Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Difference between revisions

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If a film or book says it's '''Inspired''' by, it's a sign that it'll be nowhere near the actual true story.

See also [[Skepticism Failure]], [[Documentary of Lies]], [[~~But~~ It ~~Really~~ ~~Happened!~~]], [[Inspired By]], [[Suggested By]]. Anything based on [[Urban Legends]] overlaps with this trope pretty heavily. Compare [[Roman à Clef]], which is ''tightly'' based on a true story, and [[Biopic]].

See also [[Skepticism Failure]], [[Documentary of Lies]], [[The Tasteless But True Story]], [[Inspired By]], [[Suggested By]]. Anything based on [[Urban Legends]] overlaps with this trope pretty heavily. Compare [[Roman à Clef]], which is ''tightly'' based on a true story, and [[Biopic]].

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* Parodied in ''[[Anchorman]]'' which opens with a title card claiming that it's a true story and "Only the names, locations and events have been changed."

** A similar parody occurs in the trailer for [[Terry Gilliam]]'s ''[[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen]]'', where it is claimed that "this story is based on real events. We have the movie to prove it."

* The movie ''[[21]]'' and the book ''Bringing Down the House'', both based on the exploits of a blackjack card-counting team based at MIT, both fall squarely into this trope. Probably one of the most infamous changes is that the protagonist, who is Chinese-American in real life, became a Caucasian in the adaptations—but in comparison to some of the other inaccuracies, that's a ''minor'' deviation from the truth. Most of the supporting roles are [[Composite Character]]s, with one possibly based on three distinct individuals, and several key plot events were entirely invented by the book's author (who was also a co-writer of ''21'').

* The movie ''[[21 (2008 film)|21]]'' and the book ''Bringing Down the House'', both based on the exploits of a blackjack card-counting team based at MIT, both fall squarely into this trope. Probably one of the most infamous changes is that the protagonist, who is Chinese-American in real life, became a Caucasian in the adaptations—but in comparison to some of the other inaccuracies, that's a ''minor'' deviation from the truth. Most of the supporting roles are [[Composite Character]]s, with one possibly based on three distinct individuals, and several key plot events were entirely invented by the book's author (who was also a co-writer of ''21'').

* Spoofed in the '90s remake ''[[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|Attack of the 50 Foot Woman]]'' where the scientist introducing the movie assures us that everything that happened is absolutely true.

* Subverted/Lampshaded by ''Domino''. The trailer states "Based on a True Story... Sort of."

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*** Oliver Stone, more recently, has even expressed that he wishes he had made it a little more clear from the beginning that the plot of the film was mostly made up.

* Practically any story based on Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, who was killed by the Bolsheviks with the rest of her immediate family. Practically every film based on her takes the approach that one of the many claimants to being Anastasia (usually Anna Anderson, or a made up person) really ''was'' the Princess/Grand Duchess. Considering that [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/world/europe/01russia.html?ref=science&pagewanted=print the bodies of the last two missing Romanovs have now been discovered], anything and everything that suggests Anastasia lived is now firmly in Jurisfiction.

** Don Bluth's [[Anastasia|1997 animated adaptation]] of the 1956 Ingrid Bergman movie probably takes the most liberties, but then Bluth admitted he never intended it to be accurate or even close: he reduced Anastasia's age by 7 years (she was 15 at the end of 1916 in real life, not eight as at the beginning the film) and made Rasputin into a fantasy character who cast spells, had a talking bat, and came [[Back ~~From~~ the Dead]] as a walking corpse; and even more outrageous—in the sense of being not merely fantastic but allohistorical—was Rasputin being cast out by the Tsar. In fact, Rasputin (quite undeservedly) remained a royal favorite to the end of his life ''and after.'' As everything was falling apart, Tsarina Alexandra wrote many letters to Nicholas lamenting, "If only our Dear Friend [Rasputin] were still with us! He would know what to do!"

** Don Bluth's [[Anastasia|1997 animated adaptation]] of the 1956 Ingrid Bergman movie probably takes the most liberties, but then Bluth admitted he never intended it to be accurate or even close: he reduced Anastasia's age by 7 years (she was 15 at the end of 1916 in real life, not eight as at the beginning the film) and made Rasputin into a fantasy character who cast spells, had a talking bat, and came [[Back from the Dead]] as a walking corpse; and even more outrageous—in the sense of being not merely fantastic but allohistorical—was Rasputin being cast out by the Tsar. In fact, Rasputin (quite undeservedly) remained a royal favorite to the end of his life ''and after.'' As everything was falling apart, Tsarina Alexandra wrote many letters to Nicholas lamenting, "If only our Dear Friend [Rasputin] were still with us! He would know what to do!"

** Some of the corpses were not identified until 2008 well after the films were made so some excuse can be given to the authors.

* ''Pocahontas'' deserves special mention here, the movie is the first Disney animated story that is claimed to be "based on a true story", and by that of course, that Colonial Virginia had talking trees, magical Native Americans, numerous cliffs and nature scenes that are no where to be found in coastal Virginia and to beat a language barrier, one only need to "listen with their heart.".

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* A very notable aversion in ''[[Freedom Writers]]''. It seems incredibly out there, one notable occurrence being getting ''[[The Diary of Anne Frank|Miep Gies]]'' to visit their classroom, which is implausible in real life to say the least. But the actual students and teacher were involved in the making of the film and script writing and such, to make sure it stayed true to what happened.

** Actually the movie changed the relationship slightly between the teacher and her husband. While it's true he left, it was actually because he had been cheating on her for a while. After learning this some of the students were on their way to rough him up before she stopped them.

* ''[[Elizabeth]]'': Oh, [[The Virgin Queen|Elizabeth]]. Among its many fallacies:

* ''[[Elizabeth (film)|Elizabeth]]'': Oh, [[The Virgin Queen|Elizabeth]]. Among its many fallacies:

** People who were dead.

** People who were the wrong age (plus or minus twenty years in some cases!).