55 Must-Watch Movies That Are Based on True Stories
These biopics and historical dramas prove that, sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction.
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From romances to side-splitting comedies and edge-of-your-seat thrillers, cinematic history is packed with plenty of great stories. Yet, surprisingly, some of the greatest ever filmed aren’t fiction at all. In fact, some of the most resounding tales owe their inspiration to real life being even more dramatic than anything you could imagine.
No matter what kind of film you’re looking for—a period piece, perhaps, or a stirring biopic?—these ripped-from-reality movies will have you in awe and send you searching for more about the real stories that inspired them. Here is a starter list of the greatest movies ever made based on true stories.
127 Hours
James Franco stars as hiker Aron Ralston in this heart-wrenching true story from 2010 about an adventurer who finds himself trapped under a boulder for five days. Based on Ralston’s memoir, the film chronicles his agonizing decision to amputate his own arm in order to survive.
All the President’s Men
Despite grim warnings, two dogged reporters investigate a connection between a White House staff member and the attempted 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party Headquarters at Watergate, with the help of a mysterious source. Their reporting ultimately leads to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in this 1976 classic.
American Hustle
Inspired by the 1970s FBI ABSCAM investigation, American Hustle (2013) tells the story of two con men on a sting operation in New Jersey. From the dance moves to the double-crossing, the hustle of crime might bring everyone’s world crashing down.
Apollo 13
Based on the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, Ron Howard’s film from 1995 follows the story of three astronauts desperately struggling to bring their ship back into Earth's orbit after an oxygen tank explodes, threatening their survival.
Related: The History of Apollo 13 on Film
The Apprentice
This controversial 2024 offering tells the tale of a young Donald Trump (played by Sebastian Stan) and his mentor, lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), as Trump began to build his real estate empire in the 1970s. The current president famously threatened to sue over his portrayal. Both Stan and Strong were nominated for Oscars for their performances.
Argo
Ben Affleck’s film Argo (2012) tells the tale of a CIA rescue of six Americans stuck in Tehran after they escape the US embassy following a militant takeover. The movie hews closely to what really happened; the real Tony Mendez, a CIA agent who ran the mission, even said Argo was pretty spot on.
The Aviator
Leonardo DiCaprio stars in this Academy Award-winning 2004 biopic of the enigmatically brilliant billionaire Howard Hughes, from his early years as a film director and aviation enthusiast to his downward spiral into the mental illness and phobia that would define the tycoon’s later years.
A Beautiful Mind
This 2001 biographical drama is based on the life of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and economist John Nash (and inspired by the Pulitzer-winning book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar). Russell Crowe plays the brilliant Nash, whose rising career and stardom is at risk of being derailed by his own personal demons. A Beautiful Mind won four Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Best Director (Ron Howard), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly).
The Big Short
Based on the best-selling book by Michael Lewis, The Big Short (2015) tells the story of a small cadre who saw the 2008 financial crash coming. The acting is superb—what with Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt, how could it not be?—and the film manages to make the minutiae of Wall Street comprehensible, even interesting.
The Big Sick
These days, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon are a comedic power couple. But, as The Big Sick shows, they almost didn’t end up together at all. Najiani and Gordon co-wrote this 2017 rom-com about the very real, very traumatic medical emergency that brought them together.
BlacKkKlansman
Directed by Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman (2018) tells the true story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first Black detective in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan and begins regular conversations with KKK leader David Duke. He recruits his Jewish coworker, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), to impersonate him for the in-person meetings. It’s based on a true story, but does dramatize it slightly—his coworker wasn’t Jewish, and his actual investigation occurred between 1978 and 1979, though the film is set in 1972.
Breaking
This 2022 thriller stars John Boyega as Brian Bowen-Easley, a Marine Corps veteran in financial trouble who robs a bank. Bowen-Easley was a real person, and his story was tragic and true; he died after issuing a bomb threat in a bank. Breaking also features Michael K. Williams in one of his last roles.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
In a rare dramatic role for comedy icon Melissa McCarthy—for which she was nominated for an Oscar—she plays the real-life Lee Israel, a writer struggling with alcoholism, financial trouble, and a string of career failures, who resorts to forging letters from deceased authors in order to make ends meet. The 2018 film is based on Israel’s confessional memoir of the same name.
Related: 10 Infamous Con Artists in History
Catch Me If You Can
A skilled con man and forger, 17-year-old Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) becomes the most successful fraudster in the U.S. Pursued by FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), Abagnale has to resort to increasingly desperate gambits to stay one step ahead of the law in this 2002 caper.
Dolemite is My Name
Eddie Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, the late comedian and “Godfather of Rap” who rose to fame in the ’70s for his alter ego, Dolemite. The 2019 film charts his ascent from struggling artist to the widely influential figure he became—Snoop Dogg once said, “without Rudy Ray Moore, there would be no Snoop Dogg.”
Dunkirk
At the height of World War II, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers were trapped between the approaching German army and the sea. This 2017 film, directed by Christopher Nolan, tells the heroic story of the astounding effort by the armed forces and civilian sailors alike to bring them all home.
Elizabeth
One of the most iconic queens of all time serves as the subject of this 1998 historical drama. Cate Blanchett earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as Elizabeth I as she grew from a young princess caught in a succession struggle to a legendary monarch with the help of the master spy, Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), her secret lover (Joseph Fiennes), and her own iron will.
Elvis
Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic explores the life of Elvis Presley, starring Austin Butler as the titular singer and Tom Hanks as his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Elvis is based on the real Elvis’ life, and his family approved of the depiction.
Luhrmann said: “No critique, no review was ever going to mean more to us than the one from the woman who was married to him. [Priscilla Presley] said: ‘If my husband was here today, he’d say ‘Hot damn, you are me’…it was the best review I’ve ever had.”
Read More: The Story of Austin Butler’s Elvis Audition
Erin Brockovich
Tough-talking Erin Brockovich becomes a clerk to a lawyer in a small California town, eventually becoming instrumental in building a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993. Julia Roberts won her lone Academy Award for this 2000 title role.
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