Darin, Charles biopics ready to duel
One prediction is that 'Ray' will sweep many top Oscars.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
TORONTO -- Bobby Darin and Ray Charles did something at the Toronto Film Festival Sunday night that they never got around to in real life: They leaped atop a supper-club piano and rocked out to "Splish Splash," Darin's first hit.
Darin -- actually Kevin Spacey -- noted the next morning that the young singer "admired Ray Charles hugely. So it was just a matter of time before they'd hook up for a duet."
How the two music legends will get along in movie theaters remains to be seen. They're about to go head-to-head in dueling biopics -- "Ray," with Jamie Foxx as Charles coping with racism, blindness and heroin addiction, and "Beyond the Sea," with two-time Oscar winner Spacey battling career slumps and heart disease as Darin.
Differences
Audiences shouldn't have any trouble distinguishing between the films. "Beyond the Sea" (opening Nov. 24) is an arty, conceptualized memoir that mixes drama and fantasy production numbers. Spacey, who also produced and directed, freely acknowledges his debt to Bob Fosse's "All that Jazz" and Fellini's "81/2."
The Charles movie (Oct. 29) offers a more conventional, chronological treatment of its subject's life, from sharecropper to chart-topping superstar.
Spacey, like Sissy Spacek in "Coal Miner's Daughter" and Diana Ross in "Lady Sings the Blues," does all his own singing. Foxx, like Angela Bassett in "What's Love Got to Do with It," mostly lip-syncs, to tracks recorded by Ray before his death in June.
Also, "Sea" is a low-budget production from a boutique distributor, Lions Gate Films; "Ray," directed by veteran Taylor Hackford ("An Officer and a Gentleman"), has a big budget and the full weight of Universal Pictures behind it.
Competition
Spacey says he's not viewing "Ray" purely as competition. "I haven't seen 'Ray' yet, but I'm looking forward to it," he says. "I think the Ray Charles story is absolutely worth telling. And I hear Jamie's fantastic."
Still, our prediction is that "Ray" will wipe the floor with "Sea" and -- you heard it here first -- will go on to sweep a number of top Oscars, including best actor for Foxx, who goes well beyond mimicking the distinctive Ray Charles stage style to capture the man's essence and core genius.
"Ray" couldn't be any more entertaining or satisfying: It works as musical tribute, intense character study and, by charting the singer's gospel/jazz roots and political awakening, history lesson. Universal is said to be nervous about the film's length (more than 2 1/2 hours). But with Foxx tearing up the screen and Charles rocking the house, the studio needn't fret. Charles fans will be begging for more.