美国国家公共电台 NPR Hollywood's Biopic Fever: Five Fact-Based Films Released This Week

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

It is a big week for movie biographies. Opening today are fact-based films about a Supreme¹ Court justice, two semi-famous authors, an infamous² artist and a man who refused to let polio defeat him. Critic Bob Mondello says that Hollywood often gets biopic fever, but five in one week is a lot.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE³: You know every beat of a biopic before you go in - humble⁴ beginnings, hint of greatness, triumph, setback⁵, heartbreak, uplift. There is a formula to these things, whether applied⁶ to the man who wrote "Winnie The Pooh"...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN⁷")

WILL TILSTON: (As Christopher Robin) Can you think of a good name for a donkey?

DOMHNALL GLEESON: (As Alan Milne) Eeyore.

MONDELLO: ...Or a Supreme Court justice in training.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MARSHALL")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) This here's Mr. Thurgood Marshall. The man is an attorney. You will treat him with the respect that he deserves.

MONDELLO: An origin story is an origin story. A nobody becomes a somebody and, as with superheroes, not without a struggle - an enormous struggle in the case of the Englishman stricken with polio in the film "Breathe." In real life, Robin Cavendish, paralyzed from the neck down, fought his doctors so they wouldn't warehouse⁸ him in a hospital. Then he made that same escape possible for others. Cue inspiring music.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BREATHE")

ANDREW GARFIELD: (As Robin Cavendish) When I first became paralyzed, I wanted to die. My wife told me I had to live.

MONDELLO: A biopic like "Breathe" traces the whole arc of a life.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BREATHE")

GARFIELD: (As Robin Cavendish) I don't want to just survive. I want to truly live.

MONDELLO: The biopic "Marshall," by contrast, captures just a slender slice of a life. Thurgood Marshall made history when he became the first African-American Supreme Court justice in 1967. But the film "Marshall" takes place decades earlier in 1940, and it covers just one case where the young Marshall, banned from speaking in court, had to play puppet master for an unnerved white attorney.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MARSHALL")

CHADWICK BOSEMAN: (As Thurgood Marshall) I need a partner who the jury can relate to.

JOSH GAD⁹: (As Sam Friedman) Sam Friedman.

BOSEMAN: (As Thurgood Marshall) Good to meet you, Sam. Hey, give me a hand with these, would you?

GAD: (As Sam Friedman) What have you got in here, cement?

BOSEMAN: (As Thurgood Marshall) Guns - books, Mr. Friedman.

MONDELLO: The tight focus helps make "Marshall" more courtroom drama than biopic, but that approach wouldn't work with what you might call scribbling¹⁰ and sketching¹¹ flicks¹² - films about writers writing and artists making art. It's tough to make the artistic¹³ process feel urgent on screen, so in movies like "Goodbye Christopher Robin," filmmakers gravitate to stories that have something else going for them.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN")

TILSTON: (As Christopher Robin) Are you writing a book? I thought we were just having fun.

MONDELLO: In this case, that something else is post-traumatic stress disorder¹⁴. Writer A.A. Milne's young son, Christopher, has learned to talk him down from panic when, say, they're walking in the woods and hear buzzing that reminds him of World War I fighter planes.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN")

GLEESON: (As Alan Milne) They'll be gone in a minute.

TILSTON: (As Christopher Robin) Bees are good, aren't they? They just want to make honey.

GLEESON: (As Alan Milne) Yes. I completely forgot about bees.

MONDELLO: It's a small leap from there to the amusing way bees and honey figure into "Winnie The Pooh." It's a similar leap in "Professor Marston And The Wonder Women" if you know that the comic book's creator had a hand in creating the lie detector¹⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PROFESSOR MARSTON AND THE WONDER WOMEN")

CONNIE BRITTON: (As Josette Frank) You've incorporated the lie detector test into the "Wonder Woman" comic, her golden lasso. It forces criminals to tell the truth.

LUKE EVANS: (As William Moulton Marston) That is correct.

MONDELLO: But audiences may balk¹⁶ at the notion that the comic books were also inspired by his fascination¹⁷ with bondage¹⁸ and his three-way relationship with his wife and their mistress.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PROFESSOR MARSTON AND THE WONDER WOMEN")

BRITTON: (As Josette Frank) She's an Amazon princess that lives on an island of all women. And all her friends and helpers are sorority girls who have spanking¹⁹ parties. And everybody fights Nazis²⁰ and rides in an invisible plane.

EVANS: (As William Moulton Marston) Yes.

BRITTON: (As Josette Frank) Bill, we love you truly (laughter) so much, but nobody - and I say this with all the compassion²¹ and truth in my heart - nobody will ever publish this.

MONDELLO: Folks said the same thing to Tom of Finland, whose story is told in another of the week's biopics. Tom is an artist who's homoerotic, fetishy (ph), often pornographic drawings of hyper-masculine men became a worldwide phenomenon a few decades ago in the gay community.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TOM OF FINLAND")

SEUMAS F SARGENT: (As Doug) Tom of Finland, I'm Doug of California.

MONDELLO: Tom of Finland didn't do effeminate...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TOM OF FINLAND")

SARGENT: (As Doug) These men are moved by you, Tom.

MONDELLO: ...Which arguably changed the gay community's self-image.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TOM OF FINLAND")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) You make these different boys feel special, beautiful.

MONDELLO: "Tom Of Finland" makes the case for its protagonist²² exactly the way the other films do for theirs, the way countless²³ films have before them. Is this a formula for a cinematic art? Well, there have been Oscar-winning biopics. Think "Gandhi." And the biography is a time-honored form. Shakespeare wrote bio dramas, after all - "Richard III," "Henry V," those few - those happy few. But few would argue that the bard's history plays are the equals of "Hamlet" or "Othello." Free writers up to rely on their imaginations, and you also free them up to do better than real life, at least in dramatic terms. I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOCEAN WORKER'S "RIGHT NOW")

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

5 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

8 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

9 gad   

n.闲逛；v.闲逛

参考例句：

• He is always on the gad.他老是闲荡作乐。
• Let it go back into the gloaming and gad with a lot of longing.就让它回到暮色中，满怀憧憬地游荡吧。

10 scribbling   

n.乱涂[写]胡[乱]写的文章[作品]v.潦草的书写( scribble的现在分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• Once the money got into the book, all that remained were some scribbling. 折子上的钱只是几个字！ 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• McMug loves scribbling. Mama then sent him to the Kindergarten. 麦唛很喜欢写字，妈妈看在眼里，就替他报读了幼稚园。 来自互联网

11 sketching   

n.草图

参考例句：

• They are sketching out proposals for a new road. 他们正在草拟修建新路的计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. “飞舞驰骋的想象描绘出一幅幅玫瑰色欢乐的场景。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

12 flicks   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的第三人称单数 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• 'I shall see it on the flicks, I suppose.' “电影上总归看得见。” 来自英汉文学
• Last night to the flicks. 昨晚看了场电影。 来自英汉文学

13 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

14 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

15 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

16 balk   

n.大方木料；v.妨碍；不愿前进或从事某事

参考例句：

• We get strong indications that his agent would balk at that request.我们得到的强烈暗示是他的经纪人会回避那个要求。
• He shored up the wall with a thick balk of wood.他用一根粗大的木头把墙撑住。

17 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

18 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。

19 spanking   

adj.强烈的，疾行的；n.打屁股

参考例句：

• The boat is spanking along on the river.船在小河疾驶。
• He heard a horse approaching at a spanking trot.他听到一匹马正在疾步驰近。

20 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

22 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

23 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。