Originally posted at Lifelounge

Fans of the dearly departed Jeff Buckley now have something even more depressing than his music to cry over: Robert Pattinson looks set to play the musician in a long-awaited film chronicling his life. Whilst we're hoping the Twilight star's acting will rival other recent biographical portrayals (such as Colin Firth's much-lauded King George VI), the cynic in us thinks the whole thing may end up a bit of an anti-hallelujah.

Luckily, there's a whole lot of biographical films throughout history for R-Patz to get some tips from. Here's a short list of the great, the strange, and the very, very tragic.

Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta
De Niro gained 20kg in muscle and approximately 5kg in Academy Award gold for playing a middleweight boxing champion/psychopath in Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece, Raging Bull. Fans will be pleased to hear that he'll soon be appearing in another Scorsese project, The Irishman, with co-Raging Bull-actor Joe Pesci.


Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo
Anybody that can make a monobrow look sexy deserves an A+ for effort.


Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford

Producers had to wait until this Oscar-winning actress died before they could safely release this film based upon her “estranged” adopted-daughter’s childhood experiences. We can’t imagine why: the camp classic Mommie Dearest is an entirely flattering portrayal… of a crazy woman.


Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette

French Revolution historians got up in a fuss about Sofia Coppola's 2006 portrayal of Marie Antoinette. Whilst they twirled their moustaches and smelt of moth balls, Kirsten Dunst seduced cinema-goers everywhere in knee-high socks adorned with bows (and not much else). The real history lesson? Revolution is so much prettier when coupled with The Cure.


Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

Imagine nobly sacrificing your life trying to save the Jewish people from genocide, and then being rewarded with a man who needs to stand on a milk crate to play you. We would be turning over in our grave.


50 Cent as "a coke dealer who becomes a world famous rapper"

Truly wanksta.


Sam Waterston as Sydney Schanberg
Younger audiences may know him as the man who upholds the peace without the use of facial expression, but fans of the 1984 film The Killing Fields know him as the dude every aspiring journalist one day hopes to be. A must-see classic that is as much worth watching for Waterston's facial hair as it is for the history lessons.


Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan
Cate has made a habit out of playing other famous people, but it's this portrayal of everybody's favourite 60s poet musician in I'm Not There that proves why she's so much cooler than that other "Australian" imposter, Nicole.


Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen

This version of The Sex Pistols bassist's murderous addiction is based upon Nancy's mothers version of events, and thus kinda views like a parent's Why Your Daughter Should Not Run Away With Rockstars manual. Granted, Chloe kinda looks like a trannie in some scenes, but it's alright because everything will be alright when you get to New York, Nancy.


Dan Hedaya as Richard Nixon
Granted, this isn't actually an entirely reliable version of the Watergate scandal, but Hedaya's portrayal of this U.S. President is so goofy that it's one of our favourites. Paper mache is a hobby of his.