One of the biggest questions regarding this biopic has to be who is going to be playing Bernie Mac, and the follow-up would have to be whether or not that individual is going to be able to make it work. But the news that Bernie Mac will be getting a biopic on his life is something a lot of fans can get behind since throughout his time in the business, Mac was one of the most regarded comedians of his time. Sadly he passed away in 2008 from complications due to pneumonia, but during his time in the business, he was one of those that people couldn’t help but laugh with whenever he was on since most of his roles were absolute gold even if the movies and shows he was featured in weren’t thought to be that great. Mr. 3000 is a pretty good example since the movie’s been largely forgotten but it’s still a great performance by Mac much like many of his other moments in show business. Many folks might point to The Bernie Mac Show and they’d be smart to do so, but he definitely made a big impact with his career.
It’s bound to be interesting to see how far back into Bernie’s history the biopic will go since if anyone has read up on the famed comedian/actor they’ll have seen that he lost his mother when he was a teenager and his father and older brother years later. He wasn’t the type of guy that hit the show business scene and took over, as he worked a fair number of regular jobs while performing comedy on the weekends. In other words, Bernie was one of those that did in fact work his way to the top and wasn’t given anything until it was established just how good he really was. One idea that’s really funny to think about, and appealing really, is that he took a lot of his inspiration from The Three Stooges, Richard Pryor, and Redd Foxx, acts that many upon many people have enjoyed over the years since they’ve been the type of comedy that people can’t help but laugh at.
Seeing how he was either approached or thought to star in several of his movies over the course of his career, and how his own show came about, would be great as well, since Bernie Mac became known as the type of individual that was great on his own but was, in the movies at least, someone that was definitely funny, but often needed a few famous faces or at least a few strong supporting actors to help him out. There was no weakness in this man’s act, but on his own, he still couldn’t quite carry his own performance unless he was on stage doing his standup routine, where he definitely earned his spot as one of the Kings of Comedy. Taking it just a step further, it’s the idea that he needed someone to bounce his best material off and, like many actors, needed a definite purpose in any given performance that helped to define his character. But learning how some of the acts that he took on came about would be nice, especially if an idea of how he might have felt about certain roles was able to be shown in the biopic.
One has to wonder how he felt about roles such as the homeless character of Flip in Above the Rim, or Dollar Bill in The Players Club. He took on quite a few roles over the course of his career and all of them were infused with his great sense of humor and ability to grab and keep the attention of the audience. Even his short part in Friday as Pastor Clever was funny as hell, and while his semi-dramatic turn in Mr. 3000 wasn’t as well-received as it could have been, he still managed to maintain his reputation as one of the most talented comedians around. What’s unfortunate is that for a few years up until his passing he was already suffering through illness.
Whoever takes on this role has one big responsibility, and that’s making certain that they don’t mess around too much when it comes to portraying Mac. Considering that biopics aren’t usually one hundred percent accurate there is a bit of room for error to tell a story and still pay respects to Bernie Mac’s career, but it should be recognized that a lot of fans are going to be watching and hoping that whoever takes on the role is going to do the best job they possibly can in order to show some respect to yet another pioneer in the industry that did quite a bit when it came to inspiring others to reach for what they wanted. Hopefully we’ll see something that will be impressive, but time will tell.
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