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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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 Posted - 01/14/2011 : 13:42:56
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| Any suggestions for this accolade? I don't mean dramatisations of famous people's lives; I mean films whose main character has a different name to the person who wrote about an experience of theirs and/or in which other significant changes have been made. How to..., The Men Who... and Yes Man all feel very similar to me in this regard, and I would think 21 falls into the same category. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/19/2011 : 17:59:37
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| Does anyone know whether the non-fiction book Air America was based on was autobiographical? |
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AC 
"Returning FWFR Old-Timer"
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Posted - 02/19/2011 : 23:01:24
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| Catch-22 was based directly on Joseph Heller's experience in Italy: he is clearly Yossarian. Orwell also wrote based on his experiences (Keep the Aspidistra Flying comes to mind) and used fictionalised narratives to tell them. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 04:52:12
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| Thanks, but I don't mean cases where people have fictionalised their own experiences, which is basically any writing: I just mean explicit memoirs which have then been fictionalised at the adaptation stage. |
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bife
"Winners never quit ... fwfr ... "
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 12:30:49
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| The Pianist or Lawrence of Arabia? |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 14:05:45
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I'm not sure I really understand your parameters but "Sleepers" was a autobiography made into a film. It turned out to be made up, but still.
"21" is a tricky one though as it isn't an autobiography - Ben Mezrich wrote it and it's not about his experiences. Do you mean to include biography in general? |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 14:52:22
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| No, that's an error then. I thought one of the participants wrote it. The sources should be factual memoirs, and the adaptations should be fictionalised to a significant degree. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 15:21:16
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quote:
Originally posted by bife
The Pianist or Lawrence of Arabia?
I don't think either of those is fictionalised enough, although it's hard to judge. Basically, if the protagonist retains their real name, it's unlikely that the other changes are going to be drastic enough, though there may of course be exceptions. I think the most probable candidates for this accolade will not be about whole lives, but rather about specific experiences of some kind. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 17:42:12
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| What about All That Jazz? It is loosely based on the life of Bob Fosse, and he was one of the writers on the movie and called his own character Joe Gideon. There are many significant changes he made to his own life story in that movie. |
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AC
"Returning FWFR Old-Timer"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 19:12:55
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| Schindler's List? It is very different to Thomas Keneally's 'Schindler's Ark' and some changes were made for Hollywoodisation. |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 19:15:14
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Not an autobiography though...
Ah, how about "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind"? That's a (possibly) fictionalised autobiography.
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/20/2011 : 22:33:52
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Thanks for the further suggestions, but it sounds as though All That Jazz is not based on an autobiography and the Confessions film probably isn't much more fictionalised than the book, insofar as it can be judged at all. I'm looking for fictionalised films of factual memoirs.
One reason for restricting it to memoirs is that participants have a special right over their stories: changes made to biographical adaptations may actually be corrections. (Of course, autobiographies are far from objectively correct, but that's another matter.) Schindler's List was partly written here in Cracow, for example: I certainly realise that that is not a magical guarantee of authenticity, especially as Poles border on fantasism about the War (and by border on, I mean enter well into), but the book does not have a special right to the story either. |
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ci�nas 
"hands down"
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Posted - 02/24/2011 : 00:08:59
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An Education? Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) = Lynn Barber.
And if there�s such a thing as metanonfiction: Adaptation?
Pretty sparsely populated territory, I�d�ve thought.
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Chris C 
"Four words, never backwards."
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Posted - 02/24/2011 : 10:51:28
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I'm not sure if one or both of these fits your requirement:
The Terminal was based on true story of a man stuck at one of the Paris airports, despite the "This film is not based on any true event" statement at the end of the movie.
There is also some debate about the amount of truth in the original story of The Way Back. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/24/2011 : 11:58:06
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Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm going to keep this accolade about memoirs, but I think I'll create another one about stolen true-life stories (unless you want to, Chris). There are a couple of real versions if The Terminal, but the guy it's based on had some mental-health problems, so I felt it exploited him without offering any benefit.
I'll check out the last case later, as I haven't heard of it.
N.B. I have currently put some films in while I consider them. I have realised that by 'significant changes' I mainly just mean changes that I care about! |
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Chris C
"Four words, never backwards."
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Posted - 02/24/2011 : 13:18:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Cracovian
Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm going to keep this accolade about memoirs, but I think I'll create another one about stolen true-life stories (unless you want to, Chris).
I'll check out the last case later, as I haven't heard of it.
No thanks, to the first bit.
You might find this useful for The Way Back, which now looks as though it might fit the stolen true-life stories category.
It's a decent film, and worth catching if you get the chance. |
Edited by - Chris C on 02/24/2011 13:19:38 |
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Fictionalisations of memoirs
