10 Legendary Musicians Who Deserve Their Own Biopics (And Who Could Play Them)

1. David Bowie - Michael Sheen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Bill Nighy

BiopicbowieThe Premise: An art student from London becomes one of the most mysterious men in pop. Masterpieces follow, each with fascinating stories of solitude, Nazi-obsession, the will to crack America and superstardom, as David Bowie moves from one persona to next with every new record. David Bowie is a multi-faceted diamond of a popstar, and any of his many personas would be ripe for film material. There's the glam-rock Ziggy Stardust (a character that influenced Michael Sheen during Tron: Legacy), the late-70s fragile alien (perhaps best suited to Tilda Swinton), the international superstar of the 80s (that Benedict Cumberbatch could impersonate fairly well), and the modern, calmed down, yet wholly mysterious Bowie (that Bill Nighy would do a great job playing). Any of those Bowies would make great movies: they're all ethereal, eccentric actors with facial similarities, and they'd all give deep, layered performances. Sheen has already proved he has the twinkle to play the character, and Benedict Cumberbatch is perhaps the biggest name that could play Bowie at his most famous. Tilda Swinton would go some way to showing the singer's androgyny - she's already appeared opposite him in one of his latest videos - and Bill Nighy, the go-to "old rockstar" character of British cinema is perhaps the clearest choice to play the singer, should the movie centre on his latest album. But what if each of them appeared as a different stage of David Bowie's life in the same movie? It would show just how multi-layered and eclectic Bowie's career is and would help to explain the different facets of his characters. He has to appear in a biopic sooner or later, after all: he's one of the most legendary rockstars to ever grace the planet. Which musicians would you like to see a biopic of? Who could play them? Comment below!
Contributor
Contributor

Mark White hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.