10 Musician Biopics Hollywood Should Make Right Now

By S. Ajay Ram

It's official: 2014 is the year of the musician biopic. Andre 3000's Jimi Hendrix film (All Is By My Side) and the James Brown biopic (Get On Up) will be released, and this year projects are slated for Fela Kuti, Miles Davis, and Nina Simone. In fact, just today Ice Cube's son has been confirmed to play his father in an N.W.A. biopic. Musician biopics have long been a staple in the film industry, and while some have made for incredible cinema (think Ray or Walk The Line), many have been dry and formulaic.

Biopics also rarely take creative chances, and can come off as history lessons instead of true cinematic entertainment. So, the following are our pitches to Hollywood for fresh and imaginative films based on some of the greatest artists in music history. Some are household names who simply haven't received the silver screen treatment yet, while others are cult heroes whose biopics would introduce a brand new audience to their brilliance.

So read up, Hollywood producers, and feel free to green light as you see fit.

Title: Donuts

Played by: Illa J

Directed by: Wes Anderson

As one of the most beloved heroes of hip-hop, Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla has a storied career that's ready for a big screen adaptation. Although his life was tragically cut short at age 32 by a rare blood disease, he touched the lives of so many artists around him, and continues to inspire today's emcees and producers, even if they never had the chance to meet him. Famously known as a warm-hearted recluse, the film would center more around the work as opposed to the usually biopic formula of delving into an artist's personal life.

Every pivotal stage of the film would be represented by a beat crafted by Jay Dee, spanning from him meeting fellow Slum Village members T3 and Baatan in high school, to his work with the Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest in the mid nineties, and his inclusion in the Soulquarian collective, spearheaded by Questlove. Just as Dilla had concealed hidden messages to his loved ones into beats on his posthumous album Donuts, in the film his beats will set the tone of each scene. Jay Dee was always one to let his work speak for him, and never the type to showboat. Donuts should be a beautifully subtle cinematic experience.

Playing Jay Dee would be none other than his own little brother, Illa J. Illa J may know more about Dilla than almost anyone else in the world, and he would bring an unmatchable amount of authenticity to the role.

As for the director, the story requires a vision that is both profoundly human and wonderfully abstract, and Wes Anderson could handle that magnificently.

Title: Sir Elton

Played by: Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Due to the passing of Phillip Seymour Hoffman earlier this year, this one is purely hypothetical. But after Hoffman's Oscar-winning portrayal of Truman Capote, it's obvious that the man could play anyone. While there's already an Elton John biopic about his early years in the works, this one would focus tightly on an older Elton, specifically as he's about to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1998. Watching Hoffman rock the red-tinged sunglasses would alone be worth the price of admission. Sir Elton would also depict Elton John's friendship with the British royal family, and how he was affected by the loss of his close friend Princess Diana. This is as much a film about Britain as it is about one of its most revered sons.

Steven Soderbergh is the perfect director for this task, and anyone who saw last year's Behind the Candelabra, his Emmy-winning HBO biopic on Liberace can vouch for that. Soderbergh has been making films that perfectly mix flash and soul, from Traffic to Oceans Eleven, and his style is a great fit for the gaudy yet soulful world which Elton John inhabits.

Title: Last Dance

Played by: Kelly Rowland

Directed by: David O. Russell

Donna Summer was the undisputed queen of disco, but her legacy and influence stretches far beyond a single genre. She is the epitome of all that is bright and glamorous, and without her there would be no Beyoncé, or Mariah, or Rihanna. Donna is the common ancestor of all R&B divas living today. From her religious upbringing to her psychedelic rock rebellion and her stint in Germany, Donna Summer's life is a story fit for cinematic adaptation.

Kelly Rowland has the perfect balance of diva-esque glam and bad girl grit to pull off a starring role as Donna Summer. And after last year's American Hustle, no director is better suited to visualize the neon coated world of late '70s disco than David O. Russell. Russell also has a knack for writing and directing strong female characters (see: Amy Adams in American Hustle, Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook), so he'd be more than capable of bringing the Donna Summer film to life.

Title: Def Jam, Inc.

Russell Simmons played by: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rick Rubin played by: Jared Leto

Directed by: Michel Gondry

With films like Cadillac Records and CBGB chronicling the origins of pivotal movements in music, it's shocking that there hasn't been a film on the house that Russell and Rick built. From the the humble beginnings of Rick Rubin's NYU dorm room to the astronomic rise of Run DMC and the successes of LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and the Beastie Boys, the film would span the '80s and be an especially satisfying ride for hip-hop nerds everywhere. Jared Leto would be perfect as a young Rick Rubin, with the right mix of gruff and zen, while Chiwetel Ejiofor would be a great fit as Russell Simmons, circa 1984. The film could even cover Russell's well known use of cocaine and angel dust, including how, while on a dust-induced high, he came up with the concept for Run DMC's smash "My Adidas"…while backstage at the Live Aid benefit concert. Yup.

For directing duties, I elect french director Michel Gondry, whose signature imaginative style would suit the 1980s backdrop of the early Def Jam years perfectly. Gondry's filmmaking roots are in music video directing, so the project would be a great fit. He's displayed his love of hip-hop with Dave Chappelle's Block Party, and his gift for empathetic storytelling with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Hip-hop needs a monumental biopic. A This is Spinal Tap. An Almost Famous. A film that can show audiences worldwide the larger-than-life electricity that hip-hop culture has embodied since day one.

Title: West Savannah

André 3000 played by: Chance The Rapper

Big Boi played by: Isaiah Rashad

Directed by: Chris Robinson

West Savannah is a coming of age story about two kids from opposite sides of the tracks coming together to make music and find their purpose in life. Those kids are André Benjamin and Antwon Patton Jr, at age sixteen. While Big Boi had one foot in the dope game and the other in music, André was finding himself at his own personal fork in the road. The boys who would one day be Outkast were transitioning into men. For casting, I'm thinking two of hip-hop's youngest rising stars: Chance the Rapper as André, and Isaiah Rashad as Big Boi.

Chris Robinson, who first gained reconigion as a music director before crafting his critically acclaimed feature debut ATL, would do this story justice. First of all, Robinson knows Georgia. The landscape and culture of the Peach State would play as a third protagonist alongside a young André and Big Boi, as it was so pivotal in molding the artists and men they became. And remember, OutKast's Georgia is much different than the modern Georgia of T.I. and Pastor Troy, in both aesthetic and tone. Young André and Big Boi inhabit a ghostly landscape in which joy, spirituality, violence, and racism mix together like a gumbo. Visually, think True Detective meets the "Rosa Parks" video.

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Title: Celia y Tito

Directed by: Terence Nance

Tito Puente and Celia Cruz were the Hendrix and Joplin of salsa. Although they were born and raised in different areas (Puente was a New York native, the child of native Puerto Rican parents while Cruz spent her childhood and teenage years in Havana, Cuba), they both rose to become giants of the salsa genre, frequent collaborators, and close friends. Their careers lasted for a half a century, with both Celia and Tito performing for packed stadiums until they passed away in 2000 and 2003 respectively, but Celia y Tito will focus on the time and place in which they first met: at a party in Spanish Harlem in the 1950s. They discussed music and life the entire night, forming the beginning of a lifelong friendship that would inspire generations of musicians to come.

For the intimate and loving tone of this story, I'm looking for new filmmaker Terence Nance to direct. His debut feature film, An Oversimplication of Her Beauty, was a beautifully abstract love story, complete with quirky animation and a dream-like aesthetic. This unique form of storytelling would make Tito and Celia's first encounter and subsequent friendship a beauty for the audience, complete with vibrant splashes of music and animation.

Title: Planet Rock

Played by: John Boyega

Directed by: Matthew Vaugn

Afrika Bambaataa's life is much like the origin story of a Marvel superhero. Born and raised in the infamous Bronx River projects, Bambaataa (whose real name is Kevin Donovan) had leadership in his blood. Both his mother and uncle were activists in the Black Liberation Movement of the late '60s, and that proactive spirit carried over to him. But in the '70s, the youth had chosen another path toward cleaning up their communities. Donovan joined the Black Spades, a gang that orginated in the Soundview section of The Bronx, and quickly rose up the ranks to become a division warlord. It wasn't until Donovan traveled to Africa after winning an essay contest that he had a life-altering epiphany. He made it his mission to create a community back home, free of the violence that plauged the borough, and he changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim, after an early 20th century Zulu chief. When Bambaataa came back to The Bronx, he formed the Universal Zulu Nation with the intention of using hip-hop as a tool to save inner city kids from gang warfare.

Bambaataa was a born leader who misuses his potential until a trip to the Motherland solidifies his purpose in life. He used hip-hop to bring forth positive change in his community, and in turn, inspired millions of people worldwide. If that's not the story of a superhero, I don't know what is. John Boyega is the perfect young actor to play Bambaataa. He's shown he can play a reluctant hero who's rough around the edges with his breakout role in 2012's Attack The Block, and I'm sure his next big role in next year's Star Wars: Episode VII won't disapoint either.