It is said that movies based on true stories are a special breed of the film industry. Movies are always fiction in the broad sense and producers who are dealing with real-life events need to take liberties. Have you ever wondered why they can guess what certain encounters could have been like, or dialogue in a situation of which there is no record? Well, apart from a few rare documents, filmmakers use their rich imaginations or creativity. Timelines are abridged, the order of events can be shuffled, or even supporting figures may be melded into a single character.
These modifications sometimes are essential because they will make the movies more dramatic and entertaining. For example, the protagonist’s real name or age at the time reflected in the movie is wrong and the viewers do not know that.
We've rounded up 10 movies based on real events but modified that made to the lives of the characters.
#1 Princess Isabella of France, from Braveheart
Source: © Jean Froissart / Wikimedia Commons, © Creative Commons / Public Domain, © Braveheart / Icon Productions and co-producers
The wife of Edward II of England, Isabella of France, actually arrived on this European island in 1308, so she couldn’t have warned William Wallace about the Battle of Falkirk.
#2 Mark Zuckerberg, from The Social Network
Source: © zuck / Instagram, © The Social Network / Columbia pictures and co-producers
The movie shows us the creator of Facebook awkward with women but the real Mark Zuckerberg falls in love with a fellow Harvard student Priscilla Chan, who later became his wife.
#3 Queen Gorgo, from 300
Source: © Helena P. Schrader / Wikimedia Commons, © CC BY-SA 4.0, © 300 / Warner Bros. and co-producers
Remember that in “300”, Queen Gorgo told a Persian messenger, “Only Spartan women give birth to real men.” But, according to the Greek historian Plutarch in Book III of his Moralia, she questioned an Athenian woman who had asked her, “Why can Spartan women speak amongst men?”.
#4 William Wallace, from Braveheart
Source: © iweta0077 / Depositphotos.com, © Braveheart / Icon Productions and co-producers
This Scottish hero was supposed to be around 20 years old at the time of the film. However,
Mel Gibson, who brings him to life, was almost 40 years old at the time of production.
#5 The elderly couple in Titanic
Source: © Wikimedia Commons, © Creative Commons / Public Domain, © Titanic / Twentieth Century Fox and co-producers
The scene that an elderly couple hugging in bed as water floods their room stole tears from millions of viewers. The couple was inspired by real Titanic passengers, Macy’s department store co-owners Rosalie Ida Straus and Isidor Straus. However, many might not know that they were last seen together on the deck of the ship, holding hands before the ship was shrunk.
#6 The real Jack Dawson from Titanic
Source: © Wikimedia Commons, © Creative Commons / Public domain, © Titanic / Twentieth Century Fox and co-producers
During writing the script, the director Jame Cameron discovered that there is a person named Joseph Dawson died on the ship. He was an Irishman and was in charge of bringing coal to the workers in the furnaces.
#7 Emily Gardner, from The Big Sick
Source: © emilyvgordon / Instagram, © The Big Sick / Apatow Productions and co-producers
The name of Kumail Nanjiani’s wife was switched from Emily V. Gordon, to Emily Gardner in the movie.
#8 Billy Beane, from Moneyball
Source: © Dan Kosmayer / Shutterstock.com, © Moneyball / Columbia Pictures and co-producers
Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics, had remarried in real life but in the movie, the character appeared as a lonely divorcee.
#9 Michael Oher, from The Blind Side
Source: © michaeloher / Instagram, © The Blind Side / Alcon Entertainment and co-producers
Michael Oher, the protagonist of the real story, was depicted as a passive, unskilled kid who was barely familiar with football in the movie. But in fact, he was already a seasoned football player when he enrolled at Briarcrest.
#10 John Nash, from A Beautiful Mind
Source: © Peter Badge/ Wikimedia Commons, © CC BY-SA 3.0, © A Beautiful Mind / Universal Pictures and co-producers
The director of the movie decided Nash’s hallucinations should be presented audibly and visually so that the audience could understand thoroughly the main character. But in real life, they were only auditory.