Inspired by a true story
November 25, 2017 3:25 PM Subscribe
The articles behind the movies:
Coyote Ugly trailer
The Bling Ring trailer
Adaptation trailer
Saturday Night Fever trailer
The Fast and the Furious trailer
Blue Crush trailer
The Insider trailer
The Perfect Storm trailer
Shattered Glass trailer
Argo trailer
Fast Times at Ridgemont High trailer
The Longform collection this post was shamelessly stolen from also includes Dog Day Afternoon, (Trailer) which MetaFilter discussed previously.
Coyote Ugly trailer
The Bling Ring trailer
Adaptation trailer
Saturday Night Fever trailer
The Fast and the Furious trailer
Blue Crush trailer
The Insider trailer
The Perfect Storm trailer
Shattered Glass trailer
Argo trailer
Fast Times at Ridgemont High trailer
The Longform collection this post was shamelessly stolen from also includes Dog Day Afternoon, (Trailer) which MetaFilter discussed previously.
Aw man, Saturday Night Fever is based on....imagination.
posted by 41swans at 4:16 PM on November 25, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by 41swans at 4:16 PM on November 25, 2017 [9 favorites]
(To those suggesting additions to the list, the key point is that these dramas/comedies/etc were based on non-fiction long-form essays [as opposed to fictional short stories]).
I was recently approached by some Hollywood producers who were eager to adapt some of my long-form non-fiction writings into movies. I was totally on board and excited until they sent me the contracts to look over. Hotchie motchie, the so-called 'boilerplate' for these deals is egregiously lopsided in favor of the producers. I asked them to make some alterations to offer me some of the same protections it gave them, but they were unwilling to alter a single word. A few examples copied straight from the contracts:
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 4:24 PM on November 25, 2017 [33 favorites]
I was recently approached by some Hollywood producers who were eager to adapt some of my long-form non-fiction writings into movies. I was totally on board and excited until they sent me the contracts to look over. Hotchie motchie, the so-called 'boilerplate' for these deals is egregiously lopsided in favor of the producers. I asked them to make some alterations to offer me some of the same protections it gave them, but they were unwilling to alter a single word. A few examples copied straight from the contracts:
Owner hereby sells and assigns to Producer exclusively and forever the “Granted Rights” which shall be defined as all rights including the motion picture, television, allied and ancillary rights for the entire universe, in any and all languages, in and to the Work, including the theme thereof and all of the contents thereof, all the characters therein, all present and future adaptations, translations, revisions and other versions thereof (including sequels and prequels) whether now existing or hereafter created, and in and to the copyright thereof and all renewals and extensions of said copyright.
Owner shall not issue any publicity nor make any statement concerning Producer, the Picture or Owner's services hereunder without Producer's prior written consent; provided, however, that incidental nonderogatory references to Producer, the Picture or Owner's services in connection therewith shall be permitted.
Producer shall have the right of approval, not to be unreasonably withheld, of any attorneys or other counsel retained by Owner in connection with the performance of their obligations pursuant to this paragraph. Producer may withhold from any monies payable to Owner such amount as Producer may deem reasonably necessary to cover Owner's potential liability on account of any such claim or litigation;
Producer may assign this Agreement or any of its rights hereunder to any person, firm or corporation, and this Agreement shall inure to the benefit of its successors and assigns and shall be binding upon Owner's heirs, next of kin, representatives, successors and assigns. Owner shall not have the right to assign this Agreement or any of Owner's rights hereunder, or to delegate any of Owner's obligations hereunder.
In no event may Owner terminate this Agreement or obtain injunctive or other equitable relief with respect to any breach of Producer's obligations hereunder. Under no circumstances shall Producer be in a less favorable situation than we would have been had Producer not secured from Owner the rights and immunities contained herein.I would have received a symbolic $5 for signing these 5 contracts, after that hoping that the producers could produce something profitable, and hoping that the subsequent compensation contract would be fair and reasonable.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 4:24 PM on November 25, 2017 [33 favorites]
The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon
BY ELIZABETH GILBERT
....was also famous for tossing shots of rum into her mouth, holding a lighter to her lips and blowing ten-foot bursts of flame across the room
He gets on all fours and tucks the bloated glove into his belt, so it hangs like an udder. He moos. Naturally, I grab two rubber bands and quickly put my hair in farm-girl pigtails. And then I milk him. The crowd is cheering
I was subletting a drug addict's apartment, just off Avenue B. When I moved in, there was nothing in the refrigerator but a syringe, and the microwave literally contained a layer of topsoil.
But wait, take a beat,
what happened to this street smart down and dirty cool as rot gut whiskey chick?
no, really, obituary time? well, no...
WHAT?
Elizabeth is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE
no really WHAT?
now that's, ah, range I guess
posted by sammyo at 4:31 PM on November 25, 2017 [30 favorites]
BY ELIZABETH GILBERT
....was also famous for tossing shots of rum into her mouth, holding a lighter to her lips and blowing ten-foot bursts of flame across the room
He gets on all fours and tucks the bloated glove into his belt, so it hangs like an udder. He moos. Naturally, I grab two rubber bands and quickly put my hair in farm-girl pigtails. And then I milk him. The crowd is cheering
I was subletting a drug addict's apartment, just off Avenue B. When I moved in, there was nothing in the refrigerator but a syringe, and the microwave literally contained a layer of topsoil.
But wait, take a beat,
what happened to this street smart down and dirty cool as rot gut whiskey chick?
no, really, obituary time? well, no...
WHAT?
Elizabeth is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE
no really WHAT?
now that's, ah, range I guess
posted by sammyo at 4:31 PM on November 25, 2017 [30 favorites]
Thanks for the clarification, Pastrami! I could have framed my post a little better.
posted by Grandysaur at 4:31 PM on November 25, 2017
posted by Grandysaur at 4:31 PM on November 25, 2017
Outside Magazine was really something, for a few years.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:47 PM on November 25, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:47 PM on November 25, 2017 [7 favorites]
I remember reading that Coyote Ugly article when it came out; autres temps, autres mœurs.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:13 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by betweenthebars at 5:13 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
EAT SPRAY GLOVE?
posted by Artw at 5:16 PM on November 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:16 PM on November 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
Adaptation was a crazy movie and I just have to say it made me feel high af even tho i was sober watching it.
posted by some loser at 5:28 PM on November 25, 2017
posted by some loser at 5:28 PM on November 25, 2017
WHAT?
Elizabeth is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE
no really WHAT?
Hahaha I had this realization at one point, but in reverse.
posted by atoxyl at 6:10 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Elizabeth is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE
no really WHAT?
Hahaha I had this realization at one point, but in reverse.
posted by atoxyl at 6:10 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Gilbert is an amazing writer and also TED speaker. One of my favorites. I know it’s easy to make fun of Eat Pray Love but her recent novel The Signature of All Things was gobsmackingly good.
posted by asavage at 6:17 PM on November 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by asavage at 6:17 PM on November 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
"Dead Ringers" by Ron Rosenbaum and Susan Edmiston in Esquire.
posted by amk at 6:25 PM on November 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by amk at 6:25 PM on November 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Hot Pastrami, I understood your point. The Mothman Prophecies: A True Story is a work of non-fiction (for some values of non-fiction), so it fits the "based on a true story" criteria quite well.
posted by SPrintF at 6:34 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 6:34 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
My own Elizabeth Gilbert realization, from right here on Metafilter.
posted by Ian A.T. at 6:40 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Ian A.T. at 6:40 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Over The Edge (1979)
Based on "Mouse Packs: Kids On A Crime Spree" in the San Francisco Examiner, which doesn't appear to be online.
posted by abrightersummerday at 8:09 PM on November 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
Based on "Mouse Packs: Kids On A Crime Spree" in the San Francisco Examiner, which doesn't appear to be online.
posted by abrightersummerday at 8:09 PM on November 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
I have a theory that the movie Hackers is based almost entirely on an extensive reading/misreading of Bruce Sterling's peice of extended journalism, The Hacker Crackdown.
posted by Artw at 8:45 PM on November 25, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:45 PM on November 25, 2017 [6 favorites]
Outside Magazine was really something, for a few years.
I noticed also that Susan Orlean wrote two of these pieces (one of them for Outside).
posted by atoxyl at 9:07 PM on November 25, 2017
I noticed also that Susan Orlean wrote two of these pieces (one of them for Outside).
posted by atoxyl at 9:07 PM on November 25, 2017
Since people are mentioning Outside, I wondered why "Into the Wild" and "Into Thin Air" weren't mentioned, having been not only turned into books but movies, and it turns out that they've both been pulled from the magazine's own site. Oh, well.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:33 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:33 PM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
I would have received a symbolic $5 for signing these 5 contracts, after that hoping that the producers could produce something profitable, and hoping that the subsequent compensation contract would be fair and reasonable.
Knowing what complete fiction film financing is, I am glad you didn't. SOMEHOW they would find a way to not pay you ANYTHING until the money became too big to hide, and, even then they would find a way to not turn a nickle profit...
posted by Samizdata at 3:20 AM on November 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
Knowing what complete fiction film financing is, I am glad you didn't. SOMEHOW they would find a way to not pay you ANYTHING until the money became too big to hide, and, even then they would find a way to not turn a nickle profit...
posted by Samizdata at 3:20 AM on November 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
I have a theory that the movie Hackers is based almost entirely on an extensive reading/misreading of Bruce Sterling's peice of extended journalism, The Hacker Crackdown.
Properly sexified and made entertaining, yeah, I concur. Especially with some of the old dialectic (which makes me sad since that sort of yearning for a better future is pretty much dead now).
posted by Samizdata at 3:24 AM on November 26, 2017
Properly sexified and made entertaining, yeah, I concur. Especially with some of the old dialectic (which makes me sad since that sort of yearning for a better future is pretty much dead now).
posted by Samizdata at 3:24 AM on November 26, 2017
I have a theory that the movie Hackers is based almost entirely on an extensive reading/misreading of Bruce Sterling's peice of extended journalism, The Hacker Crackdown.
Emphasis on the *mis*-reading angle, for sure, but I can see how that makes a plausible origin story for the movie.
Properly sexified and made entertaining, yeah, I concur.
Well, yes, Angelina Jolie takes care of the first part. Not so sure that "entertaining" applies. Then again, that could be because I was in those communities at the time, and the movie was considered a joke right up to the point where it started scaring politicians and prosecutors to slam computing hobbyists merely for being too curious.
Incidentally, to this day it still stuns me that Johnny Lee Miller, who plays protagonist Dade/"Zero Cool"/"Crash Override" in Hackers, is the same person who plays Sherlock Holmes in the TV show Elementary. My brain just doesn't fully want to accept that, even though looking at the images side by side makes it entirely obvious.
posted by mystyk at 6:20 AM on November 26, 2017
Emphasis on the *mis*-reading angle, for sure, but I can see how that makes a plausible origin story for the movie.
Properly sexified and made entertaining, yeah, I concur.
Well, yes, Angelina Jolie takes care of the first part. Not so sure that "entertaining" applies. Then again, that could be because I was in those communities at the time, and the movie was considered a joke right up to the point where it started scaring politicians and prosecutors to slam computing hobbyists merely for being too curious.
Incidentally, to this day it still stuns me that Johnny Lee Miller, who plays protagonist Dade/"Zero Cool"/"Crash Override" in Hackers, is the same person who plays Sherlock Holmes in the TV show Elementary. My brain just doesn't fully want to accept that, even though looking at the images side by side makes it entirely obvious.
posted by mystyk at 6:20 AM on November 26, 2017
I still can't believe Sick Boy married Angelina Jolie.
posted by Artw at 7:48 AM on November 26, 2017
posted by Artw at 7:48 AM on November 26, 2017
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote a really great piece about the Three Gorges Dam for Spin that I read at 16 and that turned me into an environmentalist. I've spent most of my career working for environmental groups. It's been weird watching her get turned into a lifestyle icon, but she is a fantastic writer.
posted by lunasol at 8:02 AM on November 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by lunasol at 8:02 AM on November 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
One of the Die Hard films was actually based on a non-fiction essay from Wired.
posted by surenoproblem at 1:02 PM on November 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by surenoproblem at 1:02 PM on November 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
I thought this was the true story they based The Fast and the Furious on?
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 1:39 PM on November 26, 2017
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 1:39 PM on November 26, 2017
Well, yes, Angelina Jolie takes care of the first part. Not so sure that "entertaining" applies. Then again, that could be because I was in those communities at the time, and the movie was considered a joke right up to the point where it started scaring politicians and prosecutors to slam computing hobbyists merely for being too curious.
Incidentally, to this day it still stuns me that Johnny Lee Miller, who plays protagonist Dade/"Zero Cool"/"Crash Override" in Hackers, is the same person who plays Sherlock Holmes in the TV show Elementary. My brain just doesn't fully want to accept that, even though looking at the images side by side makes it entirely obvious.
I mean sexified as in cool, cute, hip charming hackers. Nary a neckbeard in sight.
And, it was SOOOOO bad, but it is the only bad hacker movie I will cut slack, as it is so earnest and it tried SO hard, mocking it would be like kicking a puppy with only two legs.
posted by Samizdata at 5:16 PM on November 26, 2017
Incidentally, to this day it still stuns me that Johnny Lee Miller, who plays protagonist Dade/"Zero Cool"/"Crash Override" in Hackers, is the same person who plays Sherlock Holmes in the TV show Elementary. My brain just doesn't fully want to accept that, even though looking at the images side by side makes it entirely obvious.
I mean sexified as in cool, cute, hip charming hackers. Nary a neckbeard in sight.
And, it was SOOOOO bad, but it is the only bad hacker movie I will cut slack, as it is so earnest and it tried SO hard, mocking it would be like kicking a puppy with only two legs.
posted by Samizdata at 5:16 PM on November 26, 2017
Also with Sherlock he's defied his own theory.
Elementary is merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:33 PM on November 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
Elementary is merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:33 PM on November 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
And, it was SOOOOO bad, but it is the only bad hacker movie I will cut slack, as it is so earnest and it tried SO hard
And because along with Trainspotting and Until The End Of The World, it has one of the great soundtracks of the '90s.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:58 AM on November 27, 2017
And because along with Trainspotting and Until The End Of The World, it has one of the great soundtracks of the '90s.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:58 AM on November 27, 2017
Truly it was the decade of the jukebox soundtrack and that was one of the best.
posted by Artw at 6:59 AM on November 27, 2017
posted by Artw at 6:59 AM on November 27, 2017
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posted by rhizome at 4:03 PM on November 25, 2017