11 Movies That Changed True Stories To Attract More Viewers

There’s something incredibly satisfying about watching movies based on real-life events. when you know a story actually happened it makes the drama, tension, romance, or intrigue feel that much greater. Some movies can call people to action. For example, you can’t shake the enraging ending of a story like “Judas and the Black Messiah”, about the death of activist Fred Hampton, because it’s just a film.
The filmmaking of these movies is not a piece of cake as producers must strike a balance between compelling drama and accuracy. Often, film creators embarking on producing a film about a real-life event are not fond of making a documentary; some flexibility must be expected when the final goal is to make a successful movie. For this reason, many times what happens in the film is far removed from what happened in real life.
Below are 11 movies that slightly changed true stories for a better dramatic effect. You can see more interesting articles here and here.

#1 In The Theory of Everything, Stephen Hawking’s love story was changed.

Source: © The Theory of Everything, © Wikimedia Commons, © CC0 1.0

the movie portrays the love story of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking who suffered from degenerative disease and his wife Jane. According to the movie, they meet at Cambridge University but it is not correct. Jane shares that they actually crossed paths at St. Albans when she was in high school.

#2 The drivers’ rivalry in Rush was pushed to the limit.

Source: © Rush/ Cross Creek Pictures, © Anefo/ Wikimedia, © CC BY- SA 3.0 NL

Niki Lauda and James Hunt, who competed in Formula 1 championships during the 1970s, become an inspiration for the movie. In the film, they are rivals, hating each other, but in real life, they have a solid friendship and even shared a home.

#3 There were several errors and altered historical facts in Gladiator.

Source: © Gladiator/ DreamWorks Pictures

There is a mistake that during the Roman Empire, the Colosseum was known as the Flavian Amphitheater, and its current name was popularized from the Middle Ages onward. Moreover, the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his relationship with his son Commodus are inaccurate. The Roman emperor passed away from a natural illness and his son was by his side until his last day.

#4 In The Imitation Game they changed the name of the machine.

Source: © The Imitation Game/ Black Bear Pictures, © Messybeast/ Wikimedia, © CC BY 2.5

In the movie, the machine Alan Turing invented to crack German codes was named “Christopher”, after his teenage love, Christopher Morcom. However, it is not a truth. The real name of the machine was “The Bomb”.

#5 In House of Gucci, the number of kids the couple had was changed.

Source: © House of Gucci, SILVANO DEL PUPPO / East News

In the film, the couple, Maurizio and Patrizia have one daughter Alessandra whose name got inspired by the name of Maurizio’s mother. In reality, they have two daughters: Alessandra and Allegra and Maurizio’s mother was called Sandra.

#6 Django Unchained was way ahead of its time.

Source: © Django Unchained/ Sony Pictures Entertainment

Jamie Foxx looks so cool in the movie due to his unique style. During the entire movie, he wears sunglasses, which just appear at least 60 years after the time in which the film is set.

#7 Pirates of the Caribbean had several wardrobe and location oversights.

Source: © Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

The movie introduces Port Royal as a thriving city and a major British port in 1720. But, it is a fact that the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and it was never rebuilt. Furthermore, the uniforms used by the officers of the Royal Navy didn’t exist at the time in which the film is set.

#8 Queen Mary of Scots and her strange taste for piercings in Mary Queen of Scots.

Source: © Mary Queen of Scots, © François Clouet / Wikimedia Commons

Queen Mary Stuart’s ear piercings look much more modern and they didn’t match the film era. No portrait or book illustrates that the Queen wears the earrings shown in the movie.

#9 Love was not what inspired Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet.

Source: © Shakespeare in love/ Universal Pictures

Just a few know William Shakespeare’s personal life so the romance depicted in “Shakespeare in Love” was fictional. The big inaccuracy is that it inspired him to create his masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet. In fact, Shakespeare got inspiration from a well-known play written by Luigi Da Porto, an Italian writer.

#10 Apollo 13 and the forgotten hero no one talks about.

Source: © Apollo 13/ Universal Pictures, © NASA

There are many confrontations and discussions between the astronauts and other NASA collaborators, but it actually never happened. Additionally, the film forgot to talk about a very important hero, Glynn Lunney, the engineer and flight director. Thanks to him, the crew of Apollo 13 could survive.

#11 The Pursuit of Happiness altered the actual sum of Chris’ salary.

Source: © The Pursuit of Happyness, © ceoofhappyness/ Instagram

The movie is about Chris Gardner’s struggle and subsequent overcoming of his circumstances. He accepts no salary to do an internship at a brokerage firm. This detail was totally exaggerated. In reality, Chris got paid $1000 dollars.