Based on a True Story

Lili Isle Elvenes, better known as Lili Elbe, was one of the first known recipients of a gender reassignment surgery. In 2015, her life was brought to the forefront of many people's minds when Alicia Vikander won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the film. Despite the film's success at the Academy Awards, there was a fair share of inaccuracies in the story on the big screen. Did you enjoy th...

The Social Network tells the story behind one of the world's most popular websites, Facebook. It's got everything that makes for a great story--there's greed, corruption, lawsuits and Justin Timberlake. But how true is the depiction of the site's early days? Let's find out. Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas.fm/episode/4e34d776-989a-493f-85e3-8123225ddec3 Find the transcri...

Anthropoid  hits theaters on Friday.   It's the story of how the Czechoslovakian government, forced into exile after the Germans occupied their homeland in 1938, tried to fight back and take down Reinhard Heydrich at the height of World War II. Learn the true story before you see the movie. Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas.fm/episode/352afdb3-6d6f-4e8c-9cd8-5d96d6406b22...

Will Smith would say Ali was the film he was most proud of as an actor. And it tells a very important story of a true legend: Muhammad Ali. Although it wasn't a box office success by the numbers, Will Smith and Jon Voight would go on to be nominated for their own Academy Awards for the film for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https:...

Pain & Gain is the first comedy we've covered here on the show. It was also the first comedy for Michael Bay since another Miami-based story, Bad Boys II in 2003. Another first for Pain & Gain is that, unlike the Transformer series, it is Michael Bay's first movie with a shred of truth. But the real story is anything but a comedy. Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas...

In 2007, director David Fincher helmed the movie simply entitled, Zodiac, which tells the thrilling story of a rash of killings in the 1960s and 70s. Despite the film's failure at the box office, the subject is one that seems to pique the public's interest whenever it's mentioned. In fact, it was just a few months ago during this year's presidential race in the United States when an internet meme...

In 2002, Steven Spielberg started filming the life of Frank Abagnale. Fortunately it only took about four months of filming for Spielberg to get the shots he needed. On Christmas Day of 2002, Spielberg's DreamWorks released Catch Me If You Can. The movie, which was directed by Spielberg himself, starred a young Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale along with other Hollywood stars such as Tom Hanks,...

Tom Clancy is known for his captivating military stories with stunningly accurate technical details. Clancy's career started with a fascinating novel: The Hunt for Red October. The Hunt for Red October is based on the true story of a brilliant young political officer by the name of Valery Sablin. While Clancy was praised by military officers for its technical accuracy, as it turns out the story of...

Next Friday, on June 24th, director Gary Ross, the three-time Academy Award nominated writer and director behind Seabiscuit , The Hunger Games and Pleasantville , has taken his place behind the camera once again in a movie he's written. This time Ross takes his talents back in time to tell the true true story of a farmer in Mississippi named Newton Knight. But how much of Free State of Jones is tr...

This year, Zack Snyder directed the epic Batman v Superman superhero movie, but it wasn't his first foray into comics. In fact, that came in 2006 when he directed the epic retelling of Frank Miller's popular comic book, 300 . The movie with the same name was a smash hit and became an instant classic as it told the story of the hero King Leonidas and his small band of 300 Spartans against an insurm...

Eight years ago, in 2008, Ron Howard directed the Oscar-nominated retelling of what are still the most popular political interviews to ever air on national TV. Frost/Nixon tells the story of 12 interviews performed by British talk-show host David Frost with the former President Nixon. The interviews were performed three years after Nixon had made history by becoming the first United States preside...

Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightley starred in 2014's The Imitation Game. Set in the midst of World War II, The Imitation Game tells the story of British mathematician Alan Turing and his quest to conquer the German Enigma code. While the movie did a great job relaying what it did, there's more to the story of Turing's amazing life and its incredibly sad end. Did you enjoy this episode? Leave...

On April 15th, Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, in honor of the man who broke down racial barriers by becoming the first black player in the MLB. A few years ago, a movie named after Jackie's jersey number -- 42 -- was released to an extremely positive critical response. How much of the story was true and what was missing from the movie? We'll find out in this week's episode a...

When a movie says it's based on a true story, how much of that is actually real? In our first episode we'll look at the true story behind 2015's blockbuster hit The Revenant . Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas.fm/episode/2d02f0c8-2b9e-4b34-ac3d-3b18b8c43db8 Find the transcript and full show notes:  https://links.boatspodcast.com/01 Support our sponsors: https://links.boat...