10 Performances In Film Biopics That Actually Get It Right
6. Paul Dano & John Cusack - Love And Mercy
Depicted by two stellar actors during seminal periods of his life in the 2014 film Love and Mercy, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys is one of the truly great creators in contemporary music history.
While the supremely talented John Cusack carries the adult portion of Wilson's life, and wonderfully --heart-breaking as it is-- recreates his troubles with former psychiatrist Eugene Landy, Paul Dano is perhaps the one who steals the show as a visionary fighting to maintain control of his thoughts, ideas and epiphanies.
Dano assumes the role of a character dedicated to perfection during his time developing, creating and mastering the utterly spectacular Pet Sounds, an album that was so carefully crafted and phenomenally engineered that it managed to rival even the Fab Four's offerings at the time.
Despite picking up at drastically different chapters in the California-raised musician's life, the pair of BAFTA nominated actors always feel like two halves of the same whole. We learn more of Wilson's creative struggles as a young man, and sympathise with his situation as an aging star.
God Only Knows how tough that must have been to replicate, and both performances, while different, are equally deserving of praise.