Celebs React To Films And Shows About Their Lives
1.
First, Bob Dylan has an extremely positive attitude towards his upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown. On X, he urged fans to go see the movie and wrote, “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me. The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.”
2.
Pamela Anderson has said she refuses to watch the miniseries Pam & Tommy. She said that the premise of the show, which centers around her sex tape being stolen and leaked to the public, crushed her. She also said that nobody ever contacted her about the series and feels that the creators “owe [her] an apology.”
3.
Elton John was heavily involved in creating the film Rocketman, which is based on his life, and made sure it didn’t “gloss over” his sexuality or “soften” his struggle with addiction. By the time the film came out, he absolutely loved it and thought Taron Egerton’s portrayal of him was “extraordinary.”
4.
Erik Menendez has spoken out against Ryan Murphy’s latest season of Monster, which focuses on the infamous 1989 case where he and his brother Lyle were convicted of murdering their parents. In a statement, Erik said that the portrayal of his brother felt like a “caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies.”
5.
Aron Ralston was extremely happy with the film 127 Hours, which is based on his experience of amputating his own arm after being pinned down in a canyon by a boulder. He said, “The movie is so factually accurate it is as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama.” He also said that he felt it was “the best film ever made” and he “watched it eight times and cried every time.”
6.
Gloria Steinem was not pleased with the FX miniseries Mrs. America, which centers on Phyllis Schlafly’s campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment. Gloria said that the series made it seem like Phyllis was the reason the ERA was defeated and that it missed some nuance. “The series makes it seem as if women are our own worst enemies, which keeps us from recognizing who our worst enemies are,” she added. “Not that we aren’t in conflict, yes we are in conflict, but by and large we don’t have the power to be our own worst enemies.”
7.
Stephen Hawking greatly approved of the film The Theory of Everything, and even emailed the director to tell him how much he enjoyed it. He said that the movie was “broadly true” and at times he felt like he was actually watching himself onscreen.
8.
Ike Turner was furious with the portayal of him in the film What’s Love Got To Do With It and felt like it made him “look bad.” “I’m real angry about it,” he said. “I didn’t go see it and I didn’t read [Tina’s] book either, but from what I hear they’re both full of lies. I guess they needed some drama, they needed to make somebody into the bad guy and this time it was me.”
9.
Muhammad Ali was pleased with Will Smith’s portrayal of him in Ali. Will said, “The champ looked at me and gave me the nod that I did a good job. I worked as hard as I could possibly have worked.” Muhammad even said that Will “scared” him in the movie and that “he’s not as dumb as he looks.”
10.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela felt the biopic Winnie Mandela was disrespectful towards her and her “struggle.” She revealed that she was not asked to consult on the film about her life either. “I have absolutely nothing against Jennifer [Hudson], but I have everything against the movie itself,” she said. “I am still alive, and I think that it is a total disrespect to come to South Africa, make a movie about my struggle, and call that movie some translation of a romantic life of Winnie Mandela.”
11.
Tonya Harding approved of the film I, Tonya. Margot Robbie said, “She was so gracious. She was amazing about it, really, really amazing. She was very complimentary about what we pulled off.”
12.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was totally against The Fifth Estate being made, and even reached out to Benedict Cumberbatch and asked him to quit the film. In a letter to Benedict, that Julian later published on his site, he wrote “I believe you are a good person, but I do not believe that this film is a good film. I do not believe it is going to be positive for me or the people I care about.” The film’s script was later published on WikiLeaks along with an essay saying that the film was “fiction masquerading as fact.”
13.
Joan Jett enjoyed The Runaways, and felt like Kristen Stewart’s portayal of her was “authentic.” “I found her wonderful to be around. We got along great,” Joan said. “It’s really scary — when you see us together physically, the energy is so similar. The way we move, the way our hands move and our hair, the way we talk, we start and don’t finish sentences. It’s really bizarre, but in a great way. … I think they did an incredible job. I was very proud.”
14.
Mark Zuckerburg wasn’t a big fan of The Social Network and rejected the assumption that he created the site “because I wanted to get girls, or wanted to get into clubs.” He said, “They just can’t wrap their head around the idea that someone might build something because they like building things.” He also said that several moments in the film were embellished. He added, “I think the reality is that writing code and then building a product and building a company is not a glamorous enough thing to make a movie about, so you can imagine that a lot of this stuff they had to embellish or make up.”
15.
Olympic ski jumper Eddie Edwards was skeptical about Eddie the Eagle at first, but ended up really enjoying it. “I was worried that they would either turn me into some sort of superhero, or worse — an object of ridicule, a clown, a joke,” he said. But after seeing the movie he felt the filmmakers did “a fantastic job.” “They kept the heart, the essence, and the spirit of the story just right,” he added.
16.
Michael Oher didn’t appreciate the depiction of him in The Blind Side. “I felt like it portrayed me as dumb instead of as a kid who had never had consistent academic instruction and ended up thriving once he got it,” he said of the film in his memoir. He added that Quinton Aaron, who played Michael in the film, “did a great job acting the part,” but there were scenes that didn’t feel totally truthful to his own life experience. “I could not figure out why the director chose to show me as someone who had to be taught the game of football,” he said. “I watched those scenes thinking, ‘No, that’s not me at all! I’ve been studying — really studying — the game since I was a kid!’ That was my main hang-up with the film.”
17.
Saroo Brierley loved the depiction of his story in the film Lion, which focuses on Saroo’s journey to reconnect with his birth mom in India after being separated from her and adopted by an Australian couple. He thought Dev Patel did a “marvelous job” at playing him. He also loved Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of his adoptive mother, saying, “She personified my mother; it was perfect. … She took the time to see my adoptive mom and talk to her about those pivotal moments.”
18.
The Gucci Family abolutely loathed the film House of Gucci and they released a statement saying the film was “extremely painful” in its portayal of the family and “an insult” to the legacy of the Gucci brand. Part of the statement reads, “The production of the film did not bother to consult the heirs before describing Aldo Gucci — president of the company for 30 years — and the members of the Gucci family as thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them. … This is extremely painful from a human point of view and an insult to the legacy on which the brand is built today.”
19.
Finally, Bethany Hamilton enjoyed Soul Surfer and loved AnnaSophia Robb’s portayal of her. She said, “I’ve seen the film several times, and AnnaSophia did an amazing job. I’m just so stoked with how well she did. It was funny, because me and my mom actually helped pick her. We had seen her in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Bridge to Terabithia, and we suggested her and she ended up getting the part, so that was really cool.”