Real people vs fictional in true story movies?

Question

Why do documentary movies create fake people?

Rudy: the Groundskeeper was based on several people that helped him and he worked with
The priest was also based around several priests that helped him.

The Rookie (the Jimmy Morris Story): I know for sure that nearly everyone int he town of Big Lake tx in the story (minus the baseball team) are fake. They are again based on people he knew but none were exact.

why cant they do movies with the right people?


one of my favorite lines from Rudy is where he is ready to quit after it appears he wont get to play and the grounds keeper confronts him about his dreams.
always wondered if anyone ever really said all that to him.

Answer 1

Well you kind of have to take "inspired by a true story" or "based on actual events" a little more loosely.

Sometimes the story just isn't good enough to get 90 pages of dialogue and 120 minutes of movie. It needs tweaking to be more workable.

Let's face it, in many ways movies are an escape from reality, this hard to do when they are based on a real person.

Answer 2

Sometimes they need to compress characters for the sake of time, or to simplify the story, or to make it more dramatic. So sometime it's just the best way to tell a good story.

(Come on - what's more exciting? One guy who sees Rudy struggle, and gives him confidence, or six different guys who maybe say something sort-of nice, which is probably what really happened?)

And you usually have to pay rights or get someone's permission to portray them in a movie. Not if they're an obvious public figure - I don't think anyone in "Zodiac", for instance, had to agree to their portrayal - but average townspeople type probably do have to consent. (For instance, Jeff Ho did not want to portrayed in the fictionalized "Lords of Dogtown" movie and was thus not portrayed by anyone - his actions were melded into another character.)

Also, real people don't usually like to see themselves doing mean or stupid things, so they often give that to a fictional character!

Answer 3

You're thinking of biography movies, not documentary movies.

If biography movies were made based strictly on facts, then there wouldn't be enough material to make a decent film. The idea is still to tell a story and make money in the process.

Answer 4

it's supose to add to the drama but sometimes i think its budget reasons. In one of my fav movies of all Black Hawk Down they had a charater called "Hoot" who is based upon serveral characters, and Matt Eversmann in the book and movie are different. In the book he went with the Convoy back to the base and in the movie he stayed at the first crash sight. I dont no which one to belive, i'd have to interview him in real life to find out the truth.

Answer 5

sometimes it is easier to have one composite character that is based on many because this allows the story to flow more. also, not every charactes is significant to a movie or the story so they can made up. or the people might have allowed the movie makers to use their persona for the film.