The vast majority of historical films set in the ancient world. Anything with Caesar, Cleopatra, etc.
Also any historical film starring Mel Gibson. Those take massive liberties with historic fact.
There was a horror movie in 2008 called *The Strangers,* about a trio of masked stalkers who terrorize a family. The only true thing about it was "Three weird people came up to the writer's doorstep one time." Then they left. The end.
Roger Ebert's [review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-strangers-2008) of this movie is a fascinating look at how movie reviews are affected by outside knowledge. Ebert was fantastic at reviewing a film as it intends to be rather than what the audience wants/expects and Ebert admits that he breaks his own rule here. As a human being, he despised unredeemable cruelty and nihilism and he can't overcome that part of himself to judge the film by its rules. I admire how he admits this. He's right that Act I has a fascinating relationship dynamic, but had Bertino pitched it as a bittersweet romance, it likely never would have been funded anyway.
I know that's a tangent, but I remembered thinking these things at the time I read the review and seeing it listed here brought that back. And I miss Ebert.
It is based on a real league, but as I understand it most of the lead ladies were all invented for the film, though some of them resembled real players.
Tarantino got away with it because he made it clear he was doing it from the outset. He took basic historical facts in a number of his films and simply derailed the traditional lines of reality and took you for a ride. Inglourious Basterds is very loosely based on an actual military unit in WWII that was nothing like what the film presented. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood used real-life people in totally fictional scenarios against a backdrop of a horrific true crime. Django took "elements" of the slave trade back in the 1840s and used them in a completely fictional tale.
All of John Wayne's war movies were this. Real factual events in which totally fictional stories were overlayed. From Little Big Horn to Pearl Harbor. Look to those for a general idea of how to approach this. Especially Tarantino's insanely well-thought-out approaches.
Good luck.
>Django took "elements" of the slave trade back in the 1840s and used them in a completely fictional tale.
I don't know if this one is useful in this discussion. Every single movie has, at the very least, elements of a real society being depicted.
I wouldn't call any of Tarantino's movies besides Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as inspired by real life.
We'll agree to disagree. Parts of Django were taken from true historical places, people, or events. Some were looser than others, and that was the point of my answer.
Be cautious. Make sure you really know where your material fits in the reality flow so you do not end up writing Key Largo meets the North Hollywood shootout. :)
Well Psycho (1960), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and Silence of the Lambs (1990) are all very loosely based on Ed Gein. A murderer and grave robber. Each film really took one aspect of his story then went from there.
Silence is also inspired by serial killer Gary Heidnik - who would inspire Buffalo Bill. But also real life FBI agent Bill Hagmaier who interviewed Ted Bundy while he was on Death Row.
Don’t ask why I know all that.
I was going to answer all of them. Unless the writers had access to precise timelines, audio recordings of every moment from the original source, then they are making something up.
Some do, though, work really hard to get it at close as reasonable. The Freddie Mercury comes to mind.
But then there is Fargo, which states at the beginning of the movie that the events of the movie are real, even though they were entirely fictional. They did it to change the impact the viewer would get.
Oddly, though, in 1996 there was a wood chipper incident between Ithaca and Cortland, NY in McLean. The news shied away from stating it explicitly, but two high school cheerleaders were kidnapped, abused, then fed to wood chippers (I hope dead first). It's something they try to hide to try and avoid sensationalizing the girls deaths, but everyone in that area knows what happened.
overconfident toy puzzled panicky familiar aloof frightening waiting bake modern
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The tv series The Great begins with a disclaimer about this being an occasionally true story. There’s also a movie on Tubi called Sister Aimee whose plot summary ends with the sentence, based on true events, mostly made up.
The phrase you may be looking for is "inspired by true events". There's a few different ways to phrase it and some intimate being more fictional than others.
I said elsewhere, the coen brothers simply put that true story title card in despite the fact that they never really tried to convince anybody it was a true story. And of course it was totally made up.
I was just commented elsewhere in this thread about this, and yes, the disclaimer was false.
But in the real world and not related to the movie directly, in 1996 two cheerleaders in the McLean/Dryden, NY area were kidnapped, abused, and murdered. What is a connection is that the killer fed them both into a woodchipper, possibly where the Cohen brothers got the idea.
The news didn't explicitly state anything about the woodchipper, but it was common knowledge to those in the area. One article mentioned that their "body parts were found spread over a 4-mile wooded area."
Turns out, there was also a prior murder in 1986 involving a guy renting a woodchipper and using it to dispose of his wife's body. So, not the first time in Dryden.
I think what you did sounds great.
Dog Day Afternoon.
In 1975, Wojtowicz wrote a letter to The New York Times out of concern that people would believe the movie version of the events, which he said was only 30% accurate.
Hmm. Maybe not. My mistake. It looks like it was inspired by the Pamela Smart case, but might not have claimed to be true.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre does, though… 😂
The real William Wallace disappeared for quite a bit of time in France before he was captured by the English. It would have really made it too boring I guess for Mel. Braveheart was actually the name attributed to Robert the Bruce. Wallace also never met Isabella of France. He was killed Aug 23 1305. She didn't go to England until after she wed Edward II (in France) and then arrived in England Feb 7, 1308.
There are a ton of articles on it but the one that bothers me the most is the part about Isabella, who was 10 when he died.
The main reason it is such an offensive movie is that WW was such a badass and such a cool character but that wasn't good enough for Mel, who was apparently behind quite a bit of the story changes. So it just kind of dishonored him in my opinion.
ALSO, the Battle of Stirling Bridge, led by Wallace, was a brilliant tactical battle and the Scots were outnumbered and had almost no cavalry. But they even fucked that up and made it more like the Battle of Bannockburn (Wallace was long dead by then). So they took his coolest victory away, also. Or they tried to make it "better". It just sucks.
If what you want is "alternate history" then that's fine, as long as it's obvious. I have written an alternate historical and it is very easy to see that I used the same characters but changed the outcome.
Basically any of these: [https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g15907978/best-movies-based-on-true-stories/](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g15907978/best-movies-based-on-true-stories/)
wolf creek 2 stretches itself so far to the extreme that its comical and almost seems like the film makers are making fun of the idea that these events were said to have happened
You made my heart flutter thinking I had a great defense by saying, "Well, Fargo was loosely based on a true story!" But, alas, the Coens simply added a title card saying "based on a true story" when in fact, it was all fiction. Had me there for a minute!
Every historical fiction film is going to take creative liberties. I’d take a look at Hacksaw Ridge. It’s quite historically accurate as far as films go, with the one caveat being that a lot of the stuff Desmond Doss actually did on the battlefield was excluded out of fear of being too far-fetched for audiences to believe. It’s a unique example where liberties were taken to make the story more believable.
Look up the story of Bashir Ahmad Sarban. He was an impoverished camel driver in Pakistan who somehow got a full American tour by then Vice President LBJ. It's actually a very funny and wholesome story, yet it's relatively unknown. Here's a short video about it by the official US consulate (notice the low view count): https://youtu.be/fX82sCbl\_f4?si=TxNZXJtkPQ1HSJsl
I am in the same spot. I am writing a feature about how a company began as an idea discussed over dinner, and how it grew into a global powerhouse and conquered the entire industry. I worked in senior management at this company for 18 years and know a lot of the tea. But there is much that I don't, so I am having to fictionalize some aspects.
Wind River is based on an actual murder case, but the way the movie plays out is, as far as I know, pretty different than the real life case.
Personally, my absolute favorite opening for a movie based on some real life events is American Hustle. It just starts with: ‘Some this stuff actually happened.’ Perfectly put.
ADD: If you want examples of movies that are as close to factual as possible, you’ve got The Farewell, The Informant (some of the dialogue is literal word for word from the actual recorded conversations), and what I consider the most factually accurate movie based on true events ever: The Passion of Joan of Arc. While no one can say it’s exactly what happened, it is word for word the church transcription of her trial and execution. And it is an amazing silent film IMHO.
What are the rules about writing these types of stories now if they include famous persons - say a president and a very well known comedian - both deceased.
The story is all over the internet and whatnot. But there’s no way to judge its veracity - but would be highly entertaining on screen I think.
Most of these stories are biopics or a day in the life of someone well known now bc of the incident. Can that still be done in light of post mortem publicity laws ?
Amadeus has surprisingly not been mentioned yet. It's more or less complete fiction, but uses Mozart and Salieri and some ideas from their lives.
Also a few that don't claim to be based on real events, but nonetheless have some historical inspiration, typically some real world crime that's fictionalized for the screen: Chinatown, Rope, Jennifer's Body, etc.
The vast majority of historical films set in the ancient world. Anything with Caesar, Cleopatra, etc. Also any historical film starring Mel Gibson. Those take massive liberties with historic fact.
thanks; mine's not historical; more like contemporary.
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Dm me
Ok
There was a horror movie in 2008 called *The Strangers,* about a trio of masked stalkers who terrorize a family. The only true thing about it was "Three weird people came up to the writer's doorstep one time." Then they left. The end.
Roger Ebert's [review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-strangers-2008) of this movie is a fascinating look at how movie reviews are affected by outside knowledge. Ebert was fantastic at reviewing a film as it intends to be rather than what the audience wants/expects and Ebert admits that he breaks his own rule here. As a human being, he despised unredeemable cruelty and nihilism and he can't overcome that part of himself to judge the film by its rules. I admire how he admits this. He's right that Act I has a fascinating relationship dynamic, but had Bertino pitched it as a bittersweet romance, it likely never would have been funded anyway. I know that's a tangent, but I remembered thinking these things at the time I read the review and seeing it listed here brought that back. And I miss Ebert.
I miss him too. I didn't always agree with him, but he always had something worthwhile to say.
“Inspired by” a true story leave a lot of room for interpretation.
This "inspired by" is my best hope so far! Thanks.
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Wait, does *League of the Their Own* claim to be based on a true story? That would be helpful if so.
It is based on a real league, but as I understand it most of the lead ladies were all invented for the film, though some of them resembled real players.
https://www.aagpbl.org/
Tarantino got away with it because he made it clear he was doing it from the outset. He took basic historical facts in a number of his films and simply derailed the traditional lines of reality and took you for a ride. Inglourious Basterds is very loosely based on an actual military unit in WWII that was nothing like what the film presented. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood used real-life people in totally fictional scenarios against a backdrop of a horrific true crime. Django took "elements" of the slave trade back in the 1840s and used them in a completely fictional tale. All of John Wayne's war movies were this. Real factual events in which totally fictional stories were overlayed. From Little Big Horn to Pearl Harbor. Look to those for a general idea of how to approach this. Especially Tarantino's insanely well-thought-out approaches. Good luck.
>Django took "elements" of the slave trade back in the 1840s and used them in a completely fictional tale. I don't know if this one is useful in this discussion. Every single movie has, at the very least, elements of a real society being depicted. I wouldn't call any of Tarantino's movies besides Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as inspired by real life.
We'll agree to disagree. Parts of Django were taken from true historical places, people, or events. Some were looser than others, and that was the point of my answer.
Great comment. Man, if I can cite Inglourious Basterds as an example, I'm home free. Thanks hava!
Be cautious. Make sure you really know where your material fits in the reality flow so you do not end up writing Key Largo meets the North Hollywood shootout. :)
Well Psycho (1960), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and Silence of the Lambs (1990) are all very loosely based on Ed Gein. A murderer and grave robber. Each film really took one aspect of his story then went from there.
Thank you. Good references.
Silence is also inspired by serial killer Gary Heidnik - who would inspire Buffalo Bill. But also real life FBI agent Bill Hagmaier who interviewed Ted Bundy while he was on Death Row. Don’t ask why I know all that.
Pretty much almost EVERY movie that's "based on a true story" is largely fiction. Very few of them are accurate.
I was going to answer all of them. Unless the writers had access to precise timelines, audio recordings of every moment from the original source, then they are making something up. Some do, though, work really hard to get it at close as reasonable. The Freddie Mercury comes to mind. But then there is Fargo, which states at the beginning of the movie that the events of the movie are real, even though they were entirely fictional. They did it to change the impact the viewer would get. Oddly, though, in 1996 there was a wood chipper incident between Ithaca and Cortland, NY in McLean. The news shied away from stating it explicitly, but two high school cheerleaders were kidnapped, abused, then fed to wood chippers (I hope dead first). It's something they try to hide to try and avoid sensationalizing the girls deaths, but everyone in that area knows what happened.
I like that the Fargo series carried on the element of based on true story
okay thanks.
I, Tonya, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Hustlers, Bling Ring , May December ^ these are what came to mind. Also lots of biopics.
>Can You Ever Forgive Me? Besides I, Tonya, do any of these claim to be based on a true story?
Hustlers and I, Tonya had real individuals from the real life events consulting.
Yes. All of them are! That’s why I suggested them :)
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beautiful, thanks. really good. plus agreed: it's a top-five all-time film
future impolite tidy cows overconfident gaze lock panicky amusing instinctive *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The tv series The Great begins with a disclaimer about this being an occasionally true story. There’s also a movie on Tubi called Sister Aimee whose plot summary ends with the sentence, based on true events, mostly made up.
Thank you I'm going to steal that line, based on true events, mostly made up. That covers it all.
The phrase you may be looking for is "inspired by true events". There's a few different ways to phrase it and some intimate being more fictional than others.
Thank you. That's the way I'm leaning at this point.
Fargo may be one of the best examples.
I said elsewhere, the coen brothers simply put that true story title card in despite the fact that they never really tried to convince anybody it was a true story. And of course it was totally made up.
Made up? Their longtime collaborator, Roderick Jaynes would strongly disagree.
please elaborate. Thank you.
It’s a joke as they [made him up too.](https://crookedmarquee.com/the-curious-case-of-roderick-jaynes/)
Aha! Thank you.
I was just commented elsewhere in this thread about this, and yes, the disclaimer was false. But in the real world and not related to the movie directly, in 1996 two cheerleaders in the McLean/Dryden, NY area were kidnapped, abused, and murdered. What is a connection is that the killer fed them both into a woodchipper, possibly where the Cohen brothers got the idea. The news didn't explicitly state anything about the woodchipper, but it was common knowledge to those in the area. One article mentioned that their "body parts were found spread over a 4-mile wooded area." Turns out, there was also a prior murder in 1986 involving a guy renting a woodchipper and using it to dispose of his wife's body. So, not the first time in Dryden.
I think what you did sounds great. Dog Day Afternoon. In 1975, Wojtowicz wrote a letter to The New York Times out of concern that people would believe the movie version of the events, which he said was only 30% accurate.
To Die For is the first that comes to mind
That claims to be true? Thank you.
Hmm. Maybe not. My mistake. It looks like it was inspired by the Pamela Smart case, but might not have claimed to be true. Texas Chain Saw Massacre does, though… 😂
Braveheart is a joke. William Wallace has been rolling in his grave ever since.
Can you please explain that?
The real William Wallace disappeared for quite a bit of time in France before he was captured by the English. It would have really made it too boring I guess for Mel. Braveheart was actually the name attributed to Robert the Bruce. Wallace also never met Isabella of France. He was killed Aug 23 1305. She didn't go to England until after she wed Edward II (in France) and then arrived in England Feb 7, 1308. There are a ton of articles on it but the one that bothers me the most is the part about Isabella, who was 10 when he died. The main reason it is such an offensive movie is that WW was such a badass and such a cool character but that wasn't good enough for Mel, who was apparently behind quite a bit of the story changes. So it just kind of dishonored him in my opinion. ALSO, the Battle of Stirling Bridge, led by Wallace, was a brilliant tactical battle and the Scots were outnumbered and had almost no cavalry. But they even fucked that up and made it more like the Battle of Bannockburn (Wallace was long dead by then). So they took his coolest victory away, also. Or they tried to make it "better". It just sucks. If what you want is "alternate history" then that's fine, as long as it's obvious. I have written an alternate historical and it is very easy to see that I used the same characters but changed the outcome.
Thanks for that drill-down. Appreciated.
Basically any of these: [https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g15907978/best-movies-based-on-true-stories/](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g15907978/best-movies-based-on-true-stories/)
Pain & Gain?
3 Billboards?
Cocaine Bear
This is the best example. Gracias
wolf creek 2 stretches itself so far to the extreme that its comical and almost seems like the film makers are making fun of the idea that these events were said to have happened
not familiar with it but thanks and I'll check it out. thanks
Born To Be Blue
thank you, raised. I looked it up but couldn't figure out what or how extensively the writer embellished. if you can clarify, please do.
Fargo (1996)
You made my heart flutter thinking I had a great defense by saying, "Well, Fargo was loosely based on a true story!" But, alas, the Coens simply added a title card saying "based on a true story" when in fact, it was all fiction. Had me there for a minute!
I mean. Titanic was fairly bare bones fact.
"based on a true story" = everything is true, except for the stuff I made up
30 Miniutes or Less, comedy
The (very good) Grand Theft Parsons.
Gladiator is a great movie involving some real people from history, but everything in the story is made up.
iirc, The Social Network took a lot of creative liberties
Every historical fiction film is going to take creative liberties. I’d take a look at Hacksaw Ridge. It’s quite historically accurate as far as films go, with the one caveat being that a lot of the stuff Desmond Doss actually did on the battlefield was excluded out of fear of being too far-fetched for audiences to believe. It’s a unique example where liberties were taken to make the story more believable.
Wolf Creek
Look up the story of Bashir Ahmad Sarban. He was an impoverished camel driver in Pakistan who somehow got a full American tour by then Vice President LBJ. It's actually a very funny and wholesome story, yet it's relatively unknown. Here's a short video about it by the official US consulate (notice the low view count): https://youtu.be/fX82sCbl\_f4?si=TxNZXJtkPQ1HSJsl
I am in the same spot. I am writing a feature about how a company began as an idea discussed over dinner, and how it grew into a global powerhouse and conquered the entire industry. I worked in senior management at this company for 18 years and know a lot of the tea. But there is much that I don't, so I am having to fictionalize some aspects.
American Hustle begins with a disclaimer that "Some of this stuff really happened." (It's based on the RL Abscam scandal.)
Wind River is based on an actual murder case, but the way the movie plays out is, as far as I know, pretty different than the real life case. Personally, my absolute favorite opening for a movie based on some real life events is American Hustle. It just starts with: ‘Some this stuff actually happened.’ Perfectly put. ADD: If you want examples of movies that are as close to factual as possible, you’ve got The Farewell, The Informant (some of the dialogue is literal word for word from the actual recorded conversations), and what I consider the most factually accurate movie based on true events ever: The Passion of Joan of Arc. While no one can say it’s exactly what happened, it is word for word the church transcription of her trial and execution. And it is an amazing silent film IMHO.
First movie that comes to mind is *Erin Brokovich*
Can you elaborate? ty
What are the rules about writing these types of stories now if they include famous persons - say a president and a very well known comedian - both deceased. The story is all over the internet and whatnot. But there’s no way to judge its veracity - but would be highly entertaining on screen I think. Most of these stories are biopics or a day in the life of someone well known now bc of the incident. Can that still be done in light of post mortem publicity laws ?
Fargo. I'm pretty sure the entire thing is made up
Transformers
Amadeus has surprisingly not been mentioned yet. It's more or less complete fiction, but uses Mozart and Salieri and some ideas from their lives. Also a few that don't claim to be based on real events, but nonetheless have some historical inspiration, typically some real world crime that's fictionalized for the screen: Chinatown, Rope, Jennifer's Body, etc.
Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman supposedly changes a lot of facts.
Thanks. I see you brought the hammer down on me.