They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

However, whether the subject actually takes their ‘tribute’ as intended is another matter.

Cinematic cutting rooms are littered with miles of celluloid whenever a rock biopic is in production. A film of the life of Janis Joplin is the latest to be abandoned following more than six years of development. It’s not clear why the project, with Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallee, stalled, but given that Amy Adams was chosen to portray the heroin-ravaged ’60s rocker, it might not be hard to see difficulties in the Enchanted star’s portrayal.

However, there are other Joplin films in the offing.

Zooey Deschanel has been linked to the part and she has musical form with her own indie duo She and Him – as well as getting a Grammy nomination for a song she penned for the Winnie The Pooh soundtrack. It also seems that Brokeback Mountain star Michelle Williams will play Joplin later this year.

But failing to get the impersonation just right is nothing new (just ask John Culshaw) – most recently Joseph Fiennes was slated to play Michael Jackson before outrage and the interjection of daughter Paris “wanting to vomit” led to the cancellation. Fiennes is of course whiter than… well, not whiter than Jacko, given his legendary skin condition.

Similarly (though oppositely), a film portraying the life of Nina Simone was also castigated. The Perfect Match, er, wasn’t, though Zoe Saldana did don black make-up and a prosthetic nose to capture Simone’s look – much to the horror of the jazz legend’s estate.

And even king of the biopic Martin Scorsese was unable to make a film on the life of Frank Sinatra, giving up due to the lack of agreement of descendants of ol’ Blue Eyes, who seemingly would have preferred a more squeaky clean Disney-esque portrayal of the hard-drinkin’, Mob-fraternisin’ crooner.

Sometimes it’s best to wait until the subjects – and their living descendants – are long gone. How else would Ken Russell have got away with the surreally deranged, Roger Daltrey-starring Lisztomania, unless the 19th century composers’s descendants were smoking the same as everyone else was in the 1970s.

Having the Reaper on the production team adds the double bonus of ensuring dark drama, as pop stars don’t usually pass away peacefully in their sleep. A proper music biopic will be much more appealing if there’s darkness and misery, plus oodles of heroin. Thus, the most
critically acclaimed films of recent times are the likes of Sid & Nancy, Clint Eastwood’s take on Miles ‘Bird’ Davis, and the portrayals of The Doors and Chet Baker.

Though Val Kilmer‘s Jim Morrison, seen varyingly as pseudo-mystical nonsense and completely accurate, was at least vocally pretty close to the Lizard King’s from-the-grave tones.

But rather than libel, plain rubbish portrayals are usually the main cause of complaint, from fans if not family. A recent benchmark has been set by Ethan Hawke’s trumpet and vocal impression of Chet Baker, derided by anyone who’s seen it. But that’s the exception to the rule with portrayals of Johnny Cash, Ian Curtis and Edith Piaf garnering plaudits – which is just as well given how precious some descendants can be.

A recent and notable exception to the ‘Wait Till They’re Dead’ maxim is I’m Not Here, where Bob Dylan is portrayed by six actors – among these, Cate Blanchett (wrong sex, clearly) and Marcus Carl Franklin – wrong colour (and without whiteface), and playing Bob as a child into the bargain.

It’s all a bit method, like Bruce Springsteen tribute the B-Street Band pulling out of the Trump inauguration as The Boss would definitely not have liked that.

Now that’s sincere.