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QUIZ

Reel People

Test your knowledge of movie biopics

By Kevin J. Siu

Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, opening this week, follows the final three days of “Blake,” a scruffy, blond-haired rock star, anguished and alienated somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Unlike such music biopics as last year’s Ray and the upcoming take on Johnny Cash, Walk The Line, Van Sant has called Days “sort of a poetic reference to Kurt” — inspired by, rather than based on, the Nirvana frontman. But, as Van Sant pointed out in an interview with The Seattle Weekly, there are moments of naked truth: “[Kurt] apparently did like to put on Courtney's dresses… hunt around the house with a gun wearing that Elmer Fudd hat and trying to shoot ‘wabbits, pesky wabbits.’ And he did make macaroni and cheese with extra milk.” Extra milk? Freaky.

1. Of which role did Canada’s king of biopics, Colm Feore, remark, “People in the grocery store come up to me and say, ‘I hated the son-of-a-bitch, goddamned bastard. Hell of a Canadian, though, eh?’”?
	Pierre Elliott Trudeau (in Trudeau)
	Glenn Gould (in 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould)
	D.W. Griffith (in And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself)
	Admiral Husband E. Kimmel (in Pearl Harbour)
	Caesar (in the upcoming Empire mini-series)

2. Due to scheduling conflicts, what ex-Brat Packer turned down the opportunity to portray his grandfather, Tommy “Greatest Canadian” Douglas, in the upcoming CBC mini-series?
	Judd Nelson
	Rob Lowe
	Kiefer Sutherland
	C. Thomas Howell
	Lou Diamond Phillips

3. Sissy Spacek performed all of her own songs as what White Stripes-approved country songstress in 1980’s Coal Miner’s Daughter?
	Loretta Lynn
	Patsy Cline
	Dolly Parton
	Shania Twain
	Toby Keith

4. Which “fifth Beatle” did Stephen Dorff portray in 1994’s Backbeat?
	Stuart Sutcliffe
	Billy Preston
	George Martin
	Brian Epstein
	Yoko Ono

5. Which of the following methods did Jamie Foxx reportedly employ to prepare for his Oscar-winning performance as Ray Charles in last year’s Ray?
	He learned Braille
	He wore prosthetic eyelids for as long as 12 hours a day
	He performed in front of 1,500 people at the Apollo Theatre
	He lived with Charles for two months
	He did a duet with Diana Krall

6. In 1992’s Chaplin – which earned Robert Downey Jr. a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his lead performance – what role was played by Chaplin’s real-life daughter, Geraldine?
	Her mother, Oona Chaplin
	Her grandmother, Hannah Chaplin
	Herself
	The actress Mary Pickford
	FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover

7. Which of the following supporting performances did not appear in The Aviator?
	Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn
	Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner
	Kim Basinger as Veronica Lake
	Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow
	Jude Law as Errol Flynn

8. Which of the following was not an Oscar-winning performance?
	Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich
	Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull
	George C. Scott as General George S. Patton in Patton
	Will Smith as Muhammad Ali in Ali
	Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster

9. What do Denzel Washington, Mario Van Peebles, James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman all have in common?
	They’ve all played famous boxers
	They’ve all played Malcolm X
	They’ve all gained over 40 lbs to portray a historical figure
	They all turned down the Ike Turner role in What’s Love Got To Do With It
	They’ve all signed on for the upcoming Jackson Five biopic. James Earl Jones is Tito.

10. Who said the following in a Q&A; with Interview magazine: “It was leather pants that killed him. It's like living in a wet suit. There's no circulation. I'm sure that's what did it to him”?
	Gary Oldman (on playing Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy)
	Val Kilmer (on playing Jim Morrison in The Doors)
	Johnny Depp (on playing Ed Wood in Ed Wood)
	Jim Carrey (on playing Andy Kaufman in Man On The Moon)
	Anthony Hopkins (on playing Richard Nixon in Nixon)