Is there truth to this tale?

It's biopic season. It's also a good time to test what movies have learnt from true-life stories and from life itself

- Urvee Modwel

We're not stupid. As audiences, we know that a film, show or play based on a real person is hardly going to be a documentary. We know there will be creative retellings, funny bits thrown in, and composite characters to tell the bigger story better. So, despite these liberties, why do filmmakers often turn even the most interesting people's lives into two hours of garbage? Why do some biopics take what really happened and reduce it to a streaming mess?

In Hollywood, Timothée Chalamet is set to play singer Bob Dylan. Angelina Jolie is playing opera singer Maria Callas. Selena Gomez is starring as singer Linda Ronstadt. Billy Porter has been cast as writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin. Sebastian Stan is getting the orange-face treatment to portray former US president Donald Trump.