While it’s obvious that plenty of biopics, crime dramas, or historical period pieces were inspired by true stories, others feel like they’re fictional, only for audiences to be shocked to hear the truth behind the film. Movies that were inspired by true stories are notably different than those based on true stories, as they merely serve to kickstart a writer, director, or actor’s creativity, and they are not burdened by needing to pursue an exact retelling of the facts. All these movies have their basis in truth, yet much of the actual narrative, characters, or motivations were fictional.

True stories inspired some of the best movies of all time, as the truth is often much stranger than fiction in this world. Whether it be years-long instances of amnesia, a sting operation that saw over a hundred fugitives apprehended, or even a beach shark attack from 1916 that truly revolutionized modern Hollywood. These films all offer some insight into the strange inner workings of modern times, as the best cinema often reflects reality back at viewers.

10

50 First Dates (2004)

Inspired by a real-life case of amnesia

The films of Adam Sandler aren’t exactly known for their realism, as audiences have enjoyed watching him lose his mind as a golf pro or skip through life with a time-altering remote control for decades. However, one Sandler classic audiences will be shocked to learn was inspired by a true story was the real life case of amnesia that laid the groundwork for 50 First Dates. While this rom-com starring Sandler and Drew Barrymore had plenty of fictional outlandish moments, the core idea about a young woman who was unable to form new memories was based on fact.

According to a piece in Cosmopolitan, 50 First Dates was inspired by Michelle Philpots from Spalding in Lincolnshire, whose memory was wiped every day for 23 years, just like Barrymore’s Lucy. Dr. Peter Nestor, a neuroscience specialist at Cambridge University, explained that this type of memory erasure is rare but still possible and it occurred after she was involved in two vehicle crashes. While Michelle woke up every day thinking it was 1994, she still managed to carve out a marriage with her husband, Ian.

9

Rear Window (1954)

Inspired by a genuine series of murders

Alfred Hitchcock was never afraid to look to real-life instances to inspire his acclaimed movies, and most film lovers will be well aware that the novel that inspired Psycho was based on the notorious serial killer Ed Gein. Yet, the real-life inspirations behind Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window actually took some cues from the deaths of Cora Henrietta Turner and Emily Kaye, as well as Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story It Had to Be Murder.

Viewers will remember James Stewart’s iconic portrayal of the wheelchair-bound pH๏τojournalist L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies slowly starting to suspect he was witnessing a would-be killer murder his wife while looking out the window of his apartment complex. However, once Hitchcock had decided to adapt Woolrich’s story, he also looked to newspaper clippings for more inspiration. It was from these sources that Hitchcock and his ᴀssociates, like screenwriter John Michael Hayes, fine-tuned the story and created the murder-mystery classic viewers know today.

8

Trap (2024)

Inspired by the sting Operation Flagship

As a filmmaker who often works in the realm of the supernatural, M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller Trap brought things back to reality for a story about a serial killer trapped at a pop concert. With an excellent performance from Josh Hartnett as the Philadelphia killer known as the Butcher, the plot revolves around this killer trying to evade the police while not ruining his teenage daughter’s enjoyment of the concert performed by her favorite artist, Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan.) While this hilarious concept walked the fine line between humor and terror, it actually was inspired by a real sting operation.

When writing the script for Trap, Shyamalan took many cues from Operation Flagship, a sting jointly organized by the United States Marshals Service and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., in 1985 (via Variety.) This ingenious plan used a fictional television network invite to lure wanted fugitives to the Washington Convention Center in order to claim tickets to a Washington Redskins football game. Not only did this clever plan work, but it actually led to the arrests of 105 wanted fugitives.

7

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Inspired by the legend of Sawney Bean

Wes Craven was truly one of the all-time great horror filmmakers whose debut movie, The Last House on the Left, right through to ongoing franchises like Scream left their mark on the genre. One of Craven’s most iconic releases was The Hills Have Eyes, a chilling exploration of a family targeted by cannibals while stranded in the Nevada desert. With grotesque imagery and truly chilling characterizations, nobody in their right mind would ᴀssume this movie was based on a true story.

However, Craven did not shy away from taking influences from all sorts of places for The Hills Have Eyes. While the initial concept featured elements of Hansel and Gretel as the Carter family got lost in the wilderness, what really sparked Craven’s creativity was the legend of Sawney Bean (via Slash Film.) This shocking tale told of the leader of a Scottish clan who was supposedly responsible for the murder and cannibalization of more than one thousand people. As Bean’s clan was later arrested, tortured, quartered, burned, and hanged, Craven used this story to explore the hideous nature of retribution.

6

Hard Candy (2005)

Inspired by real-life cases of teenagers ᴀssaulting and mugging their would-be abusers

Hard Candy was a truly shocking story about a 14-year-old vigilante’s trapping and torture of a man whom she suspects is a Sєxual predator. With Eliott Page as the young Hayley Stark and Patrick Wilson as the 32-year-old pH๏τographer Jeff Kohlver, Hard Candy took the concept behind To Catch a Predator to a whole new level as this despicable man was forced to confront the depraved realities of his unnatural impulses. While Hard Candy became so extreme, as Page tortured their victim with the threat of castration, this was actually based on a real news story about teenagers in Japan.

Hard Candy took its inspiration from a true story about a posse of Tokyo schoolgirls who lured businessmen to an apartment, promising them underage Sєx, and then proceeded to beat and rob them. This intense version of vigilante justice (via ABC) inspired Brian Nelson to write the script for Page’s breakthrough movie. Although Hard Candy was reimagined as a sole teenager taking on a predator alone, the core concept came from this news story.

5

Cocaine Bear (2023)

Inspired by the true story of the Cocaine Bear

While the concept behind Elizabeth Banks’s comedy horror Cocaine Bear sounds like it came straight out of a strange fever dream, the truth is it was based on fact. This mind-bogglingly intense story was loosely inspired by an American black bear that ingested several kilograms of a bag containing about 75 lb (34 kg) of lost cocaine (via Backpacker.) The drugs appeared in Knoxville, Tennessee, after the paratrooper-turned-drug-smuggler Andrew Carter Thornton II lost the drugs that were strapped to his chest after his parachute failed as he jumped from a plane.

While the bear fatally overdosed on the drugs, the movie Cocaine Bear reimagined its final hours and filled in the gaps of how they spent the time after ingesting the drugs but before meeting an untimely end. As a truly chaotic film that saw the bear running wild and pursuing a group of humans, this wild story was an exciting return to form for Banks, whose previous directorial effort, Charlie’s Angels, flopped at the box office.

4

Nacho Libre (2006)

Inspired by the life of Fray Tormenta

Although Jack Black often imbues a lot of his own characteristics into the parts he plays, such as the rock n’ roll-loving accidental subsтιтute teacher he portrayed in School of Rock, many will be shocked to learn that Nacho Libre was actually based on the life of a real man. This hilarious story of a Catholic friar and secret luchador told the heartwarming tale of a kind but eccentric man doing everything in his power to save his orphanage. With plenty of infectious energy, Nacho Libre was truly one of Black’s most underrated movies.

The real man behind the story of Nacho Libre was Fray Tormenta, the wrestling priest who moonlit on the wrestling team to make some money for children in need (via My Modern Met.) Fray’s real name is Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez, and this kindhearted man of God found an unusual route to fund the orphanage that he founded. As a masked luchador who found an unusual way to contribute to his community, it’s heartwarming that Tormenta’s good deeds were immortalized in this cult favorite comedy.

3

The Straight Story (1999)

Inspired by the true story of Alvin Straight

The late filmmaker David Lynch was never a director that audiences ᴀssociated with reality, as his surreal stories used dreamlike imagery to take audiences on a journey in the dark underbelly of American society. While Lynch did tackle a true story early in his career with his classic movie The Elephant Man, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he carved out a legacy in dreamlike realms categorized by odd logic. However, this changed in 1999 with The Straight Story, a Walt Disney production from Lynch that told the true story of Alvin Straight.

While audiences at the time may have thought this story about a 73-year-old man in poor health and with terrible eyesight riding across America on a lawn mower was yet another fictional story from Lynch, Alvin genuinely made this grueling 240-mile journey in 1994. With as much ethereal beauty and strange idiosyncrasies as darker, fictional work, The Straight Story is an essential part of this filmmaker’s esteemed legacy.

2

The Exorcist (1973)

Inspired by a real-life exorcism case from 1949

The Exorcist was adapted from William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel, although the author was heavily inspired by a real-life exorcism case from 1949. While the film and book told the story of 13-year-old Regan MacNeil, whose horrific demonic possession was so extreme it literally caused many viewers to faint while in the movie theater. As a true classic of horror and a movie that inspired countless other exorcism-based films, many will not know it was based on the Catholic Church’s several exorcism attempts on a young 14-year-old boy known under the pseudonym Roland Doe.

The case of Roland Doe began in the 1940s, and many experts ᴀsserted the boy’s real name was Ronald Hunkeler. As Ronald’s family truly believed he was afflicted with demonic possession, they sought the help of the Catholic Church for the rattlings on the walls, strange noises, and flying objects they reportedly encountered. While there’s still plenty of mystery surrounding what exactly happened to Ronald, the way The Exorcist took his story and created one of the most frightening pieces of media of all time was extraordinary.

1

Jaws (1975)

Inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916

Few Hollywood movies were more impactful than Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, a major hit that signaled not only the director’s breakthrough film but also a watershed moment in the development of the summer blockbuster. As the story of beachgoers being terrorized by a murderous and unstoppable great white shark, the slow-moving, unknowable, and eerie presence of this killer creature got to the very heart of human anxieties. This terrifying tale became all the more nail-bitingly frightening with the knowledge it was partly inspired by a series of shark attacks in 1916.

In the summer of 1916, panic struck the Jersey Shore as several people met their end at the other side of a shark’s bite (via Smithsonian Magazine.) With four fatalities and one person critically injured, this frightful occurrence likely served as an important influence on Jaws. As a true event that has had a major influence on society’s scared relationship with sharks, even though it happened more than 100 years ago, these attacks still send shivers down the spines of anyone who feels something strange moving around their feet while swimming in the ocean.

Sources: Cosmopolitan, Variety, Slash Film, ABC, Backpacker, My Modern Met, Smithsonian Magazine