Biopic: A Podcast Story

• Episode 76: Parnell, Clark Gable's Worst Movie, about Charles Stewart Parnell, with Guest Star Fin Dwyer of the Irish History Podcast

  Hello boredom, our old friend. Dull, terrible Parnell — widely considered Clark Gable’s worst film and one of the worst movies ever made — lives up to its reputation as we celebrate the blessed end of Politics Month. We take a long, pained look at a film that combines the magic of inert, uncommitted acting, a dire, boring screenplay filled with cliches, and the thrills of parliamentary procedure around Irish “home rule”, and firmly recommend that no one ever watch this movie. Was there a gas leak on set? How checked out was Clark Gable? Did Billie Burke sell her soul to the devil in order to look young for her entire life? Can an impromptu spelling be ever be compelling? This movie is a nightmare. We did this work for you here.  Because the movie was so wildly uninformative, we welcome a special guest, the delightful and wildly intelligent Fin Dwyer of The Irish History Podcast and the Transatlantic Podcast  who gives us the true (and much more interesting) story of groundbreaking Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell stars Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, Myrna Loy as Katie O'Shea, Edna May Oliver as Aunt Ben Wood, Edmund Gwenn as Campbell, Alan Marshal as Captain William O'Shea, Donald Crisp as Davitt, Billie Burke as Clara Wood, Berton Churchill as The O'Gorman Mahon, Donald Meek as Murphy, Montagu Love as Gladstone, Byron Russell as Healy, Brandon Tynan as Redmond, and somewhere, in an uncredited role, Lee Strasberg. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Books   Clark Gable : tormented star David Bret   The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge and the Phoenix Park Murders that Stunned Victorian England  by Julie Kavanagh (Author)   Myrna Loy : the only good girl in Hollywood Emily Wortis Leider   Fireball : Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3 By Robert Matzen   The fifty worst films of all time : (and how they got that way) by Harry Medved  The Irish History Podcast with Fin Dwyer, our guest.   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]

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• Episode 75: Kingfish, Starring John Goodman as Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long, with Special Guest Star Glenn from the Awesome Village Podcast!

  We couldn’t be more excited to welcome our friend and New Orleansian Glenn from The Awesome Village to talk about John Goodman’s star turn as Louisiana populist senator and governor Huey Long in the TV movie Kingfish.  Featuring a cavalcade of future stars, Kingfish efficiently cycles through the political career, appetites, and light corruption of Long with what Sara found to be an objectionable amount of music. Also discussed at length: why John Goodman is the best, several odes to New Orleans, Rena displaying unexpected interest in football, why we wore brown lipstick in the 1990s, the magic of Louisiana politics, and the shocking heel turn of FDR, who we liked well enough two weeks ago in Sunrise at Campobello.  Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long was directed by Thomas Schlamme, written by  Paul Monash, and stars John Goodman as Huey P. Long, Jr., Matt Craven as Seymour Weiss, Anne Heche as Aileen Dumont, Ann Dowd as Rose Long, Jeff Perry as Earl Long, Bob Gunton as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Cobbs as Pullman Porter, Hoyt Axton as Huey P. Long, Sr., Kirk Baltz as Frank Costello, Richard Bradford as Judge Benjamin Pavy, Jimmie Ray Weeks as Allen Henderson, Bill Raymond as Gov. O.K. Allen, John McConnell as 'Battlin' Bozeman, Ed Bruce as Gov. J.Y. Sanders, and Joe Chrest as Carl Weiss. Sources used in the episode include…   Podcasts: Perspectives in History, 5-parter on Huey Long. Gadfly 6-parter on Huey Long. TV: Dick Cavett interview with John Goodman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3F9ltZhPgM   News: https://variety.com/1995/tv/reviews/kingfish-a-story-of-huey-p-long-1200441053/   Also, we have an actual Louisianian to give us some context here.  Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory

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• Episode 74: The Death of Stalin, Starring Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev!

  A crude, egomaniacal leader with astonishing hair, suffering from mini-strokes and hypertension, dies following a party where everyone kisses his ass and cheers on American machismo. Is it a call from the future? A bird? A plane? No…It’s The Death of Stalin! Chaos breaks loose as his potential successors try to figure out who is the most feckless and clever of them all, and who can take over the future of the USSR. We meet failsons, daughters of dubious intellect, hypermasculine generals, and overly performative ass-kissers on our journey to the Nikita Khrushchev era in this pitch-black comedy from Antonio Iannucci, the kind and hilarious Scotsman who also blessed us with Veep. We unpack the absurdity and tragedy of communist Russia in the 1950s, what “17 minutes” means, Sara’s history of working for maniacs, the settled-science hotness of Steve Buscemi, the adorable, tragic pup Laikaa, the missed opportunity for a McDonald’s tie-in, and so much more as we continue Politics Month 2025.   Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Sources used in the episode include… Behind the Bastards, several episodes related to Joseph Stalin and his henchmen. Real Dictators episodes on Joseph Stalin. We read the graphic novel. Character sketch on Khrushchev from a CIA memoranda prepared for President Kennedy in 1961 that was declassified in 1976, now available through the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library: https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkpof-126-003#?image_identifier=JFKPOF-126-003-p0087   The Last Days of Stalin, by Joshua Rubenstein. https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-the-death-of-stalin.html Stalin's daughter : the extraordinary and tumultuous life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemary Sullivan Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]

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• Emergency Trailer Episode 3: Michael Teaser Trailer, the Upcoming Biopic of Michael Jackson (Bonus Episode!)

  Emergency bonus episode! Michael, the oft-delayed musical biopic about the life and times of troubled genius and smooth (never convicted, often tried) alleged criminal Michael Jackson has a teaser trailer and an April 2026 release date. We risked 1990s-era Pokemon-inspired seizures as we watched the trailer over and over in an attempt to parse the psychotically edited clip parade for insights about what we can expect from this movie. What we’re confident predicting: the absolutely unbiased team of MJ estate executors producing the film will give us a film in which young boys will be the villains trying to take down one of the 20th century’s most iconic and important artists; Johnnie Cochran may not make it to the final cut because the filmmakers didn’t read MJ’s 1993 settlement agreement; screenwriter John Logan’s need for a GoFundMe (call us, John!), and that the musical sequences will probably be electrifying.  Also discussed: the economics of MJ and why it was easier to let him do whatever the hell he wanted; prosthetics; The Jacksons: An American Dream; how Rena was old enough to rent a car when she first saw the Thriller video; and the unexpected parallels between the Michael teaser trailer and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. And so much more.  Sources used in the episode include… https://variety.com/2025/film/news/michael-jackson-biopic-trailer-first-footage-1236168488/#recipient_hashed=b9997f00edcb0ce488b46f6883f897b1143a3ff8c2a571e2e26872f0fcba0958&recipient_salt=4d7867d3eca22b71fde0dba3b278c22145f502c20e757e3f49a26898273008a5&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=newsalert&utm_content=644726_11-06-2025&utm_term=6337474?utm_medium=&utm_source=&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_id=    With additional thanks to Pajiba As promised, here's the video of Smokey Robinson and George Michael singing "Careless Whisper." Noted: Bill Cosby does the intro, sorry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflvN5mkrxQ Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]

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• Episode 73: Sunrise at Campobello, about FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt!

  We start Politics Month with a whimper: A 2 hour, 30 minute, ponderous look inside the months and (maybe?) years that immediately follow FDR’s devastating polio diagnosis.  Should this be an interesting look at a consequential moment in which the future of American politics was forever changed? Yes. Should this be an incisive character study on one of the most important, decent and progressive individuals to hold the office of president, during one of the most challenging eras in U.S. history? Yes. Is it? No.  We get furious about the monologuing, the Von Trapp style children, and desperate need for a screenplay editor. Also discussed: Alice Roosevelt’s bitchy vendetta against Eleanor, Sara’s parasocial relationship with Teddy Roosevelt, bad teeth and bad parenting, getting polio from a Boy Scout camp, and being in more than one community production of Annie.  Sunrise at Campobello stars Ralph Bellamy as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Greer Garson as Eleanor Roosevelt, Hume Cronyn as Louis Howe, Jean Hagen as Marguerite "Missy" LeHand, Ann Shoemaker as Sara Delano Roosevelt, Alan Bunce as Governor Alfred E. Smith, Tim Considine as James Roosevelt, Zina Bethune as Anna Roosevelt, Frank Ferguson as Dr. Bennett, Pat Close as Elliott Roosevelt, Robin Warga as Franklin Roosevelt Jr., Tom Carty as Johnny Roosevelt, Lyle Talbot as Mr. Brimmer, David White as Mr. Lassiter, Walter Sande as Captain Skinner and Herbert Anderson as Vincent Dailey, was directed by Vincent J. Donehue, and was based on a play by Dore Schary.   Sources used in the episode include…   Books The Roosevelt Women by Betty Boyd Caroli Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume I by Blanche Weisen Cook. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Political Life by Robert Dallek Eleanor by David Michaelis Hissing Cousins: The Lifelong Rivalry of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer  The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency by James Tobin Podcasts The Totalus Rankium episodes on FDR.   Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]

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