- 4 months ago
Some movies are so convincing, you'd swear they're telling true stories—while others take creative liberties or invent it all! Join us as we uncover which beloved films masterfully capture real-life events, and which took fiction to new heights. Our list highlights acclaimed dramas, biopics, and thrillers that range from emotionally raw to completely fabricated. Which films did you believe were true? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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00:00And what is your act, Mr. Carlisle?
00:03I don't have an act.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the films that faithfully
00:09depict real-life events and those that either distort the truth or fabricate it altogether.
00:14The grandson of the Warrens recently spoke out to proclaim that, despite the Conjuring
00:19series claiming to be based on a true story, the new film is just complete fantasies, and
00:24there is nothing real about the franchise.
00:26Anything can happen?
00:30Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!
00:36So where do we draw the line? Let's jump in.
00:39I don't want to be a martyr.
00:41Nor I. I want to live.
00:45Number 5. Real. The Big Sick.
00:48Rom-coms are more likely to be based on a Nicholas Sparks book than on real life, but this movie
00:53is an exception.
00:54How many women have you showed this movie to?
00:58Zero.
00:59How many women have you showed a B-horror movie to on, like, a third date?
01:04Kamail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, wrote the screenplay together, basing it on
01:09their actual romance. According to them, quite a few scenes happened pretty much exactly the
01:15way they appear in the film.
01:16They really did meet after Gordon heckled Nanjiani at a comedy show, and he actually kept their
01:33relationship secret while his parents tried to arrange a marriage to a Pakistani woman. This funny, heartfelt
01:39story was so authentic and relatable, the pair got an Oscar nomination for their screenplay.
01:44So if I was like, oh my god, you're amazing in bed, that would be a heckle?
01:49Yeah, and now you're getting more laughs than me, and I don't like that. You wanna come up, do my job?
01:55Here's one part of this story that we know is true. Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his parents and four siblings in their house in Amityville, New York in 1974.
02:071974. He confessed and went to prison for life. Just three years later, author Jay Anson published a book about the tragedy and the supposed supernatural events that took place in the house after it was bought by the Lutz family.
02:31Well, you're gonna be very happy. It's a wonderful house. I'm sure they'll accept your offer. Don't worry about a thing. I'll handle the details. Just go on and get ready to move.
02:41That book was turned into a movie, which has since spawned an entire franchise. However, Ronald DeFeo's lawyer, William Weber, later admitted that he and the Lutzes made everything up.
02:52But I knew all along that it was just a commercial venture and it was a fabricated part of it. It wasn't true.
03:00He had hoped to use the publicity to get a new trial for DeFeo while the Lutzes were just in it for the money.
03:15Number 4. Real
03:16Goodfellas
03:17As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.
03:21Director Martin Scorsese fell in love with the non-fiction book Wise Guy, a biography of mafioso Henry Hill written by Nicholas Pelleggi. He loved it so much that he called up Pelleggi out of the blue and convinced him to collaborate on a movie.
03:40You took your first place like a man and you learned the two greatest things in life.
03:44What?
03:45Look at me.
03:47Never write on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.
03:51The result was Goodfellas, which changes some names and details but is mostly true to the facts.
03:57For instance, Joe Pesci's character, Tommy DeVito, was based on the real-life Thomas DeSimone.
04:04Good story. It's funny. You're a funny guy.
04:07What do you mean? You mean the way I talk?
04:09What?
04:10It's just, you know, you're just funny. It's funny, you know, the way you tell the story and everything.
04:17Funny how?
04:18I mean, what's funny about it?
04:20He really did shoot Spider the bartender in the leg that later killed him in an act of rage. Scorsese even brought actual gangsters onto the set as consultants.
04:29Frenchie and Joe Buda had to round up the workers. Johnny roast beef had to keep them all tied up and away from the alarms.
04:37This is a lot.
04:38Even Stax Edwards got in on it.
04:40Now that's dedication to realism.
04:43Number 4, Made Up. Hidalgo.
04:45This epic drama follows Frank Hopkins, an American cowboy who travels to the Middle East to compete in a grueling 3,000-mile horse race.
04:54Perhaps you have never heard of the great horse race of the Bedouin. It has been held annually for more than 1,000 years.
05:03It's loosely based on the real Hopkins' memoirs, but many of the facts in those memoirs have been debunked by historians.
05:10There's no record of Hopkins ever performing in Buffalo Bills' Wild West show or being part of the Lakota tribe.
05:17And now, folks, do you remember them? Rock riding with Hopkins and his horse Hidalgo!
05:27The 3,000-mile race across the desert never existed and probably isn't even physically possible.
05:34One thing the filmmakers did get right is the depiction of the Lakota culture.
05:38They brought in Lakota historians and elders to ensure that everything was accurate.
05:53And they did so well that screenwriter John Fusco was later adopted as an honorary member of the tribe.
05:59Number 3 Real – Fruitvale Station
06:13For director Ryan Coogler, it was important to get this one right.
06:17The movie portrays the last 24 hours of Oscar Grant's life before he was shot by police at an Oakland train station.
06:32The tragedy happened in 2009 while Coogler was in grad school and Fruitvale Station became his feature debut.
06:39He worked with Grant's family and their attorney to ensure that the portrayal was true to life.
06:45You guys aren't going to sleep over 2?
06:47We already promised our friends we were going to kick it with them tonight.
06:51But we'll be back before you wake up, though.
06:53The film even includes real cell phone footage of the incident, and it was shot at the actual Fruitvale Station.
07:00Coogler said later that he wanted audiences to get to know Oscar as a person so they would understand what his death really meant.
07:07I told him to take the train. I told him to catch the bark.
07:13I didn't know they were going to hurt my baby.
07:16Number 3 Made Up – The Fourth Kind
07:19The creators of this movie went to a lot of trouble to convince audiences that it was based on a true story.
07:25The sci-fi horror follows a psychologist investigating alien abductions in Alaska. It opens up with star Mila Jovovich talking directly to the camera, telling us that she's playing a real person and that the events depicted actually happened.
07:51The movie also includes supposed archival footage of alien possessions. The marketing campaign even put out fake news articles about the abductions, but it foolishly put names of real Alaskan newspapers on those articles.
08:15Alaskan journalists sued the studio, which settled with them for $20,000. Some people did go missing in Alaska in the early 2000s, but investigators found no evidence of anything extraterrestrial.
08:39I just want my little girl back. She's all I have.
08:48Number 2 Real – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
08:51I have a new grandkid, and he got my old nose. Do I have to leave him an extra something for repairs?
08:58Ironically, this true-to-life biopic revolves around a writer who was mostly famous for committing forgeries. Melissa McCarthy plays Lee Israel, an author whose career hit a slump in the early 90s.
09:11I'm working a lot of fascinating projects. I just need my agent to call me back. I don't think the world is waiting for another Fanny Bryce biography, Lee.
09:20In desperation, she starts forging letters from dead celebrities and selling them to dealers. She builds up quite a successful business before the FBI catches on.
09:30I hate to say it, but your name's been put on a list. On a list? People are on alert. That's all.
09:40The movie started production in 2011, while the real Israel was still alive. The producers met with her and wanted to make sure that her onscreen portrayal didn't gloss over any ugly truths. The result is a beautifully authentic depiction of a flawed but sympathetic woman.
09:57You did everything you could to keep your distance. You lied, you drank constantly, you're self-involved. I didn't say I was perfect.
10:04Number 2 Made Up – The Greatest Showman
10:14This musical doesn't claim to be historically accurate, but the way it portrays certain real people is pretty egregious. The actual P.T. Barnum was not a good dude.
10:24I am putting together a show and I need a star. You want people to laugh at me? Well, they're laughing anyway, kid, so might as well get paid.
10:34The first person he displayed in his circus was an enslaved woman named Joyce Heth. Barnum claimed she was 160 years old and when she died, he sold tickets to her autopsy.
10:45Hyperbole isn't the worst crime. Men suffer more from imagining too little and too much. The creed of a true fraud.
10:54He also kidnapped indigenous people to use in human zoos and committed horrific cruelty to animals.
11:00In the movie, Jenny Lind is a petty homewrecker. The real Lind was a beloved philanthropist who gave most of her money to charity and quit Barnum's tour because she was uncomfortable with the commercialization.
11:11This movie manages to celebrate real-life jerks and slander the truly kind-hearted people.
11:17You don't need everyone to love you, Finn. Just a few good people.
11:27I know that.
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11:42Number 1 Real
11:4512 Years a Slave
11:47Steve McQueen's historical drama is based on the autobiography of the main character, a real man named Solomon Northup.
11:55Gentlemen, your generosity is extraordinary.
12:00And your talents are undeniable.
12:02To Solomon.
12:03He was born free in New York in the early 1800s and kidnapped into slavery in 1841, leaving behind a wife and two children.
12:13He was held in bondage for 12 years.
12:15He learned you to read?
12:17A word here or there.
12:20But I've no understanding of the written text.
12:23You don't trouble yourself with it.
12:25The film follows his narrative pretty closely, and historians praised it as one of the most accurate cinematic depictions of slavery.
12:33McQueen doesn't shy away from the violence and brutality, including some of the more shocking parts of Northup's memoir.
12:40It is melancholia.
12:42Nothing more.
12:43How can you fall into such despair?
12:48How can you not?
12:50No.
12:51The film is a hard look at part of American history that many would rather forget.
12:56Number 1 Made Up
12:58Braveheart
12:59I shall tell you of William Wallace.
13:02Historians from England will say I am a liar.
13:05The London Times named this movie the second most historically inaccurate of all time.
13:11The characters in battle share their names with real places and events, but that's about where the similarities to reality end.
13:18The true William Wallace was a wealthy noble, not a farmer, and he favored executing peasants who refused to be drafted into the Scottish Rebellion.
13:26And tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!
13:35England had only occupied Scotland for a year when he began his campaign, not a century as the movie says.
13:41Wallace never met Queen Isabella, and he certainly didn't have an affair with her.
13:46She was three years old and still living in France when the Battle of Falkirk happened.
13:51We will say one thing though.
14:01The movie is entertaining as heck.
14:03Do you think it's okay for filmmakers to mess with accuracy for the sake of entertainment?
14:07Let us know in the comments!
14:09This is Houston. Say again please?
14:12Houston, we have a problem.
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