12 Upcoming Movies That Have Ignored Massive Mistakes

2. Making A Subject-Approved Biopic - Bohemian Rhapsody

The Lesson: Notorious

Making a movie biopic can be a tricky legal minefield, because while you it's entirely legal to embellish the truth for dramatic effect, filmmakers must be careful not to commit libel against the parties involved.

As such, movie studios will often seek co-operation with the subjects or estates involved, especially if the person in question is dead, in order to make the production a smoother ride.

The problem, however, is that this can result in the end product being a dull, sanitised production that is forced to elide less-flattering depictions of said person in order to maintain estate approval.

That looks set to be the case with the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which has the full co-operation of both Queen and the Mercury estate, and will reportedly omit Mercury's AIDS battle almost entirely.

Though Rami Malek certainly looks the part, clearly the desire is to make a more conventional and broad celebration of Mercury's life and talent rather than a down-and-dirty exploration of how he both lived and died, which is a shame.

It's reminiscent of so many estate-endorsed biopics over the years. 2009's Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious, for instance, was hamstrung by its necessity to placate Biggie Smalls' estate, and transformed a fascinating life story into a blandly workmanlike movie.