSD trip that inspires him to write ‘Eat It’ before Michael Jackson . An affair with Madonna ? Brushes with the Pablo Escobar cartel? Dan Radcliffe goes along with it, so you do too.

‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’

Angela Bassett – a future music biopic regular – got her breakthrough as Tina Turner in Brian Gibson’s unflinching portrayal of the singer’s abusive marriage to singing partner Ike Turner (Laurence Fishburne) and her subsequent ascendence to solo superstardom.

‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’

One of the earliest examples of the form saw James Cagney take on the role of Broadway showman, producer and composer George M Cohan, writer of ‘Yankee Doodle Boy’ and ‘Give My Regards To Broadway’. Three Oscars later, it cemented the music biopic as an award-winning concern.

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8 encore-worthy musician biopics to watch at home

From moody period pieces to triumphant underdog stories

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The dizzying highs and the crushing lows of real-life fame within the music industry have long been a source of fascination for Hollywood. Maybe it’s the ready-made “three-act structure” most of the stories fall into, or the pageantry inherent to performing music on stage that is so appealing to filmmakers. Regardless, biopics about musicians are a part of the film landscape nearly every year. This year’s big entry for the genre is Elvis . Directed by Baz Luhrmann, the man behind the 2001 fantasy musical Moulin Rouge! , this latest take on Elvis Presley’s life focuses heavily on the complicated relationship Presley had with his manager Col. Tom Parker (played by multiple Academy Award winner Tom Hanks) and looks to have all the visual splendor one would expect from the acclaimed director tackling a story about the King of Rock and Roll.

To get you prepped for Elvis , we have compiled a list of quality music biopics that you can check out at home right now on various streaming services. It covers multiple eras and styles of music, but the stories of struggle, success, fortune, and temptation are captivatingly universal.

Control tells the tragic life story of Ian Curtis, frontman for the British post-punk band Joy Division. Dealing with epilepsy and severe depression, the influential singer-songwriter took his own life at 23 years old — just one day before Joy Division was set to leave for their first North American tour. Control takes a look at his life from his high school years up to his sudden death less than a decade later. It paints a picture of how sometimes all the success and familial love in the world aren’t enough to numb feelings of emptiness and isolation. This somber story is made palpable by stunning black-and-white imagery from music video director Anton Corbijn (Nirvana’s “ Heart-Shaped Box”), a compelling wounded lead performance from Sam Riley ( Maleficent ), and numerous hypnotic songs performed by the actors themselves, taken from Joy Division’s only two albums.

Control is available to watch for free with ads on Pluto TV, Freevee, Plex, and Tubi.

Biopics are intended to shed light on their subjects — to help humanize mythic figures for an audience of die-hards and casual fans alike. That is not what this 2014 film about the Godfather of Soul does. Don’t misunderstand; Get on Up tries to humanize James Brown. It provides a view of all the triumphs and tragedies of his life mixed in with quiet moments, and ping-pongs the viewer between them with abandon. This kaleidoscope approach to his life story is fascinating, and anchored by a performance from the late Chadwick Boseman that ranks among his best. Yet, it will not bring a deeper understanding of why James Brown was the man or performer he was. He exists in the film almost as a fully formed contradictory enigma. Get on Up captures the undeniable charisma of the man and the electric feeling of his live performances. You won’t know the “whys” of James Brown from watching this one, but you’ll be entertained and enamored all the same.

Get on Up is available to watch on Netflix.

Love & Mercy

One approach biopics can take is focusing on singular moments in a person’s life rather than trying to cover the entirety of it. A good example of this is 2014’s Love & Mercy , about the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson. The singer-songwriter famously suffered a nervous breakdown in the mid-1960s and lived as a recluse for several years. Love & Mercy dramatizes his story by splitting it into two distinct pieces. The first is about Wilson’s deteriorating mental state as he crafts the band’s most acclaimed album, Pet Sounds (and the immediate aftermath of its commercial failure). The second is about the period 20-plus years later, when Wilson is living a solitary life under the controlling thumb of his ever-present therapist. He meets and falls in love with a woman named Melinda Ledbetter, who helps him break free of that toxic relationship and learn to live again.

The scenes with the younger Wilson (portrayed by a sweetly innocent Paul Dano) in the studio are shot in a faux-documentary style that allows the viewer to experience the joy of creation directly with him, even as he grows more and more detached from those around him. The older Wilson is embodied by an appropriately disheveled John Cusack in scenes that are more traditionally presented, as the viewer is led through the story of his budding romance with Melinda (Elizabeth Banks) and their struggle against the control of Wilson’s therapist (a cartoonish but compelling Paul Giamatti). The latter-day struggles of Wilson to regain his life give Love & Mercy an arc that should resonate with anyone who has found a way to persevere through hard times thanks to the people they care about.

Love & Mercy is available to watch on HBO Max.

Mötley Crüe’s collaborative autobiography The Dirt is considered by many to be the greatest “tell-all” memoir ever written about the hair metal scene. Its epic and “so outlandish it must be true” tales direct from the members of the band about their origins, life on the road, and all the unreal excess they experienced was always ripe for adaptation. The stories in the book are chaotic and brash, and on every other page you wonder how the band managed to avoid death or permanent injury.

Directed by Jeff Tremaine (the Jackass franchise), who knows a thing or two about self-destructive bro squads, the adaptation captures the chaotic energy of the original book by using multiple narrators that sometimes contradict each other but always keep the story barreling forward from one unbelievable or melodramatic moment to the next. The result is an energetic movie that feels both cheekily meta and lively. It’s a glossy, loud, and fast-paced package that feels perfectly suited for Mötley Crüe’s brand of image-conscious mayhem.

The Dirt is available to watch on Netflix.

The Doors is director Oliver Stone’s love letter to the idea of famed frontman Jim Morrison. Music biopics often exaggerate or simplify the facts of a story to make it more fitting for a cinematic adaptation, but here Stone completely ignores nuance and fully embraces the “print the legend” aspect of these stories. He presents The Doors’ lead singer as equal parts poetic, death-obsessed wannabe mystic and magnetic drunken buffoon. There’s no real nuance between these seemingly conflicting traits in this tale of the band’s formation and rise up until Morrison’s tragic death by overdose. The overt exaggeration, devotion to mythmaking over facts, and self-indulgent nature of the film might all be unbearable if not for Stone’s captivatingly hallucinogenic directing, Val Kilmer’s tour-de-force performance as Morrison, and a top-tier supporting cast that includes Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan, Mimi Rogers, and Michael Wincott. It may not be all that accurate, but The Doors feels like the perfect distillation of the vibes of the band and their long-lasting appeal.

The Doors is available to watch on Prime Video and Paramount Plus .

The Runaways

The Runaways were never meant to last. But in the scant four years the all-girl cult rock group was active, they were hugely influential. They began trends that helped open the door for more women in the world of heavier music and launched the careers of more than one rock mainstay. However, they were teenagers at the time of the band’s inception, and not really equipped for the harsh world they had been launched into. This 2010 film, centered around guitarist Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and the band’s fleeting frontwoman Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), deals with the inevitable crash that occurred as the group tried to cope with sudden success at a young age.

Filled with great music (some even performed by the actors themselves), The Runaways encapsulates the youthful energy of the rock pioneers well. It greatly streamlines the band’s history — narrowing it to a tale of Jett’s determination and Currie’s disintegration as they mutually edge ever closer to true stardom. Stewart and Fanning are suitably alluring as the yin and yang of The Runaways . Their presence, coupled with an unhinged Michael Shannon playing their controversial manager as a sort of glam-rock mad scientist, makes the film one to check out.

The Runaways is available to watch on Hulu and for free with ads on Tubi.

Walk the Line

This biopic of beloved country music icon Johnny Cash is often held up as one of the gold standards of the genre. It tells the story of Cash’s rise in the music industry with all the tragedy, substance abuse, and eventual redemption typically expected from biopics. This one rises to the top because of the exceptional craft from writer-director James Mangold ( Logan ) and everyone else involved with its production. The other aspect that truly sets Walk the Line apart is its heavy focus on the romance Cash had with fellow country star June Carter. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon have a profound amount of chemistry in the roles, which translated to them both being nominated for Academy awards due to their performances — with Witherspoon even winning the honor of Best Actress that year. Both were also part of the Grammy award-winning soundtrack for the film that featured numerous Cash and Carter songs covered by the pair.

Walk the Line is available to rent on purchase on digital VOD platforms like Apple and Google Play.

Wu Tang: An American Saga

It’s a challenge trying to condense the story of one performer or band into a single movie. Now imagine trying to properly summarize the story of 10 highly influential musicians with a history as ripe for dramatic retelling as the individual members of the storied hip-hop collective known as the Wu Tang Clan. All those larger-than-life personalities could not be given their proper due with just the handful of minutes that a standard biopic film would allow each of them.

Wu Tang: An American Saga addresses this by expanding the biopic format from a single film into a multi-season limited series. The show tells a rags-to-riches story of rival corner kids during the crack cocaine epidemic of the early ’90s rising above the violence of their local conflicts to come together over a shared love of music. Created by Wu Tang founder RZA, this true (but appropriately embellished) approach to the group’s history should appeal to not only fans of the group, hip-hop, and biopics, but to anyone who enjoys gritty television dramas like HBO’s The Wire or FX’s Snowfall .

Wu Tang: An American Saga is available to watch on Hulu .

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The 15 best movies about music

The more we dig into a musical artist’s body of work, the more we want to know the people behind the music. What d0 they listen to? What are they like off-stage? Are they eccentric enigmas whenever cameras are rolling and modest introverts once they turn off, or is there no filter between their public and private personas?

Rocketman (2019)

The blues brothers (1980), walk the line (2005), 8 mile (2002), love & mercy (2015), high fidelity (2000), almost famous (2000), this is spinal tap (1984), a star is born (2018), amadeus (1984), straight outta compton (2015), once (2007), inside llewyn davis (2013), a mighty wind (2003), sid and nancy (1986).

Movies about music and musicians give us a chance to learn what these charismatic figures might be like, even though ultimately the stories we watch may be no more accurate than our imagination. Whether those movies get the official stamp of the artist depicted or they’re just the speculations of someone with cameras and a budget, for better or worse films about music help to make rock gods and hip-hop innovators more human, as well as helping to build their legends. With that in mind, here are the best movies about music and musicians currently streaming.

Not in the mood for movies about music? That’s OK, because we’ve also rounded up the best movies on Netflix , the best movies on Hulu , the best movies on Amazon Prime , and the best movies on Disney+ .

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While some might refer to Rocketman as a biopic, Taron Egerton — who plays Sir Elton John in the film — calls the movie a “fantasy musical,” and that gets a lot closer to the bullseye. The filmmakers shamelessly blur the lines between fact and fiction, because the point of the film isn’t to load up Elton John fans with new trivia. Through the lens of John’s decades worth of hits, Rocketman explores the highs and deep lows of its subject’s life. For example, we feel the crushing loneliness of the singer’s childhood home through the performance of I Want Love . Later, we feel his renewed energy as he emerges from a rehab facility belting out I’m Still Standing . Grand, powerful, and over-the-top with no apology, Rocketman is a wonderful tribute to one of our best living singer-songwriters.  

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Stars: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden Director: Dexter Fletcher Rating:  R Runtime: 121 minutes

A classic  Saturday Night Live  sketch turned full-length feature,  The Blues Brothers follows comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as Jake and Elwood Blues, a pair of trouble makers who set out to raise money to save the orphanage they grew up in from foreclosure. Though the main characters are fictional, a who’s who of famous musicians from multiple generations are featured in the film, including guest appearances from greats like James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Chaka Khan.

Rotten Tomatoes: 84% Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd Director: John Landis Rating:  R Runtime: 133 minutes

Johnny Cash’s early days are captured superbly in  Walk the Line , a biopic about the life and times of one of country music’s most powerful voices. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress) as his wife and fellow musician June, the film largely centers on Cash’s rise to fame, providing an interesting insight into the Man in Black accompanied by many of his most classic songs.

Rotten Tomatoes: 82% Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick Director: John Landis Rating:  R Runtime: 136 minutes

This film about a young white rapper from Detroit largely mirrors the real-life story of controversial musician Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers III), who also stars in the role. While the film is compelling, it’s the music in 8 Mile  that really sells it, among the best to ever grace a soundtrack. Eminem nabbed the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the now-classic  Lose Yourself , and the film’s soundtrack debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 upon release, eventually becoming the fifth best-selling album of the year.

Rotten Tomatoes: 75% Stars: Eminem, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger Director: Curtis Hanson Rating:  R Runtime: 110 minutes

For fans of the Beach Boys’ musical mastermind Brian Wilson, this film is a must-watch. Following Wilson as a young man (played by Paul Dano) and middle-aged (John Cusack), with distinct segments set in the 1960s and 1980s, Love & Mercy shows the singer and songwriter’s mental breakdown and his recovery. The ’60s scenes closely re-create Wilson’s famed methods while recording Pet Sounds , showcasing the forward-thinking sensibility of one of pop music’s most intriguing geniuses.

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Stars: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks Director: Bill Pohlad Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 121 minutes

Another Cusack classic, High Fidelity stars the gregarious actor as a music-obsessed record store owner in Chicago reliving his past love affairs. An excellent ensemble cast rounded out by actors such as Lisa Bonet and Jack Black is complemented by an equally enthralling soundtrack that features classic works by legendary songwriters such as The Kinks and Bob Dylan, but also highlights lesser-known (but critically beloved) bands like the 13th Floor Elevators and Beta Band.

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% Stars: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso Director: Stephen Frears Rating: R Runtime: 113 minutes

Director Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical story based on his time as a teenage Rolling Stone journalist embedded with an up-and-coming classic rock band, Almost Famous offers an interesting and comical glimpse into the chaotic ’70s rock scene. As expected, the soundtrack for the film — which includes a who’s who of classic artists, from Simon & Garfunkel to Led Zeppelin — is fantastic. In fact, the film won the Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack in 2001.

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Stars: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson Director: Cameron Crowe Rating: R Runtime: 122 minutes

Widely regarded as one of the best films of the mockumentary genre (if not the best), This is Spinal Tap provides a hilarious look inside the world of the fictional British heavy metal band. A full album of original material was written (and later performed) for the film, with such hits as Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight and Gimme Some Money — not-so-subtle digs at the generic state of big-label rock in the early ’80s.

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% Stars: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer Director: Rob Reiner Rating: R Runtime: 82 minutes

A Star Is Born ‘s plot isn’t new — this is the third remake of the 1937 romantic drama — but Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut proves that it’s not the story that matters. It’s how you tell it. As Ally, a young singer-songwriter who falls for a hard-drinking country musician, Lady Gaga proves that she can hang with veteran actors like Cooper and Sam Elliott, while the film’s breakout single, Shallow , topped music charts around the world, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and led to one of the steamiest musical performances in Oscar history.

Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Stars: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott Director: Bradley Cooper Rating: R Runtime: 136 minutes

The story of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is given a heavy dose of drama in this adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s stage play of the same name. Highlighting the rivalry between Mozart (Tom Hulce) and older Italian composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), the critically acclaimed film won eight Academy Awards — and 32 other awards in other competitions, including the Grammys — upon its release. Amadeus features excellent performances of some of Mozart’s compositions, played to perfection by London’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra.

Rotten Tomatoes: 93% Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge Director: Milos Forman Rating: R Runtime: 160 minutes

Rapper Ice Cube’s son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., plays his father in this visceral portrayal of the formative years of West Coast gangsta rap pioneers NWA. The film was the inspiration for Dr. Dre’s third studio album, Compton , and features many of the group’s classic cuts. A compelling tell-all that follows the intriguing chemistry behind some of hip hop’s most iconic performers, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2015.

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Stars: O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell Director: F. Gary Gray Rating: R Runtime: 147 minutes

A romantic musical about a busking songwriter who works as a vacuum repairman,  Once  was the darling of both music and film critics when it hit screens, helping to launch the careers of real-life musicians/co-stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. Shot on a shoestring budget, the film earned an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008 for Falling Slowly .

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% Stars: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Hugh Walsh Director: John Carney Rating: R Runtime: 86 minutes

Viewers praised the Coen brothers’ black comedy that told the story of a 1961 starving folk singer. This musical movie rose to fame with exceptional scripting, phenomenal acting, and impeccable live recordings of traditional folk songs. Oscar Issac is the star of the show, performing alongside popular musicians like Justin Timberlake, Chris Thile, and Marcus Mumford. This film (similar to all Coen brothers endeavors) amassed serious critic commendation, leading to Best Sound Mixing Oscar and Best Original Song Golden Globe nominations.

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Rating: R Runtime: 104 minutes

This is Spinal Tap is just one of the multiple musical mockumentaries by Christopher Guest. Returning to the screen with 1996’s Waiting for Guffman , Guest went on to direct a hilarious mockumentary series, including 2003’s A Mighty Wind . The story introduces three separate folk artist groups and invites them on stage to honor a folk producer that had since passed away. The main group features Eugene Levy as Mitch and Catherine O’Hara as Mickey, the former lovebird duo. The movie is a parody of American folk music and pokes fun at its many hippie-like characteristics; however, what makes it stand out is the audience’s apparent appreciation and love for the genre. Viewers can see the truth in this statement in action during A Kiss’s performance at the End of the Rainbow in the film’s final scenes. It’s truly o ne of the sweetest moments on film.

Rotten Tomatoes: 87% Stars: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Catherine O’Hara Director: Christopher Guest Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 91 minutes

Sid and Nancy is among the first major motion pictures to take on the punk rock genre and offer Gary Oldman his first-ever leading role. This film takes viewers through the love story and deaths of legendary Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious (Oldman) and girlfriend Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb). We watch as Sid and Nancy meet for the first time in London, fall in love (and heroin), and embark on a United States tour. We also see Sid’s failed attempts to kick-start a solo music career (Oldman’s awe-inspiring rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way alone is worth the ticket price). Oldman and Web are a fantastic match in each of their specific roles throughout a tangled, cataclysmic, and fierce romance story.

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Stars: Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman Director: Alex Cox Rating: R Runtime: 112 minutes

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Thrillers come in all shapes and sizes. There's the psychological or serial killer thriller, which was popularized in the '90s by The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en. There's the erotic thriller, which had its heyday in the late '80s and early '90s with such hits as Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. And then there's the action thriller, which is probably the most popular offshoot of the genre right now, with the Taken series and Salt as prime examples.

Recently, there's been a revival of a subgenre that's been dormant since the 1970s: the journalism thriller. From Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhaal to the Oscar-winning Spotlight to 2022's She Said, this type of thriller usually centers around journalists pursuing a controversial and sometimes dangerous story. One of the best journalism thrillers has just been released by Netflix: Scoop. In chronicling how the BBC managed to snag the scoop of the decade by interviewing Prince Andrew about his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the movie manages to be suspenseful, informative, and one of 2024's most purely entertaining films. The story everyone is after

When you think of great places to stream a movie, your head probably doesn't go immediately to Amazon Prime Video, but maybe it should. The service has a lineup of great movies, many of which are genuine classics. If you've seen all the most obvious titles on the service, though, you might be looking for something that's just a little bit more under the radar.

If that's the case, then we've got three great underrated movies that are available to watch on Amazon Prime Video this weekend (and you should definitely check out at least one of them): Out of Sight (1998) Out of Sight Official Trailer #1 - Ving Rhames Movie (1998) HD

April is here, and with it, an existential question lingers: What are you going to do with yourself? If gaming is your thing, Dragon's Dogma 2 seems to be a good option for fans of the RPG genre. Or maybe you want to see two monsters destroy entire cities like in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire?

If staying at home is more your vibe, there's always streaming. Hulu has some of the best films around, and the following three movies are worth a watch this weekend. One is a tense 2010s thriller, another is a teen tom-com from the '90s, and the final recommended movie is a cheesy yet fun horror movie. The Dinner (2017)

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The 21 Best Movies About Musicians, Bands, and Singers

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Hollywood films love to inspire awe and encourage viewers to pursue their dreams—because, after all, anything is possible! Who knows which viewer might become the next Elvis or Madonna?

And Hollywood loves to do that by featuring successful musicians, bands, and singers as the protagonists of their movies. Sometimes they're based on real people. Sometimes they're made up.

From obsessed artists to inspirational biopics, here are our picks for the best movies about musicians, bands, and famous singers. (That doesn't mean these are all musicals, by the way!)

21. Rocketman (2019)

Directed by Dexter Fletcher

Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 1m)

7.3 on IMDb — 89% on RT

We saw a flurry of musical film releases in 2018 and 2019, with a big trend in biopics. After the success of Bohemian Rhapsody , Hollywood took to telling another whimsical celebrity's story: Elton John.

Dexter Fetcher directs this glitzy, sequin-studded drama that stars Taron Egerton as the androgynous British pop star.

Rocketman opens with Elton's childhood and very quickly breaks out into flashy musical numbers. It follows Elton's rise into the glamorous world of fame, where the singer-songwriter's homosexuality is thrown into the limelight... all the while he battles alcoholism.

20. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Directed by Bryan Singer

Starring Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 14m)

7.9 on IMDb — 60% on RT

Bryan Singer's Bohemian Rhapsody isn't without its flaws. That said, the huge box office hit is sure to get viewers nostalgically singing along—and what else could you ask for from a musical movie?

Rami Malek gives a sparkling performance as the late Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the iconic rock band Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody is an explosive celebration of Mercury's talent, who tragically died due to AIDS complications at just 45.

Malek's incredible performance is at the heart of this movie, taking us through Mercury's journey from a baggage handler still living with his parents to egotistical pop sensation.

Coming to terms with his sexuality and fatal illness, Mercury's experience of fame isn't always a positive one.

19. Get On Up (2014)

Directed by Tate Taylor

Starring Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 19m)

6.9 on IMDb — 80% on RT

The "Godfather of Soul" James Brown was originally a gospel singer in Georgia, who grew up in poverty with an abusive father. Fascinated by shout music and jazz, he joined Bobby Byrd's gospel group and slowly climbed the ranks.

He was known as the "hardest working man in show business"—despite his abuse of drugs and his brushes with the law—and worked towards Africanizing rhythm and blues.

Tate Taylor uses a nonlinear structure to tell Brown's life story, balancing funky numbers with tense drama. Chadwick Boseman stars as the "Soul Brother No. 1" alongside Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, and Viola Davis.

18. Respect (2021)

Directed by Liesl Tommy

Starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 25m)

6.6 on IMDb — 68% on RT

In Respect , Jennifer Hudson is the powerful soul singer Aretha Franklin, known for her incredible vocals. Liesl Tommy's feature directorial debut touches base on all the major moments of this icons life—from the death of her mother to her first #1 single "Respect."

Hudson's on-screen presence and the souring musical score make Respect a classy and polished powerhouse movie.

Like many stars on this list, Aretha Franklin grappled with the pressures of her career by turning to drugs and alcohol, giving us a peek into the reality of being famous.

17. The Runaways (2010)

Directed by Floria Sigismondi

Starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon

Biography, Drama, Music (1h 46m)

6.5 on IMDb — 69% on RT

Who doesn't love a good all-girl rock band? The hardcore, leather-wearing 70s band The Runaways made a whole bunch of hits, with the lead singer Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning) having been inspired by David Bowie as a teenager.

Floria Sigismondi's punky drama mainly focuses on the formation of the band with an emphasis on Cherie, who suffered with addiction and mental health issues.

The girls originally met at a club in California, all dreaming of life as a rock star. Then: the dream came true.

The Runaways is based on Cherie's own accounts in Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway , balancing out its electric energy with that of desperation. Kristen Stewart and Michael Shannon also star.

16. Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Directed by F. Gary Gray

Starring O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell

Biography, Drama, History (2h 27m)

7.8 on IMDb — 88% on RT

Straight Outta Compton may not look like your usual Oscar-nominated movie by its poster, but it was one of the top movies of 2015.

A musical crime drama directed by F. Gary Gray, the film shows your typical rise-and-fall journey with a unique and memorable zeal.

O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr. and Aldis Hodge star as the members of gangsta rap band N.W.A, alongside Paul Giamatti as their controversial manager.

The Californian hip-hop group practically triggered a culture war, which Gray hones in on as an allegory for police brutality and gang violence.

15. The Doors (1991)

Directed by Oliver Stone

Starring Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 20m)

7.2 on IMDb — 56% on RT

We're not sure what planet Jim Morrison was on, but it wasn't Earth. The lead singer of The Doors was always elusive, spending most of his time on acid, flirting with death, and improvising nonsensical poetry.

It's a surprise he ever managed to produce six world-famous albums while hallucinating all day! In The Doors , Val Kilmer perfectly encapsulates Jim Morrison's edgy, rebellious, and unpredictable reputation as the ultimate bad boy.

Oliver Stone directs us through the formation of The Doors and the impact of Jim Morrison's hectic lifestyle with psychedelic flair—one that perfectly manages Morrison's personality.

14. Crazy Heart (2009)

Directed by Scott Cooper

Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell

Drama, Music, Romance (1h 52m)

7.2 on IMDb — 90% on RT

A faded country star who boozes in country pubs while singing sad country songs. It's a familiar character archetype that never fails to tug at our heartstrings and put us in a meditative state about our own lives, past, habits, and heartbreaks.

In Crazy Heart , Scott Cooper directs Jeff Bridges as the gruff-talking, beer-drinking cowboy singer Bad Blake who makes his living in dive bars across the American Southwest.

Bad Blake doesn't see the point in getting his life back together—until he meets the young, divorced journalist Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

Crazy Heart is an intimate and earnest portrait of a man who's lost in the desert but brought back by love. Bridges's performance is so good, you'll forget you've heard this story many times before!

13. Yesterday (2019)

Directed by Danny Boyle

Starring Himesh Patel, Lily James, Sophia Di Martino

Comedy, Fantasy, Music (1h 56m)

6.8 on IMDb — 63% on RT

There are few movies with a plot as bold and original as Yesterday . Auteur director Danny Boyle poses the question: What if there was no such thing as The Beatles?

The British rock band had one of the biggest impacts on the music industry, with Beatlemania sending shock waves throughout the UK and US during the 1960s. But what would happen if one day you woke up and, suddenly, they never existed?

Well, that's exactly what happens to wannabe musician Jack Malik, played by Himesh Patel. As the only person who remembers the legendary band, Jack decides to use their songs as a way of claiming their forgotten fame for himself.

Yesterday is a funny, heart-warming tale that showcases the spirit and influence of The Beatles on the world.

12. Wild Rose (2018)

Directed by Tom Harper

Starring Jessie Buckley, Matt Costello, Jane Patterson

Drama, Music (1h 41m)

7.1 on IMDb — 92% on RT

Wild Rose follows Rose-Lynn Harlan, a Scottish single mum who's fresh out of prison. Fed up with her demoralizing cleaning job, she decides to pursue her dream of becoming a country singer.

Jessie Buckley shines and inspires as the lead of Tom Harper's musical drama. Wild Rose is more grounded than some of our other showy Hollywood picks on this list, adopting a (much needed) female focus in a male-dominated industry.

11. Judy (2019)

Directed by Rupert Goold

Starring Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock

Biography, Drama, Music (1h 58m)

6.8 on IMDb — 82% on RT

It's public knowledge that Judy Garland—Hollywood's number one starlet of the Golden Age—had a less-than-easy life. A myriad conspiracy theories and YouTube documentaries have explored the dark underside to the production of The Wizard of Oz .

However, the extent of Judy Garland's trauma comes as a tragic surprise in Rupert Goold's biopic Judy . Renée Zellweger gives an unrecognizably stellar performance as the troubled singer, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Taking place near the end of her life at the young age of 47, Garland reminisces on her career through a series of heart-breaking flashbacks. Despite her immense talent, Garland struggles to keep performances going due to sheer exhaustion and alcoholism.

10. Love & Mercy (2014)

Directed by Bill Pohlad

Starring John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks

7.4 on IMDb — 90% on RT

John Cusack and Paul Dano both star as Brian Wilson, lead singer of the surfer-pop band The Beach Boys.

When young Wilson (Dano) begins to suffer early stages of schizophrenia, he's forced to put his passion project "Smile" on hold. Director Bill Pohlad jumps between timelines, where 20 years later Wilson (Cusack) is controlled by his therapist and legal guardian.

The main plot of Love & Mercy is centered around Wilson's battle with mental illness—worsened by his repeated use of LSD during the 1960s—and the manipulation he suffered as a result.

That said, Pohlad doesn't forget to pay tribute to the visionary artist who paved the way for new experimental sounds.

9. 8 Mile (2002)

Directed by Curtis Hanson

Starring Eminem, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger

Drama, Music (1h 50m)

7.2 on IMDb — 75% on RT

The best movies about musicians and bands often center on genres like rock, country, jazz, and blues. But how about some rap?

8 Mile is a semi-autobiographical exploration of world-famous rapper Eminem, who plays a fictionalized version of himself called B-Rabbit.

Although 8 Mile was controversial for its insinuation of reverse racism, it's still a hailed indie drama with a big cult following. It's a film that's grimy, violent, and covered in sweat, just like B-Rabbit himself as he belts out his lines to the now-famous "Lose Yourself" track.

Director Curtis Hanson shows us the two sides of 8 Mile Road, which is predominantly segregated by race—and is a road that B-Rabbit must dare to cross if he's to pursue his rapping career.

8. Walk the Line (2005)

Directed by James Mangold

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 16m)

7.8 on IMDb — 82% on RT

Another in a long list of music-related biopics (because who doesn't love a true story?), Walk the Line tells the surprisingly sad story of American country singer Johnny Cash.

The movie begins with the devastating death of Cash's brother during their childhood on a cotton farm, and his father furious that Satan "took the wrong son." From there, Cash enlists in the US Air Force, writing acoustic blues songs and eventually making a name for himself.

Joaquin Phoenix delivers a beautiful performance as the damaged and erratic singer, who became hooked on amphetamines and alcohol. Reese Witherspoon is equally wonderful as the bubbly June Carter, Cash's second wife.

James Mangold's drama is a searing portrait of the legendary 20th century musician, grappling with themes of faith and self-destruction.

7. Elvis (2022)

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

Starring Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 39m)

7.3 on IMDb — 77% on RT

Austin Butler might not have nabbed the Oscar for Best Actor when Elvis dropped in 2022, but he did take home a BAFTA for his stunning portrayal of the King of Rock, Elvis Presley.

A figure as glamorous as Elvis needs a movie that's equally glamorous to match, so director Baz Luhrmann was the perfect choice to lead this project. It's a fast-paced, in-your-face melodrama that's swamped in diamonds but one that never loses its Memphis roots.

Tom Hanks stars alongside Austin Butler as the rock legend's manipulative manager. Baz Luhrmann takes us on a whirlwind ride from Presley's poor childhood to his glittering, amphetamine-fueled career.

6. Control (2007)

Directed by Anton Corbijn

Starring Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Craig Parkinson

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 2m)

7.6 on IMDb — 88% on RT

Black-and-white indie flick Control follows the rise and fall of Ian Curtis—singer of New Wave band Joy Division—who tragically committed suicide at just 23. A pioneering icon of post-punk rock, Joy Division remains one of the most influential English rock bands to date.

Sam Riley gives a brooding performance as the enigmatic singer suffering with both depression and epilepsy.

Control doesn't harbor the sort of flamboyant screen spectacle that Hollywood biopics use. Instead, it offers a quietly desperate glimpse into the troubled mind of a musical legend.

5. A Star Is Born (2018)

Directed by Bradley Cooper

Starring Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott

Drama, Music, Romance (2h 16m)

7.6 on IMDb — 90% on RT

It's important to understand the context of A Star Is Born , which is the third edition in a cycle of remakes.

The original A Star Is Born from 1937 features Judy Garland. Then, Barbra Streisand stepped in for the 1976 version. This time around, it's Lady Gaga who comes in with incredible chemistry with co-star Bradley Cooper, who also directs the film.

Each installment reflects not only the music industry at the time, but greater society as a whole. It's become a sort of endearing Hollywood tradition to tell this story every 40 years or so.

The story follows wannabe artist Ally, who falls for alt-country star Jackson Maine and subsequently rockets to fame. However, Jackson's inner demons puts a strain on their relationship and her career.

4. Amadeus (1984)

Directed by Miloš Forman

Starring F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge

Biography, Drama, Music (2h 40m)

8.4 on IMDb — 89% on RT

Miloš Forman is the director behind this beautiful period biopic, where grand costumes sweep through the opera house to hear Mozart play. Amadeus begins in the winter of 1823, when Italian composer Antonio Salieri is committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Envious of the great Mozart—who he considers an immature buffoon—Salieri renounces God and vows to destroy his competition.

Okay... this story might not be completely true, but it does have its roots in history. Nominated for 50 awards (of which it won 40, including 8 Oscars), we simply had to include it!

3. School of Rock (2003)

Directed by Richard Linklater

Starring Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack

Comedy, Music (1h 49m)

7.2 on IMDb — 92% on RT

A family film that's just as much for adults as it is kids, School of Rock is now a cultural icon.

Jack Black gives an unforgettable performance as Dewey Finn, a failing rock artist who steals his best friend's identity. Kicked out of his band and unable to make rent, Dewey pretends to be a substitute teacher.

However, his plans to sit back and skive off soon turns into a unique opportunity to cash in: Dewey decides to secretly turn the class into one big rock band and enter them into Battle of the Bands. Of course, this is easier said than done.

School of Rock is a hilariously entertaining classic with a rocking soundtrack. You can tell how much fun the cast had making this movie!

2. Frank (2014)

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson

Starring Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Comedy, Drama, Music (1h 35m)

6.9 on IMDb — 92% on RT

Frank ranks so highly on our list because, well, there's really no other film like it. Lenny Abrahamson's indie musical tells the bizarre tale of an obscure pop group, whose lead singer wears a papier-mâché head.

Aspiring songwriter Jon joins the group and spends a month in an isolated cabin in Ireland, preparing an album. Though things start off well, tensions soon begin to buckle.

Frank is a black-comedy like no other. It's eccentric, it's fun, and it's surprisingly heartfelt—prepare to shed some tears. Domhnall Gleeson and Maggie Gyllenhaal star, alongside (a mostly hidden yet still electrifying) Michael Fassbender.

1. Whiplash (2014)

Directed by Damien Chazelle

Starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist

Drama, Music, Thriller (1h 46m)

8.5 on IMDb — 94% on RT

Academy Award-winning psychological drama Whiplash started life as a short film in 2013 that examined the dark side of musical obsession. Damien Chazelle then turned it into a full-length movie featuring knockout performances from Miles Teller and J. K. Simmons.

Young drummer Andrew enrolls in a New York music school, where he's tutored (or should we say, abused) into greatness by ruthless jazz conductor Terence Fletcher.

In Whiplash , the stage isn't a means of artistic self-expression—it's a battlefield for perfection, where student and teacher lock horns in a spectacular head-to-head finale.

Screen Rant

10 best music biopics ranked, according to imdb.

Music biopics are audience-pleasing films, telling stories of musicians' success, and these ten movies are considered the best according to IMDb.

There are a lot of different aspects to cater to in order to produce a truly brilliant music biopic movie. Some people want the grisly truth, warts and all, whilst others long for a romanticized love letter to their musical heroes.

RELATED: Disney's First 10 Animated Movies, Ranked (According To IMDb)

Striking the right medium between the two seems to be a winning formula, at least it does when it comes to award season, as a lot of the leads in this list have either been nominated or won an Academy Award for their efforts. So if you're a fan of depressing truths, inspiring stories, or just an homage to brilliant music, here are ten of the best music biopics ranked, according to IMDB.

Coal Miner's Daughter  (1980) - 7.5

The Coal Miner's Daughter tells the story of country singer Lorretta Lynn and her rise to fame, as chronicled in the book of the same name by George Vecsey. The movie stars Sissy Spacek as Lynn, with Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D’Angelo and Levon Helm in supporting roles.  Spacek actually accompanied Lynn on one of her tours in order to capture her movements and mannerisms.  Spacek won an Academy Award for the role with Lynn in attendance, the same night DeNiro won for Raging Bull with La Motta in attendance, an extremely rare circumstance for biopic movie nominees!

CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (2013) - 7.6

Made for VH1 and titled after the group's second album, CrazySexyCool tells the story of Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez and Tionne “T Boyz” Watkins, played by Keke Palmer, Niatia “Lil Mama” Kirkland and Drew Sidora respectively.

The three leads actually wore the exact same outfits as their subject when reconstructing the “No Scrubs” video. Speaking to the New York Post Lil Mama said “The other girls need alterations to their costumes, mine fit perfectly. It was my Cinderella moment!”

La Vie En Rose (2007) - 7.6

Marion Cotillard won an Academy Award for her portrayal of iconic French singer Édif Piaf. The film takes an unchronological look at her rise to fame, from her grand mother’s brothel to the streets, to the concert halls and onwards to legend.

RELATED:  10 Music Biopics You've Probably Forgotten About

Director Oliver Dahan wrote the part with Cotillard in mind, even though he never met her (he noticed a similarity in their eyes),  to the point that when the studio wanted Audrey Tautou for the role he took a $5 million cut to the budget in order to get his way!

Control (2007) - 7.7

Joy Division’s frontman Ian Curtis is the focus of Control , looking at his rise to fame to his eventual untimely suicide aged just 23. The film explores the various aspects of Curtis's story which forced him to take his own life, from the pressures of the band, his love life and his battle with epilepsy.  The actors who played Joy Division actually learned all of the songs used in the film, so when the band performs in the movie it’s actually live and not just mimed from a tape.

Ray (2004) - 7.7

Ray stars Jamie Foxx as the legendary rhythm and blues singer Ray Charles and earned himself an Oscar for his efforts. Ray takes a look at Charles’ various battles on his way to success, from the death of his brother,  going blind at the age of seven, racism, and drug addiction. Charles lived through it all though and watched the first edit of the film before he died in 2004. The movie would go on to be the first African-American biopic to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

Walk The Line (2005) - 7.8

Walk The Line focuses on the life and times of young Johnny Cash, from his childhood to his rise to fame and the beginnings of his relationship with future wife June Carter.

RELATED:  5 Music Biopics Done Right (And 5 Done Wrong)

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon star as Johnny and June, with Witherspoon going on to win Best Actress at the Oscars. The film was screened for the inmates of Folsom Prison, almost 40 years after Cash himself had performed there.

Straight Outta Compton (2015) - 7.9

O’Shea Jackson Jr. made his big-screen debut in Straight Outta Compton , portraying his own father Ice Cube in this look at the formation of one of rap’s most influential collectives, the NWA. The film enjoyed massive successive, becoming the highest-grossing movie biopic of all time before it was beaten by the next entry on this list. Despite the massive success, the film was never screen in its titular town, because at the time Compton didn’t actually have a cinema!

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) - 8.0

The most recent entry on the list, Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t the most truthful music biopic, but people didn’t care and they went to see it in their droves, earning the film a massive $903.7 million at the box office.  What it may have lacked in authenticity story-wise, it made up for in visuals with an uncanny portrayal of Freddie Mercury which earned Raimi Malek the best actor Oscar, and painstakingly faithful recreation of the famous Live Aid set from Wembley Stadium.

Amadeus (1984) - 8.3

Winner of 8 Academy Awards, including best picture, best director for  Milos Forman and best actor in a leading role for F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the perspective from envious rival Antonio Salieri who was responsible for the classical composers downfall and eventual death, at least as implied from the film. In reality, it is more likely that the two were mutually respectful of one another.

None the less the film is a triumph of cinematography, as all lighting was natural and not a single lightbulb or modern lighting device was used.

The Pianist (2002) - 8.5

Finally, topping the list is The Pianist , the tale of  Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jewish radio pianist living in Warsaw during the beginning of World War II. Roman Polanski, who as a child witnessed the Nazis devastate his home country of Poland, would win the best director Oscar for the film (which he couldn’t attend due to an outstanding sexual assault warrant against him), and Adrian Brody would win the award for Best Actor. Brody learned how to play piano for the role, and to this day remains the youngest actor to win the accolade.

NEXT:  Every Upcoming Music Biopic Movie

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‘Bob Marley: One Love’ Passes ‘Rocketman’ to Become One of the Top 5 Highest-Grossing Music Biopics: Here’s the Top 25

The films on this list cover a wide range of genres, including rap, classical, country, Latin and contemporary Christian.

By Paul Grein

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Bob Marley: One Love grossed $607,000 in its eighth week at the box office, which was enough to enable it to pass the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman as the fifth highest-grossing biopic of a musician in domestic box-office history. Bob Marley: One Love , which stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as reggae legend Bob Marley , has grossed $96.6 million in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday (April 7), according to boxofficemojo.com .

Rocketman grossed $96.4 million during its run. Marley and Elton John both achieved global fame in the 1970s. But while Rocketman was a celebration of an artist who conquered his demons and has a long and multi-faceted career, Bob Marley: One Love is inherently a sadder story. Marley died of an aggressive type of skin cancer in 1981. He was just 36.

Here are the 25 highest-grossing biopics of musicians in terms of domestic box office. These films cover a remarkably wide range of genres. Pop/rock artists are the focus of seven of the 25 films, followed by R&B (five); rap and traditional pop (three each); country and classical (two each); and Latin, contemporary Christian and reggae (one each).

Methodology:  Boxofficemojo.com  maintains lists of top-grossing films searchable by dozens of “genre keywords.” Under “music,” we extracted biopics, which we define as films in which actors portray the musicians. Five of the biopics listed here aren’t listed under music on the  boxofficemojo.com  site, so we manually inserted them, using box-office figures found elsewhere on the site.

We didn’t include some high-grossing films about real-life music personalities because they’re not biopics in the traditional sense. These include The Sound of Music (which tells the story of Maria von Trapp and the Trapp Family Singers); Green Book (which deals with a road trip taken by pianist and composer Don Shirley ); Florence Foster Jenkins (about an heiress and hopelessly untalented soprano by that name); and Music of the Heart (about violinist and music educator Roberta Guaspari). Meryl Streep starred in the latter two films.

Here are the 25 biopics of music stars with the highest domestic (defined as U.S. and Canada) grosses:

The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

Domestic gross: $14.4 million

Director: Steve Rash

Music: Joe Renzetti

Notes: Gary Busey received an Oscar nomination for best actor for playing the highly original singer/songwriter who died at age 22 in a 1959 plane crash. Joe Renzetti won an Oscar for best adaptation score. The soundtrack reached No. 86 on the Billboard 200.

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022)

Domestic gross: $23.7 million

Director: Kasi Lemmons

Music: Chanda Dancy

Notes: Naomi Ackie starred in this film, which was directed by Kasi Lemmons. Stanley Tucci co-starred as Clive Davis, who signed Houston to Arista Records in 1983 when she was just 19. Davis oversaw her tremendous rise but was unable to prevent her tragic fall. The film is titled after Houston’s 1987 single that topped Billboard ’s 2023 list of The 500 Best Pop Songs : Staff List.

Respect (2021)

Domestic gross: $24.3 million

Director: Liesl Tommy

Music: Kris Bowers

Notes: Jennifer Hudson played Aretha Franklin in this biopic, which tracked her rise from singing in her father’s church’s choir to her unquestioned status as the Queen of Soul. The soundtrack reached No. 151 on the Billboard 200.

Judy (2019)

Director: Rupert Goold

Music: Gabriel Yared

Notes: Renée Zellweger won an Oscar for best actress for playing Judy Garland in this biopic. The irony: Garland never won a competitive Oscar, despite two nominations, one in the same category in which Zellweger won. Judy wasn’t a standard biopic, but a look at the last year of her life, when she arrived in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.

Get on Up (2014)

Domestic gross: $30.7 million

Director: Tate Taylor

Music: Thomas Newman

Notes: The late, great Chadwick Boseman starred as James Brown in this biopic, which was directed by Tate Taylor and produced by Taylor, Brian Grazer, Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearman. Viola Davis, Craig Robinson and Octavia Spencer had supporting roles. The film soundtrack reached No. 61 on the Billboard 200.

The Doors (1991)

Domestic gross: $34.4 million

Director: Oliver Stone

Music: The Doors

Notes: Val Kilmer starred as The Doors’ charismatic lead singer Jim Morrison in this film that was directed by Oliver Stone, who also co-wrote the screenplay. The film also starred Kyle MacLachlan as keyboardist Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as lead guitarist Robby Krieger and Kevin Dillon as drummer John Densmore. The film followed Morrison from his days as a UCLA film student to his untimely death in Paris at age 27 in 1971. The film shared its title with the title of The Doors’ classic 1967 debut album. The soundtrack reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

Selena (1997)

Domestic gross: $35.3 million

Director: Gregory Nava

Music: Dave Grusin

Notes: Rising star Jennifer Lopez starred as Tejano music star Selena, who rose from cult status to performing at the Houston Astrodome. The film includes her shocking murder at age 23 at the hands of former fan club president Yolanda Saldívar. The soundtrack reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200.

Shine (1996)

Domestic gross: $35.9 million

Director: Scott Hicks

Music: David Hirschfelder

Notes: Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for best actor for playing pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture. The soundtrack reached No. 59 on the Billboard 200.

Notorious (2009)

Domestic gross: $36.8 million

Director: George Tillman Jr.

Music: Danny Elfman

Notes: Jamal Woolard starred as Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G.) in this biopic. After rising to the top of the rap music world, Biggie was shot to death at age 24 in 1997. Angela Bassett, Derek Luke and Anthony Mackie also starred in the film. The soundtrack reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200.

Funny Lady (1975)

Domestic gross: $39 million

Director: Herbert Ross

Music: John Kander, Fred Ebb, Peter Matz

Notes: This was the less-celebrated, but still popular, sequel to 1968’s Funny Girl. Barbra Streisand reprised her Oscar-winning role as Fanny Brice and James Caan played showman Billy Rose. The film spawned an Oscar-nominated song, “How Lucky Can You Get.” The film soundtrack reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

What's Love Got to Do With It (1993)

Domestic gross: $39.1 million

Director: Brian Gibson

Music: Stanley Clarke

Notes: Angela Bassett received an Oscar nomination for best actress for playing the indominable Tina Turner in this biopic. Laurence Fishburne received an Oscar nod for best actor for playing her abusive husband Ike Turner. The film drew its title from Turner’s biggest hit, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 1984 and won Grammys for record and song of the year. The film soundtrack reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200.

All Eyez on Me (2017)

Domestic gross: $44.9 million

Director: Benny Boom

Music: John Paesano

Notes: Demetrius Shipp Jr. starred as Tupac Shakur in this film, with Jamal Woolard reprising his role as Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace from Notorious . Shipp’s father worked on music videos with 2Pac, who was shot to death in 1996 at age 25. The film drew its title from 2Pac’s 1996 double-disc album, his second to top the Billboard 200.

Jersey Boys (2014)

Domestic gross: $47 million

Director: Clint Eastwood

Music: Bob Gaudio

Notes: Clint Eastwood directed and co-produced this film adaptation of the blockbuster stage musical, which opened on Broadway in 2005. The biopic about The Four Seasons starred John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli, Erich Bergen as Bob Gaudio, Michael Lomenda as Nick Massi and Vincent Piazza as Tommy DeVito. The film didn’t get nearly as much awards love as the stage musical did. The musical won four Tony Awards including best musical and best actor in a musical for Young. The film didn’t land a single Oscar nod. Valli and Gaudio served as executive producers of the film. The soundtrack reached No. 15 on the Billboard 200.

Amadeus (1984)

Domestic gross: $51. 6 million

Director: Milos Forman

Notes: Tom Hulce received an Oscar nomination for best actor for playing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but lost to F. Murray Abraham, who had the showier role as Antonio Salieri, who was insanely jealous of Mozart’s talent. The film received 11 Oscar nominations and won eight awards, including best picture and best director for Miloš Forman. Peter Shaffer also won best adapted screenplay for adapting his stage play, which had won five Tony Awards in 1981. The double-disc soundtrack, credited to conductor/arranger Neville Marriner, reached No. 56 on the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy for best classical album.

Funny Girl (1968)

Domestic gross: $52.2 million

Director: William Wyler

Music: Jule Styne, Bob Merrill

Notes: Barbra Streisand won an Oscar for her motion picture debut in which she played Fanny Brice, a top star of the vaudeville era. “My Man” and “I’d Rather Be Blue,” both featured in Funny Girl , were hits for Brice in the 1920s. Streisand won best actress in a tie (still the only one in the history of the category) with Katharine Hepburn, who won for The Lion in Winter . “Hello, gorgeous,” Streisand began her speech, before graciously adding: “And I’m very honored to be in such magnificent company as Katharine Hepburn.” Funny Girl received eight nominations, including best picture. The film soundtrack reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200 and spent more than two years on the chart.

  La Bamba (1987)

Domestic gross: $54.2 million

Director: Luis Valdez

Music: Carlos Santana, Miles Goodman

Notes: Lou Diamond Phillips starred as Chicano music star Ritchie Valens who died at age 17 in a plane crash that also claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. The film is titled after a Mexican folk song, which Valens completely transformed with his rock and roll rendition in 1958. Valens’ version reached No. 22 on the Hot 100 in 1959. (It was not his biggest hit. That was “Donna,” which reached No. 2.) The film soundtrack, credited to Los Lobos, topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks in 1987. Los Lobos’ zesty recording of “La Bamba” topped the Hot 100 for three weeks and received Grammy nominations for record and song of the year.

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

Domestic gross: $67.2 million

Director: Michael Apted

Music: Owen Bradley

Notes: Sissy Spacek won an Oscar for best actress for playing country queen Loretta Lynn. The film received seven Oscar nominations, including best picture. Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D’Angelo and Levon Helm had supporting roles. Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, and Minnie Pearl made cameo appearances as themselves. The film was based on a 1976 biography of Lynn by George Vecsey also titled Coal Miner’s Daughter . Both the book and the film drew their titles from Lynn’s signature hit, which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart (as it was called then) in December 1970. The soundtrack reached No. 40 on the Billboard 200.

Domestic gross: $75.3 million

Director: Taylor Hackford

Music: Craig Armstrong

Notes: Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for best actor for playing Ray Charles, the genre-bridging musician who lived up to the label “genius.” The film received six Oscar nominations, including best picture. Taylor Hackford directed and co-produced the film, and co-conceived the story. The soundtrack reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy for best compilation soundtrack album for motion picture, television or other visual media.

I Can Only Imagine (2018)

Domestic gross: $83.5 million

Directors: Andrew & Jon Erwin

Music: Brent McCorkle

Notes: Michael Finley starred as Bart Millard, the lead singer of the contemporary Christian band MercyMe. Millard wrote the song about his relationship with his father, played by Dennis Quaid. The song reached No. 71 on the Hot 100 and charted for 18 weeks. At the 2018 Dove Awards, the film, which also starred Trace Adkins and Cloris Leachman, won inspirational film of the year.

Rocketman (2019)

Domestic gross: $96.4 million

Director: Dexter Fletcher

Music: Matthew Margeson

Notes: Taron Egerton won raves for his performance as Elton John, with Jamie Bell playing his collaborator, Bernie Taupin. But the actors were passed over for Oscar nods, while the real thing, Elton and Bernie, won Oscars for best original song for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again.” The film drew its title from John’s 1972 hit, which reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 – his highest ranking to that point. (Many bigger hits were in his future.) The soundtrack reached No. 50 on the Billboard 200.

Bob Marley: One Love (2024)

Domestic gross: $96.6 million

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Notes: “First he changed music. Then he changed the world” is the tagline for this film, which was directed and co-written by Reinaldo Marcus Green. It is based on the life of reggae legend Bob Marley, from his rise to fame in the mid-1970s up until his death in 1981. The film stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as Marley, with Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita Marley and James Norton as Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.

Walk the Line  (2005)

Domestic gross: $119.5 million

Director: James Mangold

Music: T Bone Burnett

Notes: Joaquin Phoenix received an Oscar nomination for best actor for playing country legend Johnny Cash, while Reese Witherspoon won best actress for playing his wife, country star June Carter Cash. The film received five Oscar nominations. The screenplay, written by James Mangold (who also directed the film) and Gill Dennis, was based on two Cash autobiographies — 1975’s Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words  and 1997’s  Cash: The Autobiography . The film drew its title from Cash’s 1956 hit, “I Walk the Line.” The soundtrack reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy for best compilation soundtrack album for motion picture, television or other visual media.

Elvi s (2022)

Domestic gross: $151 million

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Music: Elliott Wheeler

Notes:  Elvis is Baz Luhrmann’s biopic of Elvis Presley, from his childhood to becoming one of the greatest pop music stars of all time. The film also explores his complex relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks. In addition to directing the film, Luhrmann co-wrote and co-produced it. This is Luhrmann’s sixth film, following Strictly Ballroom  (1992), Romeo + Juliet  (1996), Moulin Rouge!  (2001), Australia  (2008) and The Great Gatsby (2013). On Aug. 23, 2022, Elvis overtook The Great Gatsby to become Luhrmann’s highest-grossing film in the U.S. and Canada.

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Domestic gross: $161.2 million

Director: F. Gary Gray

Music: Joseph Trapanese

Notes: Ice Cube was played by his real-life son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., in this N.W.A biopic, which also starred Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, Neil Brown Jr. as DJ Yella and Aldis Hodge as MC Ren. Paul Giamatti was featured as N.W.A’s manager Jerry Heller. The members of N.W.A were involved in the production of the film, including Ice Cube and Dr. Dre as producers. Eazy-E’s widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, was also a producer, while MC Ren and DJ Yella served as creative consultants. The film drew its title from N.W.A’s debut album, which reached a new peak on the Billboard 200 (No. 4) following the film’s release.

Bohemian Rhapsody  (2018)

Domestic gross: $216.4 million

Director: Brian Singer

Music: Queen

Notes: Rami Malek won an Oscar for best actor for playing Queen’s charismatic lead singer Freddie Mercury. The film also starred Gwilym Lee as guitarist Brian May, Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor and Joe Mazzello as bassist John Deacon. May and Taylor served as consultants on the film, which focused on the period from the band’s formation in 1970 to their triumphant performance at Live Aid in Wembley Stadium in 1985. The film received five Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won four awards, more than any other film that year. The film drew its title from Queen’s most famous song, which reached No. 9 on the Hot 100 in 1976 and No. 2 in 1992 after it was featured in the box-office smash “Wayne’s World.” The Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

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The 10 of the Most Romantic Movies From the '60s

W ith the rise of television during the '50s and '60s, movies faced startling new competition. Cinema adapted by pushing into new territory and highlighting social themes and circumstances that had never been addressed in movies before. The 1960s, therefore, is an era of movie history that is looked back on fondly for its timeless classics containing modern social problems. Legendary stars like Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn also took center stage, giving romance movies more star power and sex appeal.

There is something about the romance movies of the 1960s that still appeals to audiences today. It is that middle ground between the stiff Hayes Code and the freeing nature of the new Hollywood scene coming into its own. With the sexual revolution happening, these romances were able to go to places the romances of previous decades could not. They set new standards and brazed new exciting paths. These romances are great for any time of the year, from a nice weekend inside cuddled up with a blanket and a warm drink to a potential date movie to watch with someone at home. Here are the ten best romance films from the 1960s.

Update January 3, 2023: This article has been updated to include even more great romances from the 1960s, including where each title is streaming.

The Music Man (1962)

The music man.

Release Date 1962-06-19

Director Morton DaCosta

Cast Pert Kelton, Paul Ford, Hermione Gingold, Buddy Hackett, Shirley Jones, Robert Preston

Main Genre Comedy

An adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, 1962's The Music Man tells the story of Harold Hill (Robert Preston), a con artist who travels to the fictional Iowa town of River City to pull off an elaborate scheme. Despite possessing no musical abilities, his plan involves setting up a marching band to keep the town's youth out of trouble. He then intends on fleeing town once he has swindled the townspeople's money. What Hill doesn't bank on, however, is falling in love with the local librarian and piano teacher, Marian Paroo (Shirley Jones), who feels the same way about him. A big hit when it was released in theaters, The Music Man went on to be nominated for a total of six Academy Awards.

What Makes It Great

As is the case with most good romances, the film's two main characters start off as enemies who rub each other the wrong way, before gradually falling for one another. In the case of The Music Man , this classic setup leads to a hilarious battle of wits between the pair, as well as some brilliantly original dialogue. Romance films succeed or fail depending largely on the strength of the chemistry between the two leads and, when it comes to Preston and Jones, they have it in bags full. Aside from the romance itself, The Music Man offers elaborate dance numbers, creative sound production, and catchy tunes, all of which help to make it a fun and feel-good romantic musical extravaganza. Stream on Tubi

Barefoot in the Park (1967)

An adaptation of Neil Simon's 1963 play of the same name, Barefoot in the Park is, in many ways, an anti-romance film. After all, the main plot involves a newlywed couple watching their marriage quickly crumble in front of their eyes. Robert Redford plays an uptight and high-achieving lawyer named Paul, who has recently married the far more kooky and free-spirited Corie (played by Jane Fonda). Upon moving into their new fifth-floor apartment in New York, the couple's juxtaposing personalities begin to show, with Corie citing Paul's refusal to go barefoot in the park as one of the many things that make them different. Over the course of the film, the pair's relationship breaks down more and more in increasingly hilarious and over the top ways.

Barefoot in the Park picked up both an Oscar and a BAFTA nominations in 1968, and was generally well received by most critics. Its unique premise separates it from most romance films of the time, with the "relationship break-down" providing some very funny moments. Essentially, it's a film about the ridiculous side of marriage and learning to accept a partner's different ways of doing things, and it presents these themes in a fun and joy-filled, rather than cynical, way. While some aspects of the film may feel dated to modern audiences, and despite aspects of the plot feeling overly contrived, Barefoot in the Park is a well-written and deftly performed sixties romcom that stands out from the crowd. Stream on Paramount+

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Breakfast at tiffany's.

Release Date 1961-10-06

Director Blake Edwards

Cast Jos Luis de Villalonga, Buddy Ebsen, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Martin Balsam, Audrey Hepburn

Few films defined 1960s glamour more than Breakfast at Tiffany's . Screen icon Audrey Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, a New York socialite looking for a rich man to settle down with. Fate has other ideas, however, and when a handsome stranger (George Peppard) moves in next door, so begins a fun and light-hearted romp about the choice between love and wealth. As well as being nominated for five Academy Awards, Breakfast at Tiffany's is still highly regarded today and has been referenced and parodied a number of times in popular culture.

Stylish, witty, and full of charm, both Breakfast at Tiffany's and its leading actress embody a world and lifestyle that is enviable to the average viewer. It may not come with the most complex of plots or the most sophisticated of stories, but the film's simplicity is part of what makes it work. That, and an utterly delightful performance by Hepburn, who brings a sweetness and naïveté to the character of Holly that makes her an incredibly interesting character to watch. Though parts of the film haven't aged very well - most notably Mickey Rooney's offensive portrayal of an Asian man - there are more than enough pros here to outweigh the cons. From the iconic image of the little black dress to the memorable soundtrack to the witty dialogue, Breakfast At Tiffany's is a satisfying romcom that's perfect for comfort viewing. Stream on Paramount+

Related: Best Classic Comedy Movies of the 1960s, Ranked

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Over the years, there have been numerous big screen adaptations of William Shakespeare's tragic love story. For many, the best-known one is Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version, simply titled Romeo and Juliet . Like in the original play, the film tells the story of Romeo Montague (Leonard Whiting) and Juliet Capulet (Olivia Hussey), a pair of young lovers from warring families who are forbidden from being together. Their love for one another and their desire to be as one ultimately has fateful consequences for both of them. As well as being a financial success, the film managed to win over critics, and was nominated for four Academy Awards in total.

Romeo and Juliet is one of the best-looking adaptations of the famous work, with gorgeous cinematography and stunning production design ensuring the film is never anything less than a treat for the eyes. Nevertheless, it's not a case of all style and no substance; the film's solid script, clever direction, and strong performances mean there's enough depth here to warrant the striking visuals. It's an incredibly well-thought-out and delicately crafted piece that has, unfortunately, been slightly overshadowed by more recent adaptations. Which is a shame because Zeffirelli's version conveys the couple's naive optimism and tragic downfall just as well, if not better, than any other iteration of literature's most famous love story. Stream on Hoopla

The Graduate (1967)

The graduate.

Release Date 1967-12-21

Director Mike Nichols

Cast Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, William Daniels, Dustin Hoffman

College is a time of exploration and experimentation, but where do you go when you are done? This is the exact dilemma Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) faces in Mike Nichols' The Graduate . After graduating from college with little-to-no plan for his future, he sets out on some intense soul-searching and soon starts an affair with the much older Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). However, things become complicated when Ben starts to develop feelings for Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross). The drama continues to escalate into a tangled mess of secrecy, rebellion, and steamy romance.

Ever since it first hit theater screens way back in 1967, The Graduate has been highly regarded. As well as being a critical and commercial success, the film received an impressive seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (for Hoffman). Almost every aspect of this film is iconic, from the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack to Hoffman's performance to the thought-provoking (and ever so harrowing) final scene, the film is filled with memorable moments. Overall, The Graduate is a cleverly written and fantastically performed forbidden love story . Stream on The Criterion Channel

Related: 10 Films That Defined the Golden Age of Romantic Comedies

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner tells a groundbreaking tale of interracial romance that has mostly managed to stand the test of time. When Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton) brings home her new fiancé, a doctor named John ( Sidney Poitier ), she couldn't be more excited for her parents to meet the man she loves. However, upon realizing that John is a black man, Joey's folks, Matt (Spencer Drayton) and Christina (Katharine Hepburn), are far from enthusiastic. Over the course of the evening, however, the older couple grapple with their own biases and slowly come to accept their daughter's new lover. Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement , the film made a big impression when it was first released in theaters.

Despite being released 57 years ago, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner feels just as relevant as ever. This is partly due to the fact that racism still, sadly, exists in today's society, and partly because the film itself was so forward-thinking and well-made, that it has a timeless quality to it. Set in one location over the course of a single evening, the film is extremely dialogue-heavy. Thankfully, it's excellent dialogue courtesy of screenwriter William Rose, who rightly won an Oscar for his work here. Sensitively told, magnificently performed, and brimming with more pathos and nuance than most films today, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a romantic comedy-drama that'll get you thinking. Rent on AppleTV+

West Side Story (1961)

Before there was Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake , there was the 1961 original. A modern twist on Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story tells the age-old tale of star-crossed lovers separated by warring families. In this case, the lovers are Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer), and the families are a pair of rival gangs known as the Jets and the Sharks. Based on the Bernstein and Sondheim Broadway musical of the same name, West Side Story was a massive hit when it was released and went on to be the highest-grossing film of 1961. It also won a whopping ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (for Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins).

With an enchanting soundtrack made up of some of the best songs in western cinema, such as "America" and "Somewhere", an ensemble cast of talented performers, and some neat direction, West Side Story is the movie musical that has it all. Furthermore, beneath the bright colors and catchy tunes lies a tragic love story that, although familiar, is told here in a fresh and wildly imaginative way. The production design is stunning, the script is sophisticated, and the choreography is immense. All of which adds up to a truly electrifying cinematic masterpiece. Stream on Paramount+

The Sound of Music (1965)

The sound of music.

Release Date 1965-03-29

Director Robert Wise

Cast Charmian Carr, Peggy Wood, Richard Haydn, Eleanor Parker, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer

Main Genre Biography

Another iconic romantic musical of the 60s, The Sound of Music displays the full genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein . Taking place just before Germany invades Austria during WWII, the film centers on a free-spirited nun, Maria ( Julie Andrews ), who is hired by Baron von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) to be the governess to his seven children. Over the course of her time with the family, Maria teaches the children how to sing, which softens the emotionally closed-off Baron and allows him to connect with his offspring for the first time since their mother's death. After initially coming into conflict with one another, Maria and the Baron soon fall in love.

The Sound of Music is often considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. And with good reason. Not only did it win five Academy Awards, but it also became the highest-grossing film of all time when it was released in the spring of 1965. The film's success isn't without good reason, though. With a dozen catchy songs, a stunning setting, and a beautifully epic story at its center, The Sound of Music is a fantastically captivating and wonderfully feel-good watch that's delightful from beginning to end. The best part of the film, however, is undoubtedly the love story between Maria and the Baron, with the scenes between Andrews and Plumber being simply magical. Stream on Disney+

The Apartment (1960)

Billy Wilder's 1960 romantic comedy-drama, The Apartment , is an often overlooked masterpiece. It tells the story of an office clerk named C.C. "Bud" Baxter (Jack Lemmon), who lets his coworkers use his Upper West Side apartment to conduct extramarital affairs. However, he starts to develop a crush on elevator operator Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), who, unbeknownst to him, also happens to be his boss’s mistress. The film was conceived by Wilder after watching Noel Coward's Brief Encounter, which features a couple using a friend's apartment to have an affair. A hit with audiences and critics, The Apartment won five awards from eight nominations at the 33rd Academy Awards ceremony.

As previously mentioned, the success of a romantic film is dictated by the strength of the performances by the two leads and the onscreen chemistry they share. Fortunately, in the case of The Apartment , both Lemmon and MacLaine not only shine individually but also make a perfect pairing. While he is utterly delightful as the naive and hapless Baxter, whose innocence is a source of great humor, she excels as the capable yet emotionally confused Fran, who finds it difficult to let anyone in. With an equal balance of humor and heart, and a fiendishly clever script, The Apartment is not only one of Wilder's best films , but one of the greatest love stories of the era. Stream on Fubo

Related: Romance Movies That Should Be Remade

My Fair Lady (1964)

My fair lady.

Release Date 1964-10-21

Director George Cukor

Cast Jeremy Brett, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Stanley Holloway, Gladys Cooper, Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn

Main Genre Drama

In 1964's My Fair Lady , Rex Harrison plays Henry Higgins, a linguist who believes that he can alter a person's social status by changing the way they speak. Audrey Hepburn , meanwhile, stars as Eliza Doolittle, a working-class cockney flower girl living on the streets of London, who volunteers to put Higgins' theory to the test. The pair's contrasting personalities and lifestyles leads to some comical misunderstandings and, ultimately, an undeniable attraction between them. An adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's classic stage play, Pygmalion, the film co-stars Stanley Holloway, Gladys Cooper, and Jeremy Brett, and was nominated for a total of 12 Academy Awards.

What Makes It The Best

My Fair Lady is the ultimate "opposites attract" tale. Cheery, colorful, and full of charm, it's the perfect antidote to dreary and tragic love stories , with its unashamedly joyous tone making it a great pick-me-up of a film. That being said, the film isn't lacking in depth and contrasts its light tone with well-observed social commentary and three-dimensional characters. It's the performances of the two leads that make it the masterpiece that it is, though, with Hepburn, in particular, oozing charisma and star quality. Furthermore, a moving score, some rousing musical numbers, and a witty script, make this movie a must-watch classic, and one of the prettiest, most enjoyable romance films of the 1960s. Stream on Paramount+

Movie Reviews

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In the romantic comedy “Música,” Rudy is a young man who experiences the world through sound. In his ears, everyday noises become symphonies of life, a daily rhythm that distracts him from class and his girlfriend Haley ( Francesca Reale ). His mother Maria ( Maria Mancuso ) suggests Rudy date someone from their Brazilian community in Newark, New Jersey. After rebelling against these demands, he meets a fellow Brazilian American named Isabella ( Camila Mendes ) at a local fish market, and with that, Rudy starts to hear a new tune, one that’s music to his ears.

“Música” delivers what it promises: a love story, musical numbers, and a celebration of Brazilian culture, starting with the movie’s color-coded poster that reflects the country’s green, yellow and white flag. Through Rudy, a character based on the film’s writer and director Rudy Mancuso, we get a sense of his experience with synesthesia, a condition where sensory stimulus leads to a second sensory stimulus, i.e. a person can taste colors or hear something that triggers a visual response. Rudy experiences the latter, where everyday sounds of traffic, airplanes, kids playing in a park, people talking, and going about their lives are loud enough to disrupt his thoughts, and in the film, his experience is illustrated by musical numbers that use everyday objects as instruments in the style of the recently departed off-Broadway show “Stomp.” It’s a little “All That Jazz” in the way that Mancuso uses song and dance to illustrate his struggles to connect with others and live up to their expectations. Mancuso, who composed the music behind “Música,” uses puppetry, animation and innovative production design to further his creative vision. Some songs and sequences don’t always hit the right notes—the songs the busker sings at the train station are among the movie’s weakest points. But then there are show-stopping moments—like a long take of Rudy running around town to keep the three women in his life happy using different settings and props—that are truly impressive, elevating this romantic comedy a cut above the straightforward “boy-meets-girl” setups that treat visual style like an afterthought. 

Despite a few unfinished edges and missteps, there’s much to savor in Mancuso’s feature debut. In addition to the film’s romantic plot, Mancuso, who co-wrote the film with Dan Lagana , explores his own connection to Brazilian culture. He easily slips between speaking English and Portuguese on several occasions; even on a date, he saves room for his mother’s home cooked feijoada; bossa nova beats and samba dance moves are woven seamlessly into the film’s musical fabric, and in one hilarious sequence at a restaurant, he gulps several rounds of cachaça, perhaps the most in any American movie. Mancuso also addresses some of the thornier sides to sticking so close to home, like how his mother Maria (played by Mancuso’s real mother) insists he settle down with another Brazilian girl. He also faces Haley’s parents’ ignorance about his country when they assume he speaks Spanish like their Central American housekeeper, and Rudy has to consider whether to correct them or let it slide to keep the peace. It’s likely that more than a few second and third generation children of immigrants will find something to relate to in Mancuso’s film, but at the same time, it feels so unique because of how rarely we see the Brazilian-American experience on screen.

That celebratory spirit extends to Mancuso’s relationship with scene-stealing co-star, his mom. Their dynamic in the film is even livelier than Rudy’s dates with Isabella, which feel more like a glowing idealized version of what could be, and Haley, the girlfriend whose goals and plans for the future no longer align with what our main character wants. He wonders about leaving his mother after college and is clearly very close with her despite her dismissal of his artistic pursuits and disapproval of his dating choices, which may sound like familiar feedback from some of our own parents. Over the credits, Mancuso’s childhood photos unfold alongside the names and titles of the cast and crew, making “Música” feel as much of a love letter to her as it is to the music that inspires him and the culture that shaped him. Right to the end, “Música” becomes more than just another bland romcom. It’s about finding love when living with a disability, it’s about finding music wherever it may be, and it’s about our connection to our culture and our family.

On Prime Video now.

Monica Castillo

Monica Castillo is a critic, journalist, programmer, and curator based in New York City. She is the Senior Film Programmer at the Jacob Burns Film Center and a contributor to  RogerEbert.com .

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Jelly Roll dominates the 2024 CMT Music Awards with host Kelsea Ballerini and a Toby Keith tribute

Jelly Roll performs during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, Monday, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

FILE - Singer/songwriter Kelsea Ballerini poses for a portrait, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Los Angeles. The CMT Music Awards return Sunday night, April 7, 2024, live from Austin, Texas’ Moody Center, with host Kelsea Ballerini. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

FILE - Country music recording artist Toby Keith performs on NBC’s Today show at Rockefeller Plaza on Friday, July 5, 2019, in New York. This year, the CMT Music Awards will feature a tribute to the late Toby Keith, performed by Brooks & Dunn, Lainey Wilson and Sammy Hagar, backed by Keith’s long-time live band. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File)

This combination of photos shows country music stars Megan Moroney, left, performing April 2, 2023, in Austin, Texas, Jelly Roll performing Feb. 2, 2024, in Los Angeles, center, and Kelsea Ballerini performing Sept. 11, 2023, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo)

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Jelly Roll won big at the 2024 CMT Music Awards Sunday night, taking home three awards at the annual event celebrating the best in country music videos.

His accolades began with the CMT performance of the year award for his gospel-assisted rendition of “Need a Favor” at the 2023 CMT Music Awards nearly a year ago to the day. It also was his first-ever awards show performance .

“In that last year you changed my life in every way I never thought my life could be changed,” the tattooed rapper-turned-country breakout star said in an emotional acceptance speech live from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. The show was broadcast live on CBS and Paramount+.

The music video for “Need A Favor” earned him male video of the year and the biggest award of the night, video of the year.

“I’m having one of the best nights of my life,” he said, before focusing his speech on people who are looking for “second chances,” specifically those in juvenile detention facilities. “I once heard a man say that ‘you don’t change until the pain to remain the same is greater than the pain it takes to change,’ and that’s what it takes. I love you, Texas.”

In some ways, it was déjà vu from the 2023 awards show , where Jelly Roll also took home three awards, winning over audiences for his larger-than-life personality and outsider songs.

Kelsea Ballerini hosted the awards for fourth time in a row, opening with a comedic sketch about reading the minds of country music’s biggest names that ended with Keith Urban hugging the beaver mascot of beloved Texas gas station chain Buc-ee’s .

Her many outfit changes were only the first of a few surprises, which also included Melissa Etheridge appearing on a duet of “Come to My Window” with Ballerini.

Early on, Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton won collaborative video of the year for their song, “We Don’t Fight Anymore.” She thanked Stapleton, who wasn’t in attendance, and “Fans, fans, fans, fans, fans!”

Ashley Cooke won breakthrough female video of the year for “Your Place,” her first-ever award. “I just won a CMT award, oh my god, good night!” she cheered as she headed off stage. Warren Zeiders took home the male equivalent for “Pretty Little Poison,” thanking God and his best friend: his dad.

Live performances were fast and furious. Three-time CMT award winner and Texas native Cody Johnson opened the 2024 show with his ode to the lone star state, “That’s Texas.” Jason Aldean performed “Let Your Boys Be Country” in front of the University of Texas at Austin, a less controversial choice than his radio hit “Try That in a Small Town.” Its music video was removed from CMT last year .

Megan Moroney brought her breakup anthem, “No Caller ID,” to the CMT stage and Parker McCollum teamed with Brittney Spencer for “Burn It Down.” NEEDTOBREATHE and Jordan Davis teased “CMT Crossroads” by tackling each other’s “Brother” and “Next Thing You Know,” respectively.

Lainey Wilson reminded the audience that “Country’s Cool Again,” leading into an outdoor performance of “Where It Ends” by Bailey Zimmerman. Veteran Keith Urban brought the first single of his forthcoming album, “Straight Line.”

Wilson spent a lot time on stage, taking home female video of the year for “Watermelon Moonshine.” “Thank you for supporting women in country,” she told the audience.

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush of Sugarland reunited on the CMT stage for the first time since 2011 in a collaborative performance with Little Big Town. The six voices teamed up for a cover of Phil Collins’ “Take Me Home.”

Trisha Yearwood was awarded the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award, which honors musicians or industry veterans who demonstrate “an exceptional dedication to community and their fellow artists, embodying June’s spirit as a fierce advocate and initiator in paying it forward,” a statement said.

The country star was honored for her charitable contributions, including longstanding work with Habitat for Humanity and the annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Week Project.

“I don’t think anyone who’s ever gotten a humanitarian award has thought they deserve it,” she began, agreeing with the sentiment before turning her attention to the woman the award is named after.

“June Carter Cash was a force, and she was married to a force. I know a little bit about that,” she said, in reference to her husband Garth Brooks , before applauding Carter Cash’s ability to keep shining a light on her own successes. “She was strong in a very human way,” Yearwood said.

Later in the night, she debuted a new song from her forthcoming album, the acoustic ballad, “Put It in a Song.”

The emotional center of the award show no doubt came later, in an all-star tribute to the late Toby Keith , with Brooks & Dunn tackling Keith’s 1993 breakout hit, “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” Sammy Hagar doing “I Love This Bar” and Lainey Wilson covering “How Do You Like Me Now.” They all were backed by Keith’s longtime band.

Keith, a hit country crafter of pro-American anthems who riled up critics and was loved by millions of fans, died in February at 62 after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

In the crowd, artists including Ashley McBryde and Jelly Roll raised their red solo cups in a cheerful tribute to the singer, who immortalized the humble plastic cups in his 2011 hit, “Red Solo Cup.”

After the musical tributes on stage, Keith’s longtime friend and baseball star Roger Clemens, his eyes watering, thanked Keith’s wife and children in the audience for sharing their husband and father with the world.

Clemens led a toast to those on stage, in the crowd, and at home: “Repeat after me. ‘Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses,’” a reference to a comedic song by Keith featuring Willie Nelson.

It was a fitting homage: a little funny, with a whole lot of country heart.

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The 50 Best Biography Movies of All Time

My 50 personal favorite biography movies of all time. Honourable Mentions: Elvis (2022) Mank (2020) Dolemite Is My Name (2019) First Man (2018) The Disaster Artist (2017) The Danish Girl (2015) Trumbo (2015) 127 Hours (2010) Hachi (2009) Hunger (2008) The Diving Bell & The Butterfly (2007) The Basketball Diaries (1995) Quiz Show (1994) Glory (1989) My Left Foot (1989) Escape From Alcatraz (1979) Midnight Express (1978) Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973) Funny Girl (1968) in Cold Blood (1967) Related: The 25 Best Biography Movies of the 21st Century - https://www.imdb.com/list/ls097509937/ The 25 Best Historical Movies of All Time - https://www.imdb.com/list/ls069565244/ The 25 Best Period Piece Movies of All Time - https://www.imdb.com/list/ls046806935/

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
• In Theaters
• Release Year

1. Goodfellas (1990)

R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro , Ray Liotta , Joe Pesci , Lorraine Bracco

Votes: 1,254,191 | Gross: $46.84M

2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Approved | 218 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

The story of T.E. Lawrence , the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.

Director: David Lean | Stars: Peter O'Toole , Alec Guinness , Anthony Quinn , Jack Hawkins

Votes: 313,608 | Gross: $44.82M

3. Schindler's List (1993)

R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson , Ralph Fiennes , Ben Kingsley , Caroline Goodall

Votes: 1,446,763 | Gross: $96.90M

4. Raging Bull (1980)

R | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta , whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro , Cathy Moriarty , Joe Pesci , Frank Vincent

Votes: 379,409 | Gross: $23.38M

5. Amadeus (1984)

R | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Music

The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , as told by Antonio Salieri , the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham , Tom Hulce , Elizabeth Berridge , Roy Dotrice

Votes: 426,837 | Gross: $51.97M

6. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

R | 180 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime

Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort , from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio , Jonah Hill , Margot Robbie , Matthew McConaughey

Votes: 1,577,356 | Gross: $116.90M

7. The Pianist (2002)

R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music

During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody , Thomas Kretschmann , Frank Finlay , Emilia Fox

Votes: 909,344 | Gross: $32.57M

8. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama, Mystery

A mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.

Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Russell Crowe , Ed Harris , Jennifer Connelly , Christopher Plummer

Votes: 984,973 | Gross: $170.74M

9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

R | 160 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Robert Ford, who has idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the resurgent gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.

Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Brad Pitt , Casey Affleck , Sam Shepard , Mary-Louise Parker

Votes: 192,545 | Gross: $3.90M

10. Lion (2016)

PG-13 | 118 min | Biography, Drama

A five-year-old Indian boy is adopted by an Australian couple after getting lost hundreds of kilometers from home. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

Director: Garth Davis | Stars: Dev Patel , Nicole Kidman , Rooney Mara , Sunny Pawar

Votes: 250,549 | Gross: $51.74M

11. Patton (1970)

GP | 172 min | Biography, Drama, War

The World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton .

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: George C. Scott , Karl Malden , Stephen Young , Michael Strong

Votes: 107,802 | Gross: $61.70M

12. The Aviator (2004)

PG-13 | 170 min | Biography, Drama

A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes ' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio , Cate Blanchett , Kate Beckinsale , John C. Reilly

Votes: 383,540 | Gross: $102.61M

13. Ed Wood (1994)

R | 127 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

Ambitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp , Martin Landau , Sarah Jessica Parker , Patricia Arquette

Votes: 183,780 | Gross: $5.89M

14. BlacKkKlansman (2018)

R | 135 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime

Ron Stallworth , an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, Colorado, successfully infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan branch aided by a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: John David Washington , Adam Driver , Laura Harrier , Topher Grace

Votes: 290,480 | Gross: $49.28M

15. The Elephant Man (1980)

PG | 124 min | Biography, Drama

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.

Director: David Lynch | Stars: Anthony Hopkins , John Hurt , Anne Bancroft , John Gielgud

Votes: 257,927

16. A Hidden Life (2019)

PG-13 | 174 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.

Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: August Diehl , Valerie Pachner , Maria Simon , Karin Neuhäuser

Votes: 28,053

17. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

R | 125 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Three amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino , John Cazale , Penelope Allen , Sully Boyar

Votes: 272,621 | Gross: $50.00M

18. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

R | 111 min | Action, Biography, Crime

Bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.

Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Warren Beatty , Faye Dunaway , Michael J. Pollard , Gene Hackman

Votes: 120,441

19. Downfall (2004)

R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History

Traudl Junge , the final secretary for Adolf Hitler , tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz , Alexandra Maria Lara , Ulrich Matthes , Juliane Köhler

Votes: 374,552 | Gross: $5.51M

20. Memories of Murder (2003)

Not Rated | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.

Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho , Kim Sang-kyung , Kim Roe-ha , Song Jae-ho

Votes: 215,333 | Gross: $0.01M

21. Fruitvale Station (2013)

R | 85 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Michael B. Jordan , Melonie Diaz , Octavia Spencer , Kevin Durand

Votes: 85,799 | Gross: $16.10M

22. Into the Wild (2007)

R | 148 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Emile Hirsch , Vince Vaughn , Catherine Keener , Marcia Gay Harden

Votes: 657,007 | Gross: $18.35M

23. The King's Speech (2010)

R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History

The story of King George VI , his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.

Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth , Geoffrey Rush , Helena Bonham Carter , Derek Jacobi

Votes: 707,142 | Gross: $138.80M

24. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

PG | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

In 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.

Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Paul Newman , Robert Redford , Katharine Ross , Strother Martin

Votes: 226,422 | Gross: $102.31M

25. The Intouchables (2011)

R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama

After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.

Directors: Olivier Nakache , Éric Toledano | Stars: François Cluzet , Omar Sy , Anne Le Ny , Audrey Fleurot

Votes: 926,751 | Gross: $13.18M

26. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Biography

In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski , Ruy Guerra , Helena Rojo , Del Negro

Votes: 62,107

27. The Irishman (2019)

R | 209 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

An illustration of Frank Sheeran's life, from W.W.II veteran to hit-man for the Bufalino crime family and his alleged assassination of his close friend Jimmy Hoffa.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro , Al Pacino , Joe Pesci , Harvey Keitel

Votes: 429,999 | Gross: $7.00M

28. Man on the Moon (1999)

R | 118 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

The life and career of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman .

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jim Carrey , Danny DeVito , Gerry Becker , Greyson Erik Pendry

Votes: 137,302 | Gross: $34.58M

29. Persepolis (2007)

PG-13 | 96 min | Animation, Biography, Drama

A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.

Directors: Vincent Paronnaud , Marjane Satrapi | Stars: Chiara Mastroianni , Catherine Deneuve , Gena Rowlands , Danielle Darrieux

Votes: 100,004 | Gross: $4.45M

30. Green Book (2018)

PG-13 | 130 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver for an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.

Director: Peter Farrelly | Stars: Viggo Mortensen , Mahershala Ali , Linda Cardellini , Sebastian Maniscalco

Votes: 567,760 | Gross: $85.08M

31. Mirror (1975)

Not Rated | 107 min | Biography, Drama

A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation.

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Margarita Terekhova , Filipp Yankovskiy , Ignat Daniltsev , Oleg Yankovskiy

Votes: 52,057 | Gross: $0.18M

32. Finding Neverland (2004)

PG | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Family

The story of Sir J.M. Barrie 's friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.

Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Johnny Depp , Kate Winslet , Julie Christie , Radha Mitchell

Votes: 211,888 | Gross: $51.68M

33. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

PG-13 | 117 min | Biography, Drama

A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career

Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Will Smith , Thandiwe Newton , Jaden Smith , Brian Howe

Votes: 559,352 | Gross: $163.57M

34. Heavenly Creatures (1994)

R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Two teenage girls share a unique bond; their parents, concerned that the friendship is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.

Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Melanie Lynskey , Kate Winslet , Sarah Peirse , Diana Kent

Votes: 67,319 | Gross: $3.05M

35. Gandhi (1982)

PG | 191 min | Biography, Drama, History

The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.

Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Ben Kingsley , John Gielgud , Rohini Hattangadi , Roshan Seth

Votes: 240,003 | Gross: $52.77M

36. American Gangster (2007)

R | 157 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

An outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Denzel Washington , Russell Crowe , Chiwetel Ejiofor , Josh Brolin

Votes: 451,738 | Gross: $130.16M

37. The Social Network (2010)

PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama

As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.

Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg , Andrew Garfield , Justin Timberlake , Rooney Mara

Votes: 756,928 | Gross: $96.96M

38. Spotlight (I) (2015)

R | 129 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

Director: Tom McCarthy | Stars: Mark Ruffalo , Michael Keaton , Rachel McAdams , Liev Schreiber

Votes: 501,276 | Gross: $45.06M

39. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

PG-13 | 121 min | Biography, Drama, History

Paul Rusesabagina , a hotel manager, houses over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda, Africa.

Director: Terry George | Stars: Don Cheadle , Sophie Okonedo , Joaquin Phoenix , Xolani Mali

Votes: 371,494 | Gross: $23.53M

40. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

R | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History

In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup , a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor , Michael Kenneth Williams , Michael Fassbender , Brad Pitt

Votes: 740,114 | Gross: $56.67M

41. Malcolm X (1992)

PG-13 | 202 min | Biography, Drama, History

Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington , Angela Bassett , Delroy Lindo , Spike Lee

Votes: 101,861 | Gross: $48.17M

42. The Imitation Game (2014)

PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller

During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.

Director: Morten Tyldum | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch , Keira Knightley , Matthew Goode , Allen Leech

Votes: 823,195 | Gross: $91.13M

43. American Sniper (2014)

R | 133 min | Action, Biography, Drama

Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home with his family after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Bradley Cooper , Sienna Miller , Kyle Gallner , Cole Konis

Votes: 528,084 | Gross: $350.13M

44. Serpico (1973)

R | 130 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

An honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino , John Randolph , Jack Kehoe , Biff McGuire

Votes: 134,443 | Gross: $29.80M

45. Awakenings (1990)

PG-13 | 121 min | Biography, Drama

The victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.

Director: Penny Marshall | Stars: Robert De Niro , Robin Williams , Julie Kavner , Ruth Nelson

Votes: 158,265 | Gross: $52.10M

46. The Big Short (2015)

R | 130 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

In 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.

Director: Adam McKay | Stars: Christian Bale , Steve Carell , Ryan Gosling , Brad Pitt

Votes: 482,908 | Gross: $70.26M

47. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

R | 139 min | Biography, Drama, History

World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss , serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.

Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Andrew Garfield , Sam Worthington , Luke Bracey , Teresa Palmer

Votes: 591,948 | Gross: $67.21M

48. Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

R | 117 min | Biography, Drama

In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Matthew McConaughey , Jennifer Garner , Jared Leto , Steve Zahn

Votes: 518,386 | Gross: $27.30M

49. In the Name of the Father (1993)

R | 133 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

An Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.

Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis , Pete Postlethwaite , Alison Crosbie , Philip King

Votes: 186,711 | Gross: $25.01M

50. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Passed | 114 min | Biography, Drama, History

In 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Maria Falconetti , Eugene Silvain , André Berley , Maurice Schutz

Votes: 60,492 | Gross: $0.02M

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