Biopics tend to hold a soft spot in the hearts of both critics and audiences alike. It’s not too difficult to see why, either: when the headlining character is a name embedded in the collective cultural consciousness, a certain amount of marketing has already been done for the film in the first place. Audiences are interested to learn more about the hidden personal struggles of famous characters in history or perhaps learn a fascinating true story behind a lesser-known character or event. Such movies have often risen to the very summit of critical success, too. A Beautiful Mind, a story about the mathematician John Nash, won Best Picture in 2001 and gave Russell Crowe a third consecutive Best Actor nomination. Gary Oldman finally won his Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour. Helen Mirren broke through the Oscar barrier with The Queen in 2006; Colin Firth did the same with The King’s Speech, winning Best Picture in 2010. The list goes on — for quite some time.
Wildcat is a Flannery O’Connor biopic starring Maya Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Laura Linney. Ethan Hawke is set to direct the film.