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Sometimes it’s easy to forget that famous authors are human. The incredible stories spun by their imaginative minds seem like something divine, but in reality, all authors are people just like us. These days, the boom in the production of biopics makes it easy for audiences to get to know authors and their work, both living and dead. In the past two decades, there has been a steady rise in films and TV shows depicting the lives and works of authors all over the world. You’ve heard of them, and maybe even seen them. Becoming Jane (2007), Mary Shelley (2017), Dickinson (2019-2021), and more have introduced Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Emily Dickinson to a new generation beyond the confines of the classroom or library. An upcoming biopic set to be released in the fall, Wildcat, will tell the story of 20th-century Southern novelist Flannery O’Connor. Like many, O’Connor is both beloved and flawed. So, what makes a good biopic? What makes O’Connor’s story worth telling? When trying to answer this question, it’s important to keep the following in mind:
The Person
The Production
The Plot
The Legacy
The Person: Who was Flannery O’Connor?
First, let's dive into O’Connor’s life and works. O’Connor (March 25, 1925 - August 3, 1964) was a writer from Georgia who wrote in the Southern Gothic style and was known for her short stories, novels, and essays. A devout Roman Catholic, her faith was often reflected in her work, serving as a central theme. O’Connor also highlighted race in her books, which became more controversial as time went on. From the 1940s to the 1960s, O’Connor wrote two novels and 31 short stories and her most well-known works include Wise Blood, A Good Man is Hard to Find, and The Violent Bear It Away. Her works, which often were set in the South, became immensely popular because of the “seeming incongruity of a devout Catholic whose darkly comic works commonly feature startling acts of violence and unsympathetic, often depraved, characters.” Tragically, she inherited lupus from her father, who passed very young. Subsequently, O’Connor was diagnosed with lupus at a very young age and spent most of her adult life ill, until she died at 39 years old. Some of her works were then published posthumously, including her prayer book. Her notable works garnered many readers in the 20th century and continue to do so today, including Ethan and Maya Hawke, thus inspiring the creation of her biopic.
The Production
Co-written by Ethan Hawke and Shelby Gaines, the film (directed and produced by Hawke) is set to premiere at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival this fall. Entitled Wildcat, the biopic stars Hawke’s daughter Maya (as O’Connor), Laura Linney (O’Connor’s mother), Vincent D’Onofrio, Steve Zahn, Cooper Hoffman, Willa Fitzgerald, Alessandro Nivola, Rafael Casal, and more. The conception of this biographical drama began with Maya Hawke, as she was a fan of O’Connor’s stories since discovering them at 15. In January 2023, while filming in Kentucky, Hawke told Variety that “‘Maya has been working hard for years to put this project together, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to introduce a new generation of filmgoers to the genius of Flannery O’Connor…Her work explores themes important to all artists — the intersection of creativity and faith, the blurred relationship between imagination and reality.’”
A film’s production, including the director, cast, and crew, are essential components of a great biopic. If the cast doesn’t provide moving performances of the author and the other figures in their life, the portrayal could be deemed inaccurate or irrelevant. The depiction of these characters can make or break a biopic for audiences and critics. For instance, the film Tolkien (2019) tells the story of J.R.R. Tolkien’s youth in England prior to World War. Delving into his love life and career, the film paints the author of the famous fantasy series The Lord of The Rings in a new light. The biopic stars Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins and was directed by Dome Karukoski. After its premiere, the biopic did not receive good reviews, with critics blaming the film’s lack of success on a badly formulated plot. However, the one aspect of the movie that critics continually praised was the casting, as Hoult and Collins gave “strong performances worthy of a biopic.” In this case, although Tolkien did not do well commercially, the production, specifically the casting of Hoult and Collins in the titular roles, saved the film and made it into a biopic.
The Plot
In this depiction of O’Connor’s life, according to IMDB, the film focuses on the period of time in which she wrote her first novel and the struggles she faced as a burgeoning young writer. The biopic will delve into O’Connor’s life in the South in the mid-20th century, the difficulties she faced due to her disability, her craft, and her manner of writing. The construction of her first novel, Wise Blood, involved piecing together some of her short stories to create a cohesive work about Hazel Motes, a young man who tries to reconcile his relationship with faith and God and in turn, defy his fate. O’Connor in her own words described Wise Blood as “religious consciousness without a religion.” According to Collider, the film will also explore some of O’Connor’s other short stories including “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” and “Revelation” to “Parker’s Back” and “Everything that Rises Must Converge.” Set in the South with parallel conversations about faith and race to today’s environment, Wildcat should be fascinating for everyone, even those unfamiliar with O’Connor’s life and work.
Like the production, a biopic’s plot is crucial to its success. With a run time of only an hour or two hours (three hours max), screenwriters have to pick and choose which parts of an author’s life story to tell, and which ones will impact the viewer the most. If an author’s story isn’t told in an inventive and interesting way, then audiences won’t care about them, or they will leave the theater hating them. A perfect example of a biopic with a strong plot is Wild Nights With Emily (2018). Starring Molly Shannon and Susan Ziegler, the film follows the life of 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson. The film received mixed reviews, which were generally positive, and many critics not only praised the performances, but also Madeleine Olnek’s script. The plot of the film follows Dickinson’s relationship with Susan Gilbert and the complications that came with their tumultuous lifelong love affair. Critic Sheila O’Malley described the film for Rotten Tomatoes as being “respectful, but it's also alive. It's serious, but it's also tongue-in-cheek. Olnek's approach gives Emily room to breathe. At last.” The film’s plot and analysis of the mysterious Dickinson’s long-hidden love affair make it a great biopic, attracting new audiences from different generations and demographics.
The Legacy: The Controversy Surrounding O’Connor
One of the primary reasons biopics are made is because filmmakers were inspired by the individual’s lasting legacy. O’Connor’s legacy in terms of her work was generally positive throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries, as she was regarded as a brilliant Southern gothic writer. However, recently her legacy has begun to change, taking on new meanings and connotations. As many of O’Connor’s works focused on religion, they also heavily highlighted the concept of race. Writing stories set in the South, she wrote about the problem of race extensively, reflecting social and political conversations at the time (1950s and 1960s). With ever-evolving conceptions and views of race, O’Connor’s works and life have become the subject of public scrutiny. Some have recently wondered if her depictions and discussions of race in her stories reflect her personal views. As Patrick Lyon writes for Collider, “As deeply personal as her stories were, it sometimes becomes a difficult metric to say whether she was commenting upon the racism of her environment, criticizing it, partaking in it herself, or all three at once.” In 2020, an article in the New Yorker discussed O’Connor’s life, works, and the conversation surrounding her views of race. With some of her works being published posthumously, “...essays in 1969, letters in 1979, an annotated Library of America volume in 1988, and a cache of personal items deposited at Emory University in 2012, which yielded the “Prayer Journal,” jottings on faith and fiction from her time at Iowa,” some believe that this serves as evidence, confirming she was a racist. Her letters, which mainly surfaced after her death, provide readers with a new look into O’Connor’s mind, and unfortunately, shed light on her bigotry. In her comments about the Civil Rights Movement, influential figures like James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr., and even in her anecdotes, O’Connor expresses racist thoughts and beliefs and repeatedly uses racial slurs. In her letters to American playwright Maytay Lee, O’Connor wrote, “‘You know, I’m an integrationist by principle & a segregationist by taste anyway. I don’t like negroes. They all give me a pain and the more of them I see, the less and less I like them. Particularly the new kind.’” As her racist views have become more apparent in the publication of her letters posthumously, O’Connor’s legacy in history has changed drastically and will change her influence on future generations of writers.
With the number of biopics made in the past two decades, there have been numerous examples of films made about controversial figures (both in the literary world and outside of it). The idea of separating the art from the artist has become twisted in making biopics, as the films showcase how the artist and their craft are typically inextricably intertwined. An example of a biopic made about a controversial literary figure is Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012). Starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, the movie tells the story of writer Ernest Hemingway and his marriage to journalist Martha Gellhorn. A renowned 19th-20th century American novelist and journalist, Hemingway has been the subject of public debate for decades. In the New York Times, Gal Beckerman described Hemingway as “an avatar of toxic masculinity,” as he was not only known for his works but also for “the womanizing; the not-so-subtle anti-Semitism and racism.” Time and time again, Hemingway and other controversial historical figures have been the subject of biopics. In order to make truthful films, actors, directors, and screenwriters must reconcile the negative assertions about these people and find a way to address them in their works.
Wildcat, the soon-to-be-released biopic about Flannery O’Connor, will introduce the Southern 20th-century author to a whole new generation of bookworms. With the controversies surrounding her works and the accusations of her racist beliefs, it will be interesting to see how Ethan Hawke and the cast and crew address these debates within the film. Wildcat’s central figure, production, plot, and discussion of O’Connor’s legacy will determine how successful the film is financially and with critics. After writing so many of her own stories that became wildly popular, O’Connor’s biopic will denote if her own story is equally as enthralling.
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