Biopics Rock Hollywood

When Ray star Jamie Foxx accepted the Best Actor prize at this year's Oscars, he thanked Ray Charles "for living." Now, in the wake of Ray's awards triumphs and $76 million gross, Hollywood is turning its attention to the equally tumultuous lives of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, all of whom serve as the subjects of upcoming films.

"Every single production entity turned Ray down -- they said these movies don't work," says the film's producer and director, Taylor Hackford. "Ray's success should open doors." Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris, who has been trying to push a Joplin movie onto the screen for fifteen years, says that Ray brought in new investors: "They're seeing dollars in the bank."

The biggest of the many post-Ray films is Walk the Line, due out November 18th, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the late Johnny Cash. The film captures Cash's early years in Memphis' Sun Studios and his later love affair with wife-to-be June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). "I didn't want to take a whole life and squeeze it into two hours," says director and co-screenwriter James Mangold. "I thought the thing to explore was using John as a window into the birth of rock & roll, and into one of the great true-life romances of the last century."

While Foxx lip-synced to vocals performed by Charles, Phoenix does his own singing in the film -- and learned to play guitar from scratch. Witherspoon and the rest of the cast -- including the relative unknowns who play Cash's buddies Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis -- did the same. To prepare the actors, music director T Bone Burnett led them through a three-month singing-and-playing boot camp.

Filmmaker Todd Haynes, who's directing the Dylan-themed I'm Not There, solved his casting conundrum by splitting Dylan into seven different characters, played by multiple actors -- among them a woman and an African-American boy. "It kind of explodes the idea that anybody could be depicted in a single self," Haynes says of the experimental film, due by early next year.

Also set for '06 is Spheeris' The Gospel According to Janis, with singer Pink cast in the lead role (another Joplin movie, starring Renee Zellweger, is apparently mired in development). But Pink's plans to tour and record a new album this year could keep her out of the film. "When people see Pink doing Janis in our screen test, inevitably the reaction is 'Oh, I just got chills,'" says Spheeris. "I just pray that this works out with her."

A roundup of upcoming music biopics:

The Gospel According to Janis
Subject: Janis Joplin
Release date: Summer 2006
Star: Pink (tentative)
Summary: A sympathetic look at every little piece of the soul shouter's life.

The Wild and Wycked World of Brian Jones
Subject: Brian Jones
Release date: TBA
Star: Leo Gregory
Summary: An account of the Rolling Stone's last days, focusing on the mysterious circumstances of his 1969 drowning.

Title TBA
Subject: 50 Cent
Release date: Late 2005
Star: 50 Cent
Fiddy's bullet-riddled story, courtesy of In America director Jim Sheridan.

I'm Not There
Subject: Bob Dylan
Release date: 2006
Star: Various
A surreal take on the rock icon's mercurial career from Far From Heaven director Todd Haynes. Dylan approved the project, and his classic recordings will grace the soundtrack.

Last Days
Subject: Kurt Cobain
Release date: 2005
Star: Michael Pitt
Gus Van Sant tells the tale of a Cobain-like star's suicide.

Walk the Line
Subject: Johnny Cash
Release date: November 18th
Star: Joaquin Phoenix
An ambitious exploration of the Man in Black's love life and early fame.

Title TBA
Subject: Shawn Fanning
Release date: TBA
Star: TBA
Not a musician, but he's been sued by lots of them: MTV Films takes on the story of Napster's founder, as scripted by Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure star Alex Winter.