Category Archives: biopic

Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels is an AMC Television Production which chronicles a mobile encampment of the Union Pacific Railroad as they built the railroad across the Great Plains in the US of A. The name of the TV show got it’s name from the encampment, so, you know – Nice place to work.

The show blends fact and fiction, some of the characters in the show existed as real life flesh and blood, the others not. It aired between 2011 and 2015.

Hell on Wheels mainly follows Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount), who is a fictional character and portrayed as an ex Confederate Cavalry Colonel out for revenge for the murder of his wife and his son. Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney) is the man in charge of the operation, and who was an actual person, but Hell on Wheel uses his name only, his portrayal is fictionalised. He’s a businessman who doesn’t let much stand in his way and recognises that Cullen could be an asset, as such, Cullen joins up with the Union Pacific Railroad as way to fund his own mission, and is hired to supervise the team preparing the ground for the new tracks.

Virginia Madsen joins the show for four episodes in the second season. She plays Hannah Durant, an ex wife of Thomas. Again, Hannah is based upon an actual person but her antics are made up for the show. She first rocks up for a brief appearance in the first episode before finishing out her run on episodes 8, 9 and 10, the final ones of the season.
I won’t lie, I didn’t watch much of this TV Show, I’ve no interest in Westerns as a rule and although I do like Colm Meaney as an actor it wasn’t enough to make me sit down and watch it.

I did however make a go of the second season. Which, wasn’t easy all things considered and I did find myself playing with my phone more often than I’d have liked.

That said, I did half enjoy what I saw. Virginia Madsen, as always, is a delight to watch as she chews up the scenery, obviously having some fun with her period character and giving it a modern no nonsense spin.
It probably helped that she was a fan of show before she landed her role, speaking on the AMC site in a Q&A she said; “I’m a big fan of Colm Meaney, Anson Mount is one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen in my life and a really good actor. I know I shouldn’t objectify him because he’s such a good actor, but really, ladies, really? I’m a history buff, and so I knew who the Durants were, although there’s not much about [Hannah]. I just thought, “Oh, that’s going to be really interesting, especially the conflict with the fair-haired maiden of the West.” I just loved the idea that I would come and stir the pot.“Hard for me to recommend this one as I didn’t watch it, but, as I said – What I did see was better than I expected so if you’re into this kind of thing and you haven’t seen it then it might be worth your time, as a Virginia Madsen fan it’s good to watch her have some fun with a role.

Availability:

This was actually easier to find than I anticipated – Quite easy on both Region 1 and 2 DVD. Episodes are available on both Amazon Prime and Googleplay.

Gallery:

Hell on Wheels - Behind the Scenes 14 images

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Joy

It’s 2015 and it’s another year, and another Virginia Madsen biopic. Well, perhaps that’s not entirely fair to say, or even true – But she does seem to have been in her fair share of them.Joy isn’t a Virginia Madsen centric film though, far from it, she’s on supporting actress duties this time around.

The film is the story of Joy Mangano, who I’ll admit to having never heard of before I saw the film, and outside of America I guess I wouldn’t be on my own in not knowing who she is or what she did for the world.

Joy Mangano is the inventor of the Miracle Mop.

See, you’ve heard of that haven’t you? Well, hopefully.

And, Joy, is her story. Kind of.

It’s 1990 and Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) is annoyed and frustrated with many things in her life. She’s living with her two kids, her Mother (Virginia Madsen), her Grandmother (Diane Ladd) and her ex-husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez) is living in the basement.
If all of that wasn’t enough, her sister, Peggy (Elisabeth Röhm) is constantly on at her to sort her life out and to top things off, her Father, Rody (Robert DeNiro) also moves into her basement shortly after the story begins after the failure of his third marriage.

So, yes. Not an ideal world she was living in.

Much of that she could do little about, but what she could do something about was her mop. Yes, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back and would change her life forever was the humble mop.

Taking out her frustrations on the mop, Joy is cleaning the messy house one day. She’s doing some mopping but when she goes to wring out the mop she cuts her hand on a piece of glass that has gotten stuck in the mop head. Because of this she decides the design needs an upgrade. The first mop was patented in 1893, so close to 100 years people have lived with the old design at this point. But not Joy. no Sir.

Joy would reinvent the mop with a continuous loop of cotton so that it could be wrung out easier and she wouldn’t have to faff around quite so much.

Which may sound like a simple enough change to make to a mop, in hindsight, but you didn’t think of it, and neither did I. And if we did, we didn’t do anything about it. But you know who did?

Well, yes. Joy.

Joy would take her invention all the way to the top. There’d be hiccups along the way of course, and it wouldn’t all be plain sailing.
The film documents a fictionalised version of the truth of the trials and tribulations she faced along the way, the basics are there in that she did invent the mop, she did face some troubles getting it into peoples homes until QVC let her on the air to sell the mop herself but Joy does take many short cuts through the whole story. It was never, ever supposed to be a “biopic” as you’d normally think of one – From the moment it was conceived it was always a “half truth”, Joys second name isn’t even mentioned in the film itself.

But, that doesn’t make any of it less entertaining. I liked this film, a LOT more than I thought I would. I first watched it on Disney+ some time after it was released. I had no clue what it was about, just that Virginia Madsen was in it. In fact, between me and you when I was looking at the cover I thought Jennifer Lawrence was being abducted by aliens or something.

I enjoyed it so much that I actually went and did some reading up on Joy Mangano off the back of it.

Virginia Madsen doesn’t have a huge part, and in truth I was reminded of her role in Crazy Kind of Love a little bit. In the film, Terri is a bit of an odd ball, she stays in her room all the time watching soap operas on the TV and being generally not very helpful to Joy and her extended family. But her role as Terri is fiction, well, the way she’s portrayed is at least and it’s said that Terri is likely a composite character of several people Joy knew.

It’s a good solid character though and I think one of those roles you wouldn’t necessarily have had down as a “Virginia Madsen” role, much like her role as Virgie Arthur in then Anna Nicole movie a few years before.

So, yeah – One to watch on a Sunday afternoon this one methinks.

Availability:

Good. Seems to be more or less freely available on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming services depending on your location

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Just Ask My Children

Just Ask My Children is 2001 Made for TV Biopic movie from Lifetime. It tells the story of a couple caught up in the now infamous Kern Contry child abuse trails.

And, as much as I do enjoy biopics, even made for TV Movie ones (especially made for TV Ones?), this film sickens my soul.

Not because it’s a bad film, but the fact that it exists. It shouldn’t exist. The events portrayed in the film shouldn’t have happened. It makes me mad that, despite this happening before, it’s happened since. No lessons learned, nothing taken away from it.

Through the trials over 30 people where convicted on some level of child abuse, Just Ask My Children focuses it’s story on two of those people, but never forget while you’re watching this isn’t just happening to the people you’re seeing on screen, it was a wide spread event.

It’s the 8th of April 1982, in Bakersfield, California the Kniffen family, Scott (Jeffrey Nording) and Brenda (Virginia Madsen) are enjoying some quality time in their home with their sons Brian (6) and Brendan (8).

Brenda is an 80’s American Homemaking American Wife- who also taught at a Bible School. Scott is an Inventory Manager for a Diesel Shop. They are living the 80’s American Dream, an almost idyllic existence.

There’s a knock on the door. Their lives are changed forever. It’s the Police, they storm in and arrest the two parents, accusing them of Satanic Ritual abuse against their sons.
Among the accusations that would come to be thrown at them were claims that they’d molested their sons, hung them from ceilings by hooks and forced to engage in various depraved acts for the camera.

It was from the mouths of Brian and Brendan that these accusations were being made.

But not their minds. They were being coached into making the accusations by the police investigating the claims against their parents. The children were told that if they cooperated and told them “the truth” then they would soon be back with their parents.

When questioned on their own, they were both told that the other sibling had already told them what had happened and that they just needed to confirm the heinous accusations were true.

The children would both deny the accusations and repeatedly tell the Officers that nothing like what they saying had ever happened.
No evidence was ever found to back up the claims of abuse.

Despite all of this the details of the arrests where made public via the media, pretty much condemning all the parents and heavily praising the work of the Police in bringing these criminals to justice.

During the trials of the Kniffens the “evidence” against them was another barrage of half truths and outright lies brought to the court by the prosecution and the Kniffens would be convicted for a total of 240 years in Prison.
Just As My Children details all of this, and the Kniffens fight for justice to clear their names.

I won’t go into more detail here, not because I don’t want to *spoil* anything, it’s a historical case which makes it kind of hard for me to do – But I believe that people should watch this film and do their own research into the events surrounding it so they are aware of just what can happen when madness takes over.

Virginia Madsen plays Brenda Kniffen brilliantly, it’s probably some of her finest work committed to film. It’s not just her, the whole film is excellently made and everyone involved puts in some serious effort to bring this story to the screen. Everyone involved with the film should be commended for their efforts on this one.

It’s genuinely a shame this film wasn’t more recognised at the time of it’s release, but, it’s first showing coincided with the 9/11 attacks in America in 2001 and therefore, obviously, there were more important and relevant things for the Country to be concentrating on right then.
And, it was a shame because the Kniffens deserved to have their story told. But, alas, a small voice in a very large, and understandable crowd. Life isn’t fair and can be hideously cruel, sometimes more than once.

Availability:

Good. Still shown on TV from time to time and copies of the film on DVD are easy to find.

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Ghosts of Mississippi

Ghosts of Mississippi sees Virginia Madsen head back into Biopic country with a film based upon the trial of Byron De La Beckwith, a white supremacist who in 1963 was accused of assassinating Medgar Evans, a racial equality civil rights activist in Mississippi.

Bryon was tried twice for the murder in the 1960s, but each time the (all white) jury was hung and no action was taken. Ghosts of Mississippi tells the story of how 25 years later Medgar’s widow was finally able to get some justice.

The film starts with an overview of the events in the 1960s before fast- forwarding to 1989 where we find DA Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin) reopening the case after some new evidence comes to light. DeLaughter was a man of personal pride and the idea that an injustice had been served and never corrected didn’t sit right with him.

But reopening the case would not be a popular move as reopening the case brought back all the racial tensions from the original days and folks liked things the way they were at the moment. Never the less.Bobby follows his sense of right and wrong and perseveres through it all to make sure justice is served, even if it is a little too late.

It’s another film where you know what you’re getting before you even start to watch it. If you like the legal drama kind of film then this isn’t something you’ve not seen before. That isn’t to make light of the subject, especially given the nature of it – But it’s all very formulaic in its presentation.

Virginia Madsen plays the part of Dixie DeLaughter, Bobby’s wife, or she was when the trial first started. Unfortunately Dixie wasn’t quite as enlightened as Bobby and she believed all the racist rhetoric around the case. This would ultimately cause the marriage to fail and they would divorce before the end of the trial.
She is, however, excellent in the role, but unfortunately we don’t get to see that much of her. Or, fortunately given the character she’s playing is utterly detestable in this one.

The rest of the movie. Not so much. I don’t know if it’s aged badly but it never really felt like I was watching a “cinema” movie, it wouldn’t have surprised me to find that it had been made for TV. Bit odd like that given the calibre of the cast. No that I have anything against made for TV Biopics, A Murderous Affair I enjoy, and Just Ask My Children is some of Virginia Madsens finest work in my opinion.

James Woods plays Byron De La Beckwith in fine style, he easily steals the movie from everyone else. Whoopi Goldberg plays Myrlie Evans, the widow of Medgar. She also does well but this almost goes without saying in this kind of role. I get the feeling she could have done this in her sleep.

It’s worth a watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon, don’t expect too much and you’ll be fine. Perhaps that’s where it always belonged.

Availability:

Not the easiest film to find on DVD. but if you keep a good solid pair of eyes out then you should be able to find a copy.

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Becoming Colette / Colette

Becoming Colette, or Colette, as it is known outside of the US is a 1992 biopic film detailing the life of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, or simply Colette as she liked to be known…

Colette was a French Author, Intellectual, Mime, Journalist and Actress. She’s best known today for her 1944 novella, Gigi.

Becoming Colette is filmed as a series of flashbacks, Colette (Mathilda May) tells her story after spotting her ex-huband in the audience of a theatre performance, we see her meet Henri Gauthier-Villars, known as Willy (Klaus Maria Brandauer) who should later marry to help out her Father.

Willy would see an untapped resource in Colette and encourage her to write, for which he would then take credit. He would introduce her to a different world than what she was used to, but Colette would embrace it wholeheartedly. One evening Willy would take Colette to the Moulin Rogue where she would meet his Mistress, Polaire (VIrginia Madsen). Polaire would take Colette under her wing somewhat, in more ways than one.
And that’s pretty much all I dare write on this one. My copy of the film is in German and so I wasn’t able to rewatch it. I have it on VHS as well but no VHS player these days so I was pot out of luck.

The story of Colette was also retold more recently in 2018, with Keira Knigtley as Colette and Aiysha Hart as Polaire. I’ll confess to getting the stories muddled in my head somewhat and as with all biopics, what can be seen on screen isn’t necessarily a reflection of real life.
Becoming Colette is worth a watch if you can find it. And I’ll say that as someone who doesn’t normally period films (as you might have noticed). The new version is also worth a watch if you can’t.
Colette was certainly an interesting woman.

Availability:
This one’s tough. I picked up a DVD out of Germany that turned out to be a Laser Paradise disc and was German language only, no English track, and not an official studio release.As far as I can tell, there’s never been a proper DVD with the original audio. VHS copies do turn up in the US, but they’re NTSC, so you’d need the right player.

I’ve got a UK VHS myself, but that’s the only one I’ve ever seen in the wild, so it does exist but it’s going to pure luck and chance if you do find a copy.

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Amelia

Ha. Yeah, Amelia. It’s a bit confusing when searching for “Virginia Madsen” on sites like eBay and Amazon as Amelia always seems to pop up in the results. It’s confusing and, a little insulting when you work it out.

Briefly – Amelia is the 2009 biopic film telling the story of Ameila Everart (Hillary Swank) and her life up to and including her famous disappearance in 1937 flying over the Pacific Ocean.

Virginia was / is in this movie, but all of her scenes were deleted from the final film. Which, is a little bewildering. She’s briefly in one scene getting out of a car, but… Yeah, everything else she did is gone.

(That’d be the second scene below by the way)

She played Dorothy Binney, George Putmans (Richard Gere) first wife.

No real reason for her to be cut, suggestions I can find from other sources on the net suggest that it was to either tone down the “scandal” that Amelia Everart played in the two splitting, or for timing reasons. The deleted scenes don’t really show any “scandal” and in one Dorothy admits to having an affair as well, so I doubt it was “scandal”, but I don’t know for sure.

And, honestly? Either way I think it kind of sucks and is just another way that Hollywood rewrites history when making movies. Nothing new there, I know – It just annoys me on many levels that it happens, not just with this one.

Not that it matters, the film was highly anticipated but left people who watched it wanting. It was criticised for not really being an accurate portrayal of events in any sense of the word, Hillary Swank even caught some flak for her acting which is unusual.

Ah well. I’m including it here because people might wonder why Virginia Madsen is associated with the film at all as she’s not listed on the iMDB page for the film.

She can be seen in three of the deleted scenes on the DVD and Blu-Ray though, which I guess is as good a reason as any to add this one to your collection.

1. The Queen of Diamonds, Mabel Boll

2. Dorothy Putnam

3. Dorothy’s Departure

Availability:
Good, lots of copies knocking around on DVD and Blu-Ray for cheap. Disney+ have it as part of their streaming offerings.

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Anna Nicole

Anna Nicole, it should come of no surprise, is a Biopic about the life and ultimately tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith. It’s a TV movie made for the Lifetime Movie Network in 2013.

Agnes Brucker fills the shoes of Anna Nicole. The film follows her life from plain old Vicky Lynn Hogan from Houston in Texas through to the height of her fame as the Marilyn Monroe styled Playboy Pinup married to Howard Marshall (Martin Landau), an 89 year old Billionaire.

The marriage between Anna and Howard would last 14 months, Howard would die on Pneumonia leaving Anna his widow.

Anna would lose her only son, Daniel (Graham Patrick Martin), 20, just three days after the birth of her Daughter, Dannielynn on the 10th September 2006.

Less than six months later, Anna Nicole Smith would be found dead on February 8th, 2007.

Much, very much, has been written, filmed and discussed about Anna Nicole Smith, I don’t think I need to go over that again here. It’s well documented at this point. My own thoughts aside, it is without doubt a sad tale of fame and fortune gone wrong.

Virginia Madsen plays her Mother, Virgie Arthur. She’s not in the film a lot, making a brief appearance in the beginning, middle and end. You’d be forgiven for not even realising she was in it.
This is far from the Virginia we are used to seeing in movies, in a good way. Her “sex symbol” qualities gone behind rollers in her hair and an overweight body. In a good way, it’s acting, it’s just not often you get to see her like this. She does, as always being a certain something to the role that is unmistakably her.

The films Director, Mary Harron, would have nothing but praise for Virginia in how she handled the role;

“Virginia Madsen is a very beautiful woman. How can we, you know…Anna Nicole Smith’s mother does not look like Virginia Madsen, but we had a long conversation before she came on, about how she wanted to change her appearance. She wanted to do, I want to be careful how I say this…A character part. Virginia Madsen really went for it in this tough moment. You wouldn’t normally think of her playing this type of character, because she is playing against type. I think actors like that opportunity. Actors like that, because it allows them to show their range.”

The film, I think, is done well. It’s quite sympathetic towards Anna Nicole considering the way it could have gone. Watching her grow up in this movie it’s hard not to feel a little empathy towards her. It’s almost an uplifting ending the way it frames Anna’s death, almost a relief that she managed to escape the wreck of her life.

It’s a hard watch, but a good one. Obviously there are some things glossed over. I’ve already mentioned it seems sympathetic towards Anna, and, there is a lot you shouldn’t feel sorry for with Anna Nicole. She was no angel, but this movie glosses over a lot of that. It’s not a bad thing, and there is only so much you can do in one movie.

Worth a watch if you’ve only ever seen and or heard negative things about Anna, it might give you a different perspective on it all.

Availability:
Not hard to find at all. Pretty much freely available on DVD and lots of streaming services seem to carry it.

Gallery:

Anna Nicole - Production Stills 3 images

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The Hearst and Davies Affair

The Hearst and Davies Affair is a made for TV Movie from 1985 broadcast on the ABC Television Network.

The film is based on the true life romance, or affair, of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies. The interest in the scandal primarily being because of the age difference between the two. Virginia Madsen takes on the role of Marion Davies.Hearst was said to be in his 60’s / 70’s with Davies being in her late teens / early twenties. Quite the eyebrow raiser, even today. It’s hard to give a definitive answer to how old the pair were due to historical records not being what they are today.

Marion Davies first met Marion Hearst when she was 19 and he was 53. William Davies was a part of the Ziegfield Follies production at the time and already a success in her own right.

William Hearst would take over the management of her career and by 1924 she would be a major success in Hollywood. Though, it’s believed that William Hearst would in fact stifle her career somewhat by promoting her as a serious actor rather than letting her lean into her natural comedic talents.The affair would become one the worst kept secrets in Hollywood at the time. William Davies was written off as a gold digger by some but she would prove them wrong by staying with William Hearst till his end in 1951.

This particular movie isn’t as kind to William Davies as it could have been, as history hasn’t been in general to be fair. Virginia has spoken of her part in this adaptation with some regret as it was marketed as “the scandalous love affair between one of the richest and most powerful men in America and the obscure Ziegfeld girl he promoted to stardom”.

Years later Virginia Madsen would take part in the Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies which sought to dispel some of the untruths about her from public record, how much good that will have done though is anyone’s guess.

On the flip side to this Virginia would become a real fan of Marion. In preparation for the role she would watch all the movies she could, read books on her, collect Marion Davies memorabilia. Even this early in her career and at just 23 years old it was a sign of just how seriously Virginia took her roleThe movie is worth a watch, though the two have been portrayed on screen several times since in varying degrees of authenticity. If you’re after a broader understanding of it all then this is a good a place to start as any.

Availability:
It’s not easy to get hold of physically. It was only ever released on VHS and while you can find copies on DVD then they are just home made transfers. Copies on VHS show up from time to time on eBay so if you’re a completionist then you might have to settle for one of those to add to your collection. Even then it’s likely it’ll be an NTSC copy of the film which you might have trouble with outside of America, and that’s if you can track down a VHS Player in good working order.

If you just want to watch the movie then, well you can find it easily enough. And you might want to remember there are tools you can use to do your part and preserve the film digitally if you do.

Gallery:

The Hearst and Davies Affair - Production Stills 2 images

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Mussolini: The Untold Story

Well. Another one I couldn’t actually rewatch completely. Mussolini: The Untold Story. Not even for a dose of Virginia Madsen goodness.

It’s not because it’s bad, it’s because it’s LONG, and not my thing. I’ve really no interest in this kind of TV show / Movie. It clocks in at nearly seven hours in total, and I’ve other things to be doing. I remember the first time I watched it, years ago, I put it back in it’s case knowing it’d never see the light of day again. Well, until recently when I popped it out to grab the captures.Mussolini: The Untold Story is what it sounds like it’s going to be. A look at the Italian Dictators life that some may not have known about beforehand. George C. Scott plays Benito Mussolini and the series follows his rise and fall from 1922 through to his execution in 1945.

Virginia Madsen once again inhabits the personality of a historical figure, this time the one of Clara Petacci, Petacci was the long term Mistress of Mussolini, despite being 28 years younger than him (with hindsight, this might be typecasting at this point). They first met when Mussolinis car overtook the one that the Petacci family where driving, on seeing who the passenger in the other car was Clara would shout for them to stop so she could met him. She’d been writing to him for years and took her chance to meet her idol.The story of Mussolini isn’t hard to find out for yourselves these days, and as I didn’t rewatch it I won’t try and go through all of the details here and compare them to historical fact.

On the bits I did stop and watch while I was capturing Virginia seemed to be doing her part well. There is something about her early performances that has her incredible talent just bubbling away, just something raw and pure about it all. Not that she not talented, now, but she does seem to get thrown in to a lot of similar roles and yet back here there seemed to be so much more on promise.
Mussolini: The Untold Story is also notable for a strong showing from some serious talent, both established and those who would become bigger names further down the line. As well as the immense talent of George C Scott you’ve got David Suchet, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Raul Julia, Robert Downey Jr and Gabriel Bryne showcasing their talents.

It’s hard for me to recommend this one too hard. I know it’s a well done production and as you can see, some proper talent behind it. But the story is both, horrible and long. Definitely worth a watch if this kind of thing is your bag but probably one to avoid as a casual Virginia fan.

Availability:
All good here, relatively easy to find on DVD. One of those that never seems to go out of print for some reason.

Gallery:

Mussolini: The Untold Story - Production Stills 1 image

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Ironclads

Ironclads is a TV Movie from 1991, it’s a drama based around the Battle of Hampton Roads, more specifically the creation of the CSS Virginia from what was left of the USS Merrimack from the American Civil War.

So, it’s 1862 and although it’s only just started, the American Civil War is well and truly under way. The South is working on a secret weapon, the aforementioned CSS Virginia. It’s basically a floating tank.

Though it’s based in reality, the events of the film aren’t. Our heroine plays Betty Stuart, an entirely made up character for the purposes of the film. It gives her a good excuse to go full on Southern Belle again if nothing else. Betty isn’t all that she seems, we soon find out she’s actually a spy for the North.The North as it turns out are working on their own floating tank, the USS Monitor.

These boats are the titular Ironclads of the movie. Before these ships were created then they’d be made of wood. Making them out of iron and steel like they started to do here would change the face of naval warfare forever.

Betty is engaged to Lt Catesby Jones, a Confederate Officer, who is actually a real life person. Although Betty is conflicted between her love for Catesby she still stays true to her beliefs and feed secrets about the CSS Virginia back to the North to help them with their battle. Even if it does land her in jail at one point. A nice jail though, because you know – Appearances.
Despite this made up love story, the film is actually praised for its historical accuracy when it comes to the technology and the battle.

I’ll be honest, this isn’t my kind of film at all – I only saw the movie recently for the first time and it didn’t exactly hold my attention. That’s purely down to me, I’m not really one for war movies, even less so when it comes to things I care little about. It is actually held in high regard by those that enjoy these kinds of movies and that’s fair enough.

Virginia for the most part does her job as well as she ever does. Smouldering around the screen in the type of role I personally think she was born to play. I have to say, I found her character a bit odd when I watched the film. I didn’t realise until afterwards that she was made up for the film which I guess some ways to explain it and some of the peculiarities.

It’s the early 90’s and she’s well established as an actress at this point. We’ve seen her do the Southern Belle thing before a few times and she’s totally got that thing down which allows her to take on the role of the (overly?) complicated character with obvious relish.

As I said, it’s not my kind of film but I can tell that it’s well made – If you’ve any interest in this kind of thing then I’d say it would be worth a watch. Just bear in mind the clash between reality and fiction as you do.

Availability:
Another of Virginia Madsen films that isn’t available on DVD, and given it’s TV Movie status it’s unlikely it ever will. It is available on VHS and copies do turn up from time to time on eBay (where I got mine) but you have to be patient waiting for it.

Trailer:
Unfortunately not, another one where it’s easier to find the movie on YouTube than the trailer…

Gallery:

Ironclads - Production Stills 3 images

Pseudo DVD Cover:
If you took advantage of the tools to preserve a copy of the film digitally and you want to slot it into your collection and have it look natural, then you might want to make a DVD cover for it, this is the one I bodged together for such a purpose from the original VHS artwork.

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Category Archives: biopic

Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels - Behind the Scenes 14 images

Joy

Just Ask My Children

Just Ask My Children - Promotional Shoot 2 images

Just Ask My Children - Production Stills 4 images

Ghosts of Mississippi

Becoming Colette / Colette

Becoming Colette - Production Stills 5 images

Becoming Colette - Promotional Shoot 1 image

Amelia

1. The Queen of Diamonds, Mabel Boll

2. Dorothy Putnam

3. Dorothy’s Departure

Anna Nicole

Anna Nicole - Production Stills 3 images

The Hearst and Davies Affair

The Hearst and Davies Affair - Production Stills 2 images

Mussolini: The Untold Story

Mussolini: The Untold Story - Production Stills 1 image

Ironclads

Ironclads - Production Stills 3 images