Yes, you can’t believe everything you hear in movies, because it turns out that some of them aren’t actually based on true stories!
I know, if Hollywood can’t be believed, then who can? I guess we’re going to have to go super old fashioned from now on and look up things in textbooks and academic papers. Who would have ever thought that it would come to this?
‘Fargo’
Yes, it says that the events of Fargo are based on a true story, but the only two things that are real in that story are the gumming up serial numbers for cars and the disposing of someone in a woodchipper.
‘Churchill’
It isn’t actually true that Churchill opposed Operation Overlord until the day before it happened. That was a fact created for the movie.
He had really overcome his doubts about the operation on May 15th: 3 weeks before the operation had happened.
‘Frost/Nixon’
One of the biggest inaccuracies the movie presents as fact is the scene where disgraced president Richard Nixon calls David Frost hammered.
This never really happened in real life and was totally invented by filmmakers.
‘Foxcatcher’
In the movie, we see that millionaire murderer John du Pont gets pretty much immediately apprehended by police, but the truth is actually a lot more interesting.
He was held up in his vault for days before the police got to him.
‘Captain Phillips’
The worst part about the Captain Phillips movie is the fact that in real life, nobody likes Captain Phillips.
Some have even said that he practically invited the hijacking, ignoring protocols and sailing too close to the coast.
‘Rush’
The biggest inaccuracy in the movie was the fact that James Hunt and Niki Lauda were bitter rivals when they were actually really good friends!
Heck, they even shared an apartment at one point!
‘The Imitation Game’
Yes, while the story of Alan Turing is a real one, they did invent a couple of things for the movie.
For starters, Turing and Soviet spy John Cairncross never actually met , and that’s a big part of the movie.
‘A Beautiful Mind’
There are so many inaccuracies in this movie, we should be asking “What’s the same?”
John Nash never joined the Wheeler Laboratory at MIT, he never worked for the Department of Defense, he never even gave an acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize!
‘The Blind Side’
Yeah, Michael Oher didn’t need to be taught football by some random white woman portrayed by Sandra Bullock.
He had been studying the game for years, and the family that adopted him just gave him the means to play it.
‘American Sniper’
The most unreal aspect of the American Sniper movie is Chris Kyle’s relationship with Mustafa, the rival sniper.
In the book, he’s mentioned in a paragraph, whereas in the movie he’s portrayed as some long-time rival.
‘The King’s Speech’
This Oscar award-winning movie wasn’t all that truthful… especially about King George’s brother, King Edward VIII.
They really downplayed his enthusiasm for Nazism, and how he believed the UK should just appease Hitler.
‘Bonnie And Clyde’
The worst part of this seemingly real portrayal of the real-life criminal couple is the way they portrayed Texas ranger, Frank Hamer.
In the movie, he’s an idiot, but in real life, he was a highly respected lawman.
‘Rudy’
You’re going to hate me for telling you this: but the scene where all the people are chanting Rudy’s name… that never actually happened.
Neither did the scene where all the players were putting their jersey’s on the coach’s desk.
‘Argo’
Yes, this Oscar award-winning movie wasn’t actually all that factually correct.
The movie gave almost complete credit to the USA’s CIA team, but in reality, 90% of the planning came from Canadians.
“Young Man With A Horn”
This ’50s movie tells the story of a jazz musician named Bix Beiderbecke, but they sure do take a lot of liberties with his life.
They even changed his name to “Rick Martin.”
“The Walk”
Yes, the stunt did actually happen. But there were a lot of little lies in this one: the fact that Philippe Petit once fell into a lake was a lie, for example.
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“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
Yes, we know that it says it’s based on a true story in the opening crawl, but come on.
Did you really think there was a chainsaw wielding, face wearing serial killer out there in the Texas desert? He did, however, like to turn skin into apparel.
“The Pursuit of Happyness”
While the Chris Gardner story did actually happen, there were some things that were blown up.
His internship, for example, wasn’t totally unpaid. He got $1,000 a month.
“Good Morning Vietnam”
It is one of Robin Williams’ greatest performances , but it isn’t totally factual.
Robin Williams did up the ante for the movie, and the real-life Adrian Cronauer says there’s no way he could get away with what Williams did in the movie.
“21”
There were, apparently, a lot of scenes from this movie that straight-up just didn’t happen.
The big one is that a lot of the roles were whitewashed, as most of the team was Asian.
“Cinderella Man”
It was the way that villain Max Baer was portrayed in the movie that’s got people’s panties in a bunch.
Especially Max Baer Jr. , who said:
“The portrayal of my father in Cinderella Man couldn’t have been more wrong and inaccurate.”
“The Fighter”
Boxing movies have trouble getting it right, apparently .
Boxing experts will tell you that, despite what the movie tells you, Micky Ward was never actually recognized as the World Champion.
“The Fourth Kind”
People all over the world traveled to Nome, Alaska because of this movie. But the truth is there were no aliens involved at all.
The people disappeared due to a combination of freezing temperatures and good old fashioned booze.
“Straight Outta Compton”
How convinent that Dr. Dre’s assault against a woman was kept out of this film.
An assault where he: “began slamming her face and the right side of her body repeatedly against a wall near the stairway”.
Lots of people were mad about that.
“The Revenant”
While the movie was cool as heck , the thing about Hugh Glass is, there actually aren’t many historical records about him.
So most of the movie is made up.
“Open Water”
Yes, American divers Tom and Eileen Lonergan were left in shark-infested waters, but the rest of the movie is mostly made up.
There are clues that some of it happened, but most notably, their suits show no signs of struggles with sharks.
“The Perfect Storm”
There was, in fact, a Perfect Storm in 1991. However George Clooney’s portrayal of Captain Billy Tyne is what got people in a knot.
Mostly his widow, who claimed the movie made Billy out to be greedy.
“Catch Me If You Can”
While thankfully, Frank Abagnale was a real person, Tom Hanks’ character FBI agent Carl Hanratty was actually a mish-mash of a bunch of agents that pursued Abagnale throughout his career.
“Munich”
The main inaccuracy behind this 2005 film was that Yuval Aviv, the person who provided insider intel about Mossad’s hit squad, wasn’t even working for the Israeli government at the time.
“300”
While it may be a movie you desperately want to be real (cause it’s so cool), 300 Spartans going up against the Persian army probably wasn’t true.
It was more likely the Spartans plus several thousand Peloponnesians, Boeotians, and Thespians.
“Dallas Buyers’ Club”
It may have garnered Matthew McConaughey an Oscar, but that doesn’t mean it was totally accurate.
Some people were pissed about how his character was shown as a homophobe and misogynist before his diagnosis.
“Pain and Gain”
Turns out that in real-life , the people behind the kidnapping were ruthless and violent, not a bunch of bumbling doofuses like the movie would have you believe.
Talk about lame!
