Film
The goods, the bad and the ugly: Hollywood goes epic on brand origin stories
Forget historical figures: a spate of recent Hollywood biopics tell the stories of well-known consumer products. What’s behind these brand-focused corporate sagas, and why are they proving so effective?
Your typical biopic tells the story of a notable person’s life, those select few whose achievements in culture, science or politics mark them out for special fascination. Biopics typically revolve around people who make history by creating something, winning something or somehow changing the world. It’s an enduring and popular genre.
In the near-century of the Academy Awards, 98 actors have won for playing a historical figure; the first being George Arliss for portraying British ...
