The 'Reel' Story; A rash of biographical films promise to reveal the lives of the infamous and the obscure, the loved and the loathed.

Byline: Ginanne Brownell

Think of the Bronte sisters and what comes to mind? Images of desolate moors and drafty evenings spent, quill in hand, at a desk before flickering candles. And what about Jane Austen, the original doyenne of chick lit? Maybe a sprightly, well-connected singleton working the room and trading gossip at a lavish dinner party? For years our impression of these beloved novelists has come mostly from their fictional creations, although a few weighty biographies have been written about them. But soon we will get to know them through a far more colorful and glamorous medium: the Hollywood biopic. Next March, Anne Hathaway will portray Bath's favorite literary daughter in "Becoming Jane," and later in the year, Michelle Williams is scheduled to appear as Charlotte in "Bronte." They join the ever-growing list of figures, ranging from Johnny Cash to Howard Hughes to Che Guevara, whose lives have recently been illuminated--for better and worse--on the big screen. "Ideally, cinema helps us make sense of our lives and how we have arrived where we are now," says Sandra Hebron, the artistic director of the London Film Festival. "Biopics can do that."

Biopics, or biographical pictures, have been around as long as cinema itself; in 1899, French filmmaker Georges Melies created a 10-minute silent film about Joan of Arc, and the 1927 movie "Napoleon" was one of the world's first epics, clocking in at around six hours. Over the last few years, such films have dominated the box office, embraced by actors, directors and audiences alike. Recent Oscar winners include Reese Witherspoon, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jamie Foxx, all of whom won gold statuettes for their portrayals of real-life individuals (June Carter Cash, Truman Capote and Ray Charles, respectively).

The range of current and forthcoming biopic subjects has grown increasingly diverse, encompassing both the infamous and the obscure. "Hollywoodland" stars Ben Affleck as George Reeves, who played Superman on TV and who died mysteriously. Kirsten Dunst channels Marie Antoinette in Sofia Coppola's new film. Early next year Renee Zellweger will play the eccentric children's writer and devoted sheep farmer Beatrix Potter, while Sienna Miller takes on the role of New York socialite and Andy Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick. The lives of 1950s Playboy pinup Bettie Page and 18th-century British abolitionist William Wilberforce are also coming soon to the silver screen. Hebron says obscure people often make for better films. "If we know a lot about someone already, why do we need a biopic?" she says. "We are thrilled by someone about whom there are things to discover."

Historically, biopics have fallen in and out of favor depending on the state of the world. The last time such films were so prevalent was in the 1930s, when actor Paul Muni built his career playing the likes of Louis Pasteur, Mafia boss Al Capone, Mexican President Benito Pablo JuArez and Pierre Radisson, the French explorer who traversed America's Great Lakes. Diane Negra, a film and television professor at Britain's University of East Anglia, says Hollywood responded to the fragile global situation of that era--America devastated by the Great Depression, Europe slowly ...