Filmsane

I know… I know… it’s barely middle of August and I’m already thinking about movie releases in September.

Guilty as charged on that one…but I was recently strolling down the calendar of upcoming movie premieres and one thing caught my eye.

There are 4 biopics that are waiting releases in a span of only one week. In September that is. So next month is going to be not just exciting with the premieres of Darren Aronofsky latest project Mother! and Kingsman: The Golden Circle but also with the 4 scheduled premiers of biographical movies inspired by real events and real people.

Let’s start from the beginning shall we?

Stronger

Directed by: David Gordon Green
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson and Clancy Brown…
Opens on: 22 September 2017

Adapted from Stronger- the book written by Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter, it’s a cinematic tale of Jeff Bauman (played by Jake Gyllenhaal). An ordinary guy who sadly lost his both legs after the Boston Marathon bombing. He was in the audience at the marathon just cheering his girlfriend Erin (Tatiana Maslany) when the bombs went off and caused irreparable damage to his legs. The movie also deals with his recovery, PTSD and the subsequent adjusting to a new life as a man with physical disabilities.

Fun fact about it: Filmed at the same time as Patriots Day (2016), the other Boston Marathon bombing-related movie. Jeff Bauman is a supporting character in it portrayed by Dan Whelton.

Battle of the Sexes

Directed by: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Elisabeth Shue, Austin Stowell, Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming…
Opens on: 22 September 2017

The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs is now on film. Battle of the Sexes will depict one of the most watched sports events in history. The tennis match between the champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and the showman/tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). The match was played on September 20, 1973 in Huston Texas and King won it… but we are yet to see if there is any award winning potential in the award season coming up.

Fun fact about it: This is the second time Emma Stone and Steve Carrell have worked together since Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011).

Victoria & Abdul

Directed by: Stephen Frears
Starring: Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Tim Pigott-Smith, Adeel Akhtar…
Opens on: 22 September

Dame Judy Dench is so used to playing Queens, she’s playing a queen that she already portrayed 2 decades ago, now just in a different movie. Queen Victoria. Dench was Queen Victoria in 1997’s Mrs Brown, but now she will reprise that role in Victoria & Abdul. Stephen Frears is once again directing a biopic, but Victoria & Abdul will focus on the Queens’s unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal).

Fun fact about it: When filming began in September 2016, Judi Dench was one month older than the age that Queen Victoria was when she died.

American Made

Directed by: Doug Liman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jayma Mays, Jesse Plemons…
Opens on: 29 September 2017

American Made tells the story of Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), a TWA pilot who is recruited by the CIA to help counter the emerging communist threat in Central America. Seal’s role in this major CIA covert operation led in turn to his involvement with the Medellin cartel, which ultimately embarrassed the Reagan White House after the Iran-Contra scandal became public. After the commercial and critical flop with The Mummy, this will be Cruise’s saving grace but about the real guy he’s playing… On February 19, 1986, Seal was shot to death in front of the site. Seal’s shooting abruptly brought the DEA’s investigation to an end.

Fun fact about it: This marks as Tom Cruise’s third biographical film, along with Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Valkyrie (2008).