How do you know if the musician’s career has been successful? They are probably successful if they had a biopic made about their life. The life of a musician or a band is a gold mine for a director who is planning on making a biopic. But making such movies is not easy and even risky, since great musicians always have millions of fans who are ready to make mincemeat of any mediocre director who has shown their favorite artist in a bad light (and misinterpreted a couple of facts here and there and made a big deal out of some not so important aspects of their life).
There are some good and some bad attempts at portraying legendary musicians. Of course, people always pay extra attention to the actors playing the artists.
We remembered 17 musicians who deserved to have a movie made about them and wanted to compare how they look on the big screen vs. in real life. Of course, nothing is perfect, and there sure were some pretty lame attempts, but in some cases, the actors did actually well, some of them even look so similar it’s darn creepy.
Drum roll, please. Here we go!
1. Freddie Mercury (Queen)
Movie: Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Played by: Rami Malek
2. Jim Morrison (The Doors)
Movie: The Doors (1991)
Played by: Val Kilmer
3. Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols)
Movie: Sid and Nancy (1986)
Played by: Gary Oldman
4. Elvis Presley
Movie: Elvis (1979)
Played by: Kurt Russell
5. Tupac Shakur
Movie: All Eyez on Me (2017)
Played by: Demetrius Shipp Jr.
6. Elton John
Movie: Rocketman (2019)
Played by: Taron Egerton
7. Edith Piaf
Movie: La Vie en rose (2007)
Played by: Marion Cotillard
8. Bob Dylan
Movie: I’m Not There (2007)
Played by: Cate Blanchett
9. Brian May (Queen)
Movie: Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Played by: Gwilym Lee
10. Ray Charles
Movie: Ray (2004)
Played by: Jamie Foxx
11. Roger Taylor (Queen)
Movie: Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Played by: Ben Hardy
12. Johnny Cash
Movie: Walk the Line (2005)
Played by: Joaquin Phoenix
13. Dr. Dre (N.W.A.)
Movie: Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Played by: Corey Hawkins
14. John Lennon (The Beatles)
Movie: Nowhere Boy (2009)
Played by: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
15. Bono (U2)
Movie: Killing Bono (2011)
Played by: Martin McCann
16. Ice Cube (N.W.A.)
Movie: Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Played by: O’Shea Jackson Jr. (the son of Ice Cube)
17. John Deacon (Queen)
Movie: Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Played by: Joseph Mazzello
Is there anyone else we should have mentioned? Let us know in the comments!
