Historical figures who deserve a biopic?

Even though I'm a history geek and know something about this, I'd never think of doing anything less than a long franchise about Columbus and the European arrival in the Americas. I understand all the negatives about him, but his "discovery" of the "new world" indeed changed the world. If Columbus had sunk into the abyss, somebody else would have followed him, but to tell the story other than from the perspective of a sea voyage in a little wooden ship would be a huge undertaking, Columbus being only the first figure to arouse controversy.

The Americas WERE going to be discovered by Europeans, who would be bringing religion, guns and viruses. It was practically inevitable. At this point in time, history is what it is, but would I want to make a Columbus movie and could I do it without stepping in a pile of stuff over the content? I don't think so.

Mad Jack Churchill


He carried a broadsword into battle during WWII. He also carried a longbow and arrows.

__________________
A hundred percent death proof.

Tomato Necromancy - now with Vitamin R!
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=65140

Interested!

Just lost interest....unless Columbus' logs of mystery lights or whatever he seen is presented without narrative opinion and verbatim to what he wrote.

I thought the definitive Columbus movie had already been made!

Wow. A movie rarely evokes such comments as, ""flaccid, feeble comeback effort" and a "wretched and pathetic attempt which is singularly unfunny".

I guessing it does not pass the history professor test of truthiness.

Well, yeah... if it's a fact-based movie it should only contain a depiction of what he described.

But if, say, Spielberg made the movie then it could become: "The Nina, Pinta & Santa Maria vs. The Flying Saucers!" ...and before Columbus' ships are destroyed by the greater, alien technology, Richard Dreyfus appears to negotiate peace (as he's still on the spaceship in his jumpsuit & sunglasses, but has traveled back in time via a faster-than-light, slingshot effect)!

I'd love to see a Columbus movie without any modern day spin, wouldn't happen though.

On this note, I'd like to see a fact-based adventure / drama about the Plymouth Colony.
It's another great story that would grip anyone interested in history, but has also become clouded with fallacies. facts presented out of context & misinformation.

Most of the movies made about it so far (outside of a few documentaries) are mostly fluff & stuffing.

It would be even harder to make one without centuries of spin. Our current vision of Columbus and the Americas is only one of many. I can still recall the one I saw in elementary school with Columbus kneeling, praying, looking toward heaven and holding a cross....bringing faith to the savages. It was pretty damn awful.

Have you watched Terrence Malick's The New World?

Yeah....another one with a high cringe factor.

Was Columbus not religious? I would've guessed he was so that scene sounds at least plausible.

I have, I hated it. As I just posted on another thread, I strongly dislike every Malick film I've seen.

I hadn't seen the Malick comment when I asked the question, but I did see it right after asking.

I started watching that once, but for some reason never finished.

It is seriously one of Chivo's finest achievements....

I guess he was religious in a very Catholic way, but what happened subsequently due to all of that religion imposed on native populations was the awful part. Ironically, I suppose that Chris himself probably had no real idea what he'd started, just thought of it as Christian Virtue, being offered as a gift to the savages.

Do you know if Columbus carried any missionaries with him for the purposing of religious conversion? Or was his 1st voyage all about finding a shortcut to the east for profit reasons?

What do you mean by a high cringe factor?
(The story itself? The misinformation that's been taught about it? The way audiences would respond?)

Another I'd like to see is a movie about the Roanoke Colony - I know a couple silly ones have been made (involving ghosts or something), and a lot of movies with no ending aren't always popular, but despite the mystery of the colony's ultimate demise or disappearance, it's a hell of an adventure.

It was partly profit, but religion was always part of the package.