- 22 hours ago
Hollywood loves a dramatic finish, but sometimes those endings stray far from reality. From sanitized happy conclusions to omitted tragedies, these biopics took creative liberties with their real-life stories. Join us as we explore the films that rewrote history, including hits like Bohemian Rhapsody, Erin Brockovich, The Imitation Game, and The Social Network. Which altered ending surprised you the most?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I shall tell you of William Wallace.
00:04Historians from England will say I am a liar.
00:06Welcome to Miss Mojo.
00:08And today, we're counting down our picks for biographical movies that took some creative liberties with their conclusions.
00:15Spoilers will be mentioned.
00:17Ah, hyperbole isn't the worst crime.
00:19Men suffer more from imagining too little than too much.
00:23The creed of a true fraud.
00:26Number 30. Catch Me If You Can.
00:28From 1964 to 1967, I successfully impersonated an airline pilot for Pan Am Airways, and I flew over 2 million
00:37miles for free.
00:39During that time, I was also the chief resident pediatrician at a Georgia hospital and an assistant attorney general for
00:46the state of Louisiana.
00:47With everything Frank Abagnale Jr. claimed to have done throughout his life, it makes sense that his biopic wouldn't be
00:54100% accurate.
00:55However, the ending of Catch Me If You Can didn't just stumble on a few details.
01:00It created facts out of thin air.
01:03It's definitely a teller, Carl.
01:05I mean, Banks, he always used hand stamps for the dates, see.
01:08They get used over and over again, see, always get worn out.
01:11The numbers are always cracking.
01:13The sixes and the nines.
01:15See, they go first.
01:16It showed Abagnale being freed under the condition that he worked for the FBI.
01:21Like many of his stories, it may have been fake.
01:24There has never been any evidence of this, with former agents even refuting some of his claims.
01:29In fact, Abagnale was even caught in a scam years after he first claimed to work there.
01:35While he does seem to have turned his life around, it likely didn't happen the way the film said it
01:40did.
01:40I don't understand.
01:42Sure you do.
01:44Sometimes it's easier living the lie.
01:4829.
01:50Patch Adams
01:51When it comes to taking creative liberties with a subject's life, this does it like no other.
01:58You can't leave.
02:02If what you say is true, it looks like I'm defying the laws of possibility.
02:07Patch himself was reduced to his most humorous aspects, which resulted in his activism being
02:13underrepresented.
02:14However, they didn't just change the protagonist.
02:17In the film, the Gesundheit Institute was created well before Adams graduated, which nearly
02:22resulted in him being expelled.
02:24With the power of public speaking and some Hollywood magic, he avoided the consequences.
02:44In real life, Adams went about it the legal way.
02:48He didn't start to develop the idea for Gesundheit until after he completed his education.
02:52While it did function as a communal home for some time, it wouldn't be officially founded
02:57until 1989, over a decade after the movie takes place.
03:01All this is his.
03:03The land, the cottage.
03:04He's letting us borrow it.
03:06Until we can purchase it.
03:07Number 28.
03:09Bohemian Rhapsody
03:10Many fans of Queen clocked the inaccuracies the moment the movie premiered.
03:15Bohemian Rhapsody changed plenty of facts, but they outdid themselves with the conclusion.
03:19If you bore me with your sympathy, that's just seconds wasted.
03:24Seconds that could be used making music, which is all I want to do at the time I have left.
03:29It portrays Mercury admitting his HIV diagnosis to the group and then cuts to them giving the
03:35performance of a lifetime at Live Aid.
03:37It seems like a great ending, except it never happened.
03:40He wasn't diagnosed until 1987, and the band didn't find out until 1989, both of which
03:46happened years after the charity event.
03:49It also conveniently left out the final years of the original formation, despite the fact
03:54that they were still successful.
03:56Overall, it was a cheap way of forcing an emotional finale, and to nobody's surprise,
04:01it was met with sharp criticism.
04:17Number 27.
04:19The Blind Side
04:20Some biopic endings are so egregiously incorrect that they create a legal dispute.
04:26When watching The Blind Side for the first time, you may think it has a picture-perfect conclusion.
04:32After all, it shows Michael getting into college and accepting his place in the Toohey family.
04:37Over a decade later, the happy veneer around the film was shattered.
04:40Michael, honey, I need for you to just listen to me, alright?
04:44Don't you dare lie to me.
04:48Not stupid.
04:50Orr came forward and revealed that, rather than being adopted, the Tooheys had instead placed
04:55him under a conservatorship.
04:57They then used that power to create deals in his name and allegedly make money from his likeness.
05:02With that power, the petition alleges, the Tooheys negotiated the movie deal for The Blind Side
05:06in 2006.
05:08Orr claims the family made millions in royalties, while Orr says he received no payment whatsoever.
05:14A court officially dissolved the conservatorship in 2023, and with it, went the belief in the
05:20conclusion the flick tried to pass off as real.
05:23A lot of hard work taken from me.
05:27It's more to the story, you know, and, uh, holding back a little bit, and you'll, you'll, you'll know more.
05:35Number 26.
05:36The Iron Claw
05:37The final moments may be emotionally devastating, but that doesn't mean they're without some
05:43creative liberties.
05:44After a film filled with grief, The Iron Claw ends, touchingly, with a vulnerable moment
05:49between Kevin and his sons.
05:51Do you think you know why you're sad?
06:00Well, I guess it's because I used to be a brother, and, uh, I'm not a brother anymore.
06:09What the movie leaves out, ironically, is one of the Von Erich's real-life siblings.
06:15Chris, the youngest of the group, had been cut from the story entirely.
06:19He also had a tragic life and early death, which was eventually omitted due to time and
06:24the director feeling the audience couldn't take another heart-wrenching scene.
06:28While he may have been right on both counts, the decision felt particularly tragic given
06:33that Chris had spent his career living in the shadow of his family.
06:37I'm sure he wanted to be like his brothers, because his brothers were his heroes.
06:41Kevin was actually helping Chris work out.
06:44He had to work ten times harder than everybody else.
06:46His body wasn't built like his brothers.
06:48He wanted to be a wrestler so bad.
06:50It's just not gonna happen.
06:52Number 25.
06:54Changeling
06:54The 2008 thriller followed the true case of Christine Collins, whose son, Walter, was
07:00kidnapped and returned, only for it to be revealed that it was a different child the entire
07:05time.
07:06What?
07:08What are you saying?
07:10It's not my son.
07:12Well, I'm sure you're mistaken.
07:14I'm not mistaken.
07:15Well, he's been through five terrible long months.
07:18He's lost weight.
07:19He's changed.
07:20I wouldn't know my own son.
07:22Collins learned that her child was likely one of several underage murder victims.
07:27One of these victims escaped and gave her faith that her son could still be alive, which
07:31finishes things on an optimistic note.
07:33Maybe Walter's out there having the same fears that he did.
07:37He's afraid to come home and identify himself, or afraid he'll get into trouble.
07:42But either way, it gives me something I didn't have before tonight.
07:48What's that?
07:50Hope.
07:51Unfortunately, the same can't be said for real life.
07:54The escapee in question, David Clay, never existed, and Christine was never given that
08:00little inkling of potential closure.
08:02To this day, neither Walter nor his body have been found, leaving the case open for nearly
08:09a century.
08:10Did you kill my son?
08:13Did you kill my son?
08:15Did you kill my son?
08:16Did you kill my son?
08:17I don't know.
08:17You don't know?
08:18You don't remember?
08:18Did you kill my son?
08:19I don't know.
08:20Answer me.
08:21You answer me.
08:22You answer me.
08:23Number 24.
08:25Michael.
08:26The King of Pop's career may have spanned decades, but there's a reason his recent biopic
08:31stops in 1988.
08:32Michael captures everything from his tumultuous upbringing to his catastrophic ad deal with
08:38Pepsi.
08:39However, it ends just as Jackson kicks off his successful Bad Solo Tour.
08:52This meant that his highly publicized assault allegations from 1993 were deleted from the
08:58narrative.
08:58Originally, it was intended to be a focal point of the conclusion, but a legal clause caused
09:03it to be cut from the final product.
09:05The movie is something else.
09:06The movie is something that's trying to rewrite the narrative, trying to rewrite the story.
09:12They've, you know, tripped up because they've tried to do it using the example of the, by
09:17fictionalizing the story of the first child who was paid off, and it turned out they weren't
09:21allowed to do that, so they're going to have to reshoot everything.
09:23Being able to see how the case impacted his life would have made the story even richer.
09:29Instead, we were left with an oddly sanitized version that made the movie feel hollow as
09:34a result.
09:35You'll be, with all the money in the world, surrounded by people who say yes to everything.
09:45Say what you want.
09:46Number 23.
09:47Twelve Years a Slave
09:49I apologize for my appearance, but I have had a difficult time.
10:02After many depictions of abject cruelty, the audience was mercifully treated to a happy
10:08ending where Salomon Northup regained his freedom.
10:11Although Twelve Years a Slave finished positively, the real aftermath was much darker.
10:16Oh, God.
10:22There's nothing to forgive.
10:25In the film, Northup reunited with his family after over a decade of being enslaved.
10:30An epilogue discusses his court cases against his captors falling through and his dedication
10:36to the abolitionist movement, as well as a lack of information about his final fate.
10:41We don't know when, where, or the circumstances of his death.
10:46We know by the 1870s, the mid-1870s, that documents start describing his wife as a widow
10:51instead of being his wife.
10:52Some believe that he was forced into slavery, while others are convinced he perished.
10:57As uplifting as the reunion scene was, the reality was that Northup's fight wasn't over.
11:03And he likely died before seeing chattel slavery end in the United States.
11:09Do you believe, sir, in justice, as you've said?
11:13I do.
11:16Slavery is an evil that should befall none.
11:22I believe so.
11:23Number 22.
11:25Pocahontas
11:26You ask me, Ratcliffe's been lying to us since we left London.
11:30Listen to you, you bunch of idiots.
11:32It probably comes as no surprise that a movie with an anthropomorphized raccoon and dog
11:37also altered historical facts.
11:39Pocahontas featured a love story between the indigenous icon and John Smith.
11:43It concluded with the two separating, but the implication that their romance hadn't fully ended.
11:49The real story?
11:50Nowhere near as sweet.
11:52You think that, only because you don't know any better.
11:56Wait a minute, don't take it then.
11:58Hey, hey.
11:59Wait!
12:00The actual Pocahontas, whose real name was Matawaka, was a child when Smith first made
12:07the voyage to the Americas.
12:09As such, they thankfully did not develop a relationship.
12:13The film also omitted her eventual capture by colonists, her marriage to John Rolfe, and
12:18her tragically early death at 21.
12:21While it's understandable that Disney would want a happier ending, it came at the cost of
12:26the dark truth.
12:27Which means they can't be trusted.
12:30We must sound the drums of war.
12:3321.
12:34The Sound of Music
12:35The ending may have been inspiring, but that doesn't mean it was accurate.
12:41Remember, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills from whence cometh my help.
12:46Yes, Mother.
12:48The Sound of Music concludes, hopefully, with the family singing cheerfully as they hiked
12:53through the Alps to cross the border into Switzerland.
12:56Their real escape was, luckily, much less intense.
13:00They all simply headed to the train station, where they then traveled to Italy.
13:04Will we be coming back here?
13:06Someday, Liesl.
13:07I do hope someday.
13:09Our father and Uncle Max are going to push the car all the way to Switzerland.
13:14From there, they were able to safely cross Europe, before finally emigrating to the United
13:19States.
13:19Additionally, their departure was never a secret.
13:22In fact, they told plenty of people about their plans to take their music careers to America.
13:44It just goes to show how much Hollywood is willing to fabricate for the sake of a good
13:49story.
13:50Number 20.
13:51JFK
13:58It wouldn't have served Oliver Stone's case to mention what happened to Jim Garrison after
14:03the events of the controversial conspiracy epic, JFK.
14:07The district attorney's career was devastated by the acquittal of Clay Shaw, whom he accused
14:12of conspiring with government officials to assassinate President Kennedy.
14:16His subsequent perjury charge against Shaw was so petty that an injunction was issued.
14:21Let it be noted that my office is charging Clay Shaw with outright perjury on the 15 answers
14:27he's given in this courtroom today, not one word of truth having escaped his head.
14:31You're out of order, Jim boy.
14:32Now sit down.
14:33Garrison failed to get re-elected in 73 amid widespread scrutiny of his methods, and eventually
14:39became a judge.
14:41Still, he's best known for continuing to peddle conspiracy theories in the media.
14:46Even former colleagues suspected that this was Garrison's true objective, noting increasingly
14:52flimsy theories and grudges.
14:54With these questions of Garrison's integrity came further questions of JFK's credibility.
15:00With more than half of his mind, he was able to go out and fabricate evidence.
15:04Then by some osmosis, he was able to convince the other half that the fabrication is the truth.
15:10Well, I wouldn't worry about it, Liz.
15:11There's only about 20, 30 million people watching this tonight.
15:14Number 19.
15:16Amistad.
15:17Not much is certain about Joseph Sinque, past the ruling that his 1839 uprising on a slave
15:23ship was self-defense.
15:25It is the court's judgment that the defendants are to be released from custody at once, and
15:33if they so choose, to be returned to their homes in Africa.
15:39Amistad ending on his return to Sierra Leone may be either too optimistic or not triumphant
15:46enough.
15:47After losing his family in a civil war, Sinque became a prominent figure who worked with missionaries.
16:10His descendants claim he helped Christianize the region.
16:13It's also widely believed that he became a successful merchant, with so many rumors suggesting
16:19that the slave survivor even sold his own people.
16:22It's likely that some of his fellow Amistad rebels took up this terrible practice after
16:27returning home.
16:28As for Sinque himself, what little we do know about his life could produce another epic film.
16:37He's been hungry to keep you safe.
16:47Number 18, The Aviator.
16:50Howard, unlock this door immediately.
17:01I can't, sweetie.
17:06You mean you won't?
17:08With what The Aviator shows us, legendary entrepreneur Howard Hughes muttering to himself may say more
17:15than any epilogue could.
17:16It would have been that his mental health and expensive ambitions eventually led to him losing
17:21control of his empire by the 1970s.
17:24He then became so reclusive that Clifford Irving didn't count on being publicly called out for
17:29fabricating Hughes' autobiography.
17:32And despite his severe germaphobia, Hughes allowed his health and hygiene to deteriorate to where
17:38he was unrecognizable upon his death from kidney failure in 76.
17:56It was indeed more of the same, but knowing that Hughes spent the next 30 years never getting
18:02the help he needed, makes The Aviator's ambiguous ending even more devastating.
18:07The way of the future.
18:08Let's take a walk, Howard.
18:10The way of the future.
18:11Give me a hand here, will you, Glenn?
18:13The way of the future.
18:16The way of the future.
18:17The way of the future.
18:19The way of the future.
18:20The way of the future.
18:22The way of the future.
18:22The way of the future.
18:23Number 17, Remember the Titans.
18:27Disney would rather just remember the uplifting parts of the first T.C.
18:31Williams high school football team under Herman Boone.
18:34Remember the Titans downplayed his harsh coaching methods, which Greg Paspatis claims were more
18:40cruel than disciplinary.
18:41We're gonna take a little run through the woods.
18:43If you get lost along the way, don't bother coming back to camp.
18:47Just hitchhike your hind parts on home.
18:50Any questions?
18:51Coach, it's a high school football team.
18:53We're not in the Marines here.
18:57Let's go.
18:57Rumors of verbal and physical abuse resulted in Boone's firing in 1979, eight years after
19:04the Titans' historic undefeated season.
19:06Even more upsetting is the truth about Coach Bill Yost's adorable little girl Cheryl.
19:11I'm nine and a half, thank you very much.
19:14Why don't you give this little girl some pretty dolls or something, Coach?
19:18I tried.
19:19She loves football.
19:20She died in 1996 of an undiagnosed heart condition at the age of 34.
19:25Coach Yost was also upset that his three other daughters didn't make the cut.
19:30But that just goes to show how Remember the Titans didn't want things too complicated for
19:35the audience.
19:36There's always next year or a year after that, as long as it takes for him to wise up.
19:41Wouldn't want it now anyway.
19:44But you're rednecks.
19:47Hacksaw Ridge World War II medic and Christian pacifist
19:51Desmond Doss saved around 75 lives from both sides in the Battle of Okinawa.
19:56Hacksaw Ridge ennobled the injuries he sustained as a seemingly minor cost for his heroism.
20:15In fact, permanent damage to Doss' left arm ended his carpentry career after the war,
20:21and treatment for tuberculosis he contracted during deployment cost him several ribs and
20:26one of his lungs.
20:27He even blamed his hearing loss on an overdose and antibiotic treatment.
20:33What is it you want of me?
20:42I don't understand.
20:44Doss' wife Dorothy worked as a nurse in order to supplement his meager pension.
20:49Though their good spirits through this hardship was further testament to Doss' strength, his
20:54spirit in the battlefield was surely more cinematic.
21:0415.
21:06Ed Wood
21:13It's not exactly a secret that the ending to Tim Burton's Ed Wood was overly optimistic.
21:19Plan 9 from Outer Space did indeed immortalize the earnest filmmaker behind the ultimate bad
21:24movie.
21:25At the time, however, it cemented Ed Wood's bleak artistic and financial reputation in Hollywood.
21:30Hey, it's not that bad.
21:32You can't concentrate on the negative.
21:33Look, he's got some nice things to say here.
21:35The soldiers' costumes are very realistic.
21:37That's positive.
21:38Rave of the century.
21:39Well, I've seen a lot worse reviews.
21:41I've seen reviews where they didn't even mention the costumes.
21:43His later filmography consisted entirely of exploitation and adult films.
21:48All the while, he and his wife Kathy struggled with alcohol, depression, and periodic homelessness.
21:54They were living in abject poverty by the time Wood died of a heart attack in 1978, two
22:00months after turning 54.
22:02His Oscar-winning biopic is a tribute to the legacy he leaves on cult cinema, but disregards
22:08the sad reality of laughing at someone's work.
22:11I think we should all give a hand to the man without whom we wouldn't be here tonight.
22:18Eddie, take him out!
22:2214.
22:23A Beautiful Mind
22:24A brief hallucination ends A Beautiful Mind with a reminder of the constant challenges facing
22:30people with schizophrenia.
22:43It's still not as simple as John Nash walking away with his family.
22:48There was no triumphant speech when he accepted his Nobel Memorial Prize in 1994, as there was
22:54concern for pressure on his mental health.
22:56His beloved Alicia was present, but had not been his wife since 1963.
23:01I think often what I feel is obligation or guilt over wanting to leave.
23:13Rage against John, against God.
23:17It took about seven years for them to reconcile after the divorce, and another 31 years for them
23:22to remarry.
23:23Standing by a loved one with mental illness is harder than Hollywood implies.
23:28The fact remains that John and Alicia Nash supported each other throughout the rest of
23:32their lives.
23:33How do you know?
23:35I know because all the data indicates this happened.
23:37But it hasn't been proven yet.
23:38No.
23:38You haven't seen it.
23:39How do you know for sure?
23:42I don't.
23:43I just believe it.
23:44Mmm.
23:47It's the same with love, I guess.
23:49Number 13.
23:50My Left Foot
23:53That looks good.
23:56Looks completely fading.
23:58It's hard not to be touched by artist Christy Brown and nurse Mary Carr falling in love at
24:03the end of My Left Foot.
24:04That is, unless you're familiar with their marriage.
24:08I'm not afraid of anything.
24:09You imagine that people are afraid of you.
24:10I'm not afraid of you, okay?
24:12You're afraid of yourself.
24:14Brown's deteriorating health and an autopsy following his death in 1981 sparked theories
24:19that he was abused by his wife.
24:22Georgina Louise Hambleton's biography, published after the destitute Carr died in 2007, suggests
24:29that she neglected Brown, exploited his cerebral palsy, and was a sex worker.
24:35Brown's sister Anne even claimed that he confided in her a fear for his life.
24:40Whether the evidence was solid enough back when My Left Foot was made, it sours the film's
24:46inspiring legacy.
24:55Number 12.
24:57Unbroken
24:58From crashing in shark-infested waters to surviving a POW camp, Louis Zamberini overcame a lot in
25:05the Pacific War.
25:06But it was a bit early to declare him unbroken when his blockbuster biopic ended with his liberation.
25:12The 2018 independent sequel Unbroken Path to Redemption picks up where that left off.
25:19Zamberini struggled with severe PTSD and alcohol use disorder, which nearly destroyed his marriage.
25:25I'm taking Sissy and I'm going to Florida.
25:28Now what are you gonna do?
25:28You gonna go home to your parents?
25:29What, and tell how stupid you were to marry me?
25:31I can't take care of her and a drunk at the same time.
25:33So what are you saying?
25:39I'm saying I wanted divorce.
25:41Only after becoming a born-again Christian was he able to get his life back on track.
25:47He even visited Sugamo Prison in Tokyo to forgive the war criminals who imprisoned and tortured
25:53him.
25:54Zamberini continued his athletic and evangelism work until he passed away, just before Unbroken
26:00came out.
26:01With just half the story.
26:03He kept me alive and threw everything for this.
26:1111.
26:12Conviction.
26:13My, uh, brother Kenny.
26:16He got screwed by the system.
26:18He's been in prison for 12 years' life without parole.
26:23Well, he's innocent.
26:25Okay.
26:26Yeah, I'm gonna find a way to get him out.
26:28Betty Ann Waters went all the way to law school to personally clear her brother Kenny
26:33of Katharina Brow's murder.
26:35The filmmakers behind Conviction didn't want to leave audiences with the knowledge that
26:40this victory 18 years in the making lasted only six months in 2001.
26:45How could you possibly thank your sister for what she's done for you?
26:48I don't know.
26:48How would you thank her?
26:50It's a good question.
26:50Betty Ann, do you have any big cases lined up after this?
26:53No, no, no.
26:54I never really planned on practicing law.
26:56I don't.
26:56Kenny was walking home when he attempted to jump a fence for a shortcut, only to lose
27:01his footing and die in the fall.
27:04Despite this tragic twist of fate, Betty Ann takes comfort in her brother's brief but
27:09happy time as a free man, and continues advocating for the wrongly convicted through the Innocence
27:14Project.
27:15Fifteen years after Conviction's release, Brow's real killer was identified.
27:21Even if it had taken you another twenty years, you know, I would have been okay.
27:26Another twenty years?
27:28Jesus.
27:29I would have lost my mind.
27:3210.
27:33The Motorcycle Diaries
27:35Based on the memoir of the same name, The Motorcycle Diaries concerns Ernesto Guevara's
27:40motorcycle trip across South America, in which he encounters various social and political
27:46injustices.
27:59The journey shaped Guevara's outlook and turned him into a political revolutionary.
28:04By its nature as a coming of age film, The Motorcycle Diaries says little about Guevara's
28:10later life in the epilogue.
28:20He would come to be known as Che Guevara, a guerrilla leader who helped spearhead the
28:25Cuban revolution of the 1950s.
28:28He later held several important positions within the new Cuban government, and his actions
28:33helped lead the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
28:36He was eventually assassinated by Bolivian Army Sergeant Mario Tehran, leaving behind a divisive
28:43legacy.
28:569.
28:57Ray
28:58Unlike many biopics, Ray ends in the middle of the story.
29:02The film spans from Ray Charles' childhood to 1979, when he overcame substance use disorder
29:09and received a formal apology from the state of Georgia.
29:20The epilogue then alludes to his other triumphs, not including his controversial 1981 show in
29:26South Africa, or his career reviving work with contemporary artists.
29:31It does, however, acknowledge his death shortly before the film's release.
29:36The events in between aren't really important to the story Ray was telling, but they're very
29:41telling about Charles' continued relevance in modern music.
29:528.
29:53Straight Outta Compton
29:55While this film mostly remains true to the real story, a few events were fabricated near
30:00the end to make for a more emotional conclusion.
30:03Rapper Eazy-E has died after a battle with AIDS.
30:07He was among the most powerful voices of his generation.
30:11For example, Eazy-E is left destitute from the collapse of N.W.A. and the feud with Jerry
30:16Heller.
30:17According to publicist Phyllis Pollock and his own son, Eazy died a multi-millionaire.
30:23And speaking of Eazy's death, the movie depicts him suffering a seizure and collapsing
30:27during the band's reunion, resulting in his HIV diagnosis.
30:42In reality, Eazy went to the hospital because of a persistent cough.
30:46And as for the brief reunion, Dre reportedly never committed to one before Eazy's passing
30:51in 1995.
31:017.
31:03Kinsey
31:04This is a biopic of Alfred Kinsey, an academic sexologist who controversially studied sexual
31:11behavior.
31:11You've had absolutely no response during that time.
31:15It's like I'm dead down there.
31:17We went to the doctor, and he said there's nothing wrong.
31:21The movie ends on a bittersweet note, as Kinsey falls into drugs and suffers a heart attack
31:26while losing financial backing for his research.
31:29My funding has been slashed, and my name has been dragged through the mud in every newspaper
31:35and magazine across this country.
31:37However, he continues to enjoy a strong personal relationship with Clara McMillan.
31:42The movie ends without delving into the turbulent final years of Kinsey's life.
31:46Unfortunately, he was never able to recover from the intense controversy surrounding the 1953
31:52publication Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.
31:56After I read your book, I realized how many other women were in the same situation.
32:02Both the drugs and the stress of his collapsing reputation quickly took their toll.
32:07And he passed away from a heart ailment in 1956, just three years after the publication
32:13of his contentious book.
32:156.
32:16The Greatest Showman
32:17It's no secret that The Greatest Showman is a very sanitized version of P.T. Barnum's
32:23story.
32:29The feel-good ending that sees Barnum reuniting with Charity was completely made up for the
32:34movie, as they remained happily married until her death in 1873.
32:39And they remained happily married because the real Jenny Lind did not have a romantic attraction
32:44to Barnum, and therefore did not kiss him on stage.
32:57Furthermore, playwright Philip Carlyle did not selflessly give Barnum his money to open
33:02a new circus, as Philip was completely made up for the movie.
33:11The Greatest Showman
33:17Following Charity's death, Barnum married a woman 40 years younger than him, and he eventually
33:22died of a stroke in 1891.
33:255.
33:26The Imitation Game
33:28The ending to The Imitation Game is a tragic one indeed.
33:32After helping to end World War II with his revolutionary computer, Alan Turing undergoes degrading treatment
33:38under the UK's anti-gay laws.
33:52This leaves him mentally devastated, and he takes his own life in 1954. However, this
33:59supposed fact has long been questioned. Turing, reportedly, had little problem with his hormone
34:05treatments, which greatly contrasts with his depressive state in the film.
34:22Furthermore, Turing expert Jack Copeland posits that Turing accidentally died from inhaling potassium
34:28cyanide while melting gold. But even this thesis has its detractors, including biographer Andrew
34:36Hodges, who argues that Turing staged the scene as an accident to placate his mother. Unfortunately,
34:43the truth remains ambiguous.
34:494.
34:50The Social Network
34:52The primary theme of The Social Network is loneliness.
34:56You're gonna go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd.
35:00And I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that that won't be true.
35:05It'll be because you're an asshole.
35:08While Mark Zuckerberg creates the most popular social media site in the world, he simultaneously
35:13and ironically suffers from loneliness and isolation. In the end, he is seen repeatedly refreshing
35:19a friend request sent to his ex-girlfriend, desperate for any sort of human contact.
35:30This makes for a great and meaningful ending, but it's totally fabricated for storytelling
35:35purposes. The real Zuckerberg has been with his now-wife Priscilla Chan since 2003. This
35:41was the same year that he created the ratings site Facemash, a crude precursor to the now-iconic
35:47social media site.
35:54By the time Facebook went public in 2006, Zuckerberg and Chan had been happily dating for years.
36:01Number 3. Finding Neverland
36:04A beautiful movie about family, Finding Neverland follows the relationship between author J.M.
36:10Berry and the Davies Boys.
36:12George Llewellyn Davies should test the very limits of the atmosphere using his tethered
36:16craft. Go on, boy.
36:18Understandably, the movie ends before the tragic fates of the Davies Boys could be revealed.
36:23The story concludes with the death of Sylvia Davies, which occurred in 1910.
36:27I thought she'd always be here.
36:32So did I. But in fact, she is.
36:43Five years later, George was killed during World War I. In 1921, Michael drowned with his
36:51friend and possible lover, Rupert Buxton. Berry believed it was a pact and called Michael's
36:57death, the end of him. Jack died from a lung disease in 1959, and his younger brother Peter
37:03took his own life just seven months later after his entire family was diagnosed with Huntington's
37:08disease. So much for childhood innocence.
37:11Magic's gone out of it a bit now, hasn't it?
37:13Number 2. Braveheart
37:16A thrilling and epic piece of cinema, Braveheart is nevertheless a travesty of history. While quite
37:23a brutal film, it downplays the severity of William Wallace's grotesque demise. Wallace
37:28suffers a degree of pain and suffering before famously yelling, FREEDOM, and getting the axe. In
37:44reality, Wallace received a particularly hideous method of execution reserved for cases of high
37:50treason. Wallace was dragged naked through the streets of London before he was executed
37:55in Smithfield.
38:01We won't go into details, but suffice to say, it was significantly nastier than what is depicted
38:07in the film.
38:11Despite its notoriously graphic violence, Braveheart wanted to at least grant Wallace some dignity
38:18in death. Number 1. Aaron Brockovich
38:22Underdog stories don't get much more Hollywood than that of Aaron Brockovich.
38:27Her legal victory against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company for contaminating Hinkley,
38:32California, launched a high-profile advocacy career.
38:35As I was saying, I decided that the figure you proposed was inappropriate. So I increased
38:46it.
38:48We all know about Brockovich's story after her biopic came out, but not many know about Hinkley's
38:54before. PG&E's $333 million settlement was insufficient for the more than 600 plaintiffs after the lawyer's
39:02usual 40% cut. Their options were limited because the case never went to trial.
39:07Please, now the point we have to address tonight is getting everyone to agree that going binding
39:14arbitration is preferable to a trial that could go on for 10 years before you see any money.
39:19Maybe some of us want to wait 10 years.
39:23Depopulation followed, and the small town's housing market collapsed as the whole world associated
39:27it with permanent environmental damage. Hinkley was essentially doomed from the beginning,
39:33but that's rarely the best way for a movie to end.
39:43Which real-life biopic ending shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments