You'll be shocked when you learn what these movies left out. For this list, we’ll be looking at biopics and films inspired by real-life events that omitted fascinating details we would’ve liked to have seen on the screen.
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00:00Our own mothers were ashamed of us, hid us our whole lives.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 based on a true
00:12story movies that left out the craziest part.
00:15I've told him he knows now!
00:16You drank blood, Abby!
00:17You didn't tell him that!
00:18You'd never say that again!
00:19You're a legend, Fred.
00:20For bloody right I am.
00:21We're all legends.
00:22I never hit him.
00:23That's not me.
00:24I'm actually a pretty neat guy.
00:25He hit me, though.
00:26Pack the wallet.
00:27For this list, we'll be looking at biopics and films inspired by real-life events that
00:28omitted fascinating details we would have liked to have seen on the screen.
00:29We'll also be counting down our picks for the top 10 based on a true story movie that
00:30left out the craziest part.
00:31Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 based on a true
00:32story movie that left out the craziest part.
00:33I've told him he knows now!
00:34You drank blood, Abby!
00:35You didn't tell him that!
00:36You'd never say that again!
00:37You're a legend, Fred.
00:38For bloody right I am.
00:39We're all legends.
00:40I never hit him.
00:41That's not me.
00:52Which true story do you think left out the craziest part?
00:55Let us know in the comments.
00:5710.
00:59The Bearded Lady's True Backstory – The Greatest Showman
01:08Among this crowd-pleasing musical's many artistic liberties, P.T.
01:12Barnum actually got his big break by acquiring Joyce Heff, an elderly African-American woman,
01:18and turning her autopsy into an attraction.
01:21The Bearded Lady, Letty Lutz, also had her history tweaked.
01:25Please leave me alone.
01:30They don't understand, but they will.
01:38Her real name was Annie Jones, and she didn't join Barnum's circus as an adult.
01:42Jones was merely nine months old, earning her parents $150 a week.
01:47Between then and her death at age 37, Jones grew facial hair as a five-year-old, got married
01:53twice, and was supposedly kidnapped by a phrenologist posing as her father, resulting in a court
01:59case.
02:00Whether that last part is true or a publicity stunt, Jones' story had the potential to
02:05be the greatest show on Earth.
02:099.
02:14Crucible Cakes – The Crucible
02:29This adaptation of Arthur Miller's play captures the paranoia and injustice of the
02:33Salem witch trials, but overlooks an especially weird element.
02:38There were many nonsensical ways of testing accused witches, including throwing them in
02:43the water to see if they floated or sank.
02:45In the case of Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, their urine was baked into a rye flour
02:50cake.
02:51A dog then ate the disgusting dessert, which somehow was supposed to lead the witch hunters
02:56to the root of evil.
02:57We've heard of urinal cakes, but this is ridiculous.
03:10When the dog didn't get sick, Williams and Parris accused an enslaved woman named
03:14Tibbita and two others of witchcraft.
03:17Ironically, Tibbita made the cake, and she eventually confessed despite the lack of proof.
03:308.
03:32Isidore and Ida Strauss – Titanic
03:41Jack and Rose are fictional characters, but at least one tragic romance actually occurred
03:46on the RMS Titanic.
03:47We all remember the haunting image of an elderly man and woman embracing in bed, accepting
03:52fate as the water floods into their room.
03:54These two are based on Isidore and Ida Strauss, a real-life couple who went down with the
03:59ship.
04:00Although the Strausses could have gotten on a lifeboat with their maid Ellen Bird, Isidore
04:03was unwilling to go, since women and children remained in jeopardy.
04:07Isidore tried convincing his wife to get to safety, but Ida chose to stay with the man
04:12she loved.
04:20A deleted scene depicts Ida staying by Isidore's side, but we gladly would have watched an
04:25entire movie about this couple.
04:357.
04:37Sun City Performance – Bohemian Rhapsody
04:52Whether you love or hate this Queen biopic, it would have been interesting to see one
04:56of the band's most controversial concerts recreated.
05:00In 1984, Queen took their works tour to the Sun City Super Bowl in Bofotetswana, South
05:05Africa.
05:06Their decision to play in South Africa was met with an outcry since the country continued
05:10to practice apartheid, a segregation system.
05:14The Britain's Musicians' Union banned members from putting on a show in Sun City,
05:18and the United Nations advised against playing in the country altogether.
05:34Queen went through with the gig regardless, although a few shows had to be cancelled when
05:38Freddie Mercury's voice gave out.
05:40Queen argued that they did it for their fans in South Africa, claiming their crowds were
05:454 misfits who don't belong together playing to the other misfits.
05:49The outcasts, right at the back of the room, who are pretty sure they don't belong either.
05:536.
05:54Tonya Harding – A Woman of Many Talents – I, Tonya
05:58Tonya Harding's rivalry with Nancy Kerrigan remains one of the most shocking scandals
06:02to ever rock the sports world.
06:04What's just as crazy, though, is Harding's life after being banned from competitive skating.
06:13While the epilogue briefly touches upon her boxing career and other jobs, there's a
06:28lot more to her story.
06:42She made her acting debut in the 1996 indie film Breakaway, playing a restaurant manager
06:47who gets involved in a stolen money plot.
06:55That same year, she revived an 81-year-old woman named Alice Olsen after she stopped
07:00breathing in a bar.
07:02Harding has since broken a land speed record in her 1931 Ford Model A and become a reality
07:08TV star.
07:09We'd love to see this all explored in a sequel to Tonya.
07:135.
07:14The Life of John DuPont – Foxcatcher
07:23Foxcatcher leaves out some of the most jaw-dropping details about John DuPont, such as a horse
07:28riding accident that cost him two valuable assets.
07:41DuPont nearly shot a 12-year-old boy by a pond while aiming for geese.
07:45He was briefly married to Gail Wank, who claims DuPont tried shoving her into a fireplace
07:50at gunpoint.
07:51The mentally ill DuPont allegedly thought Wank was a Russian spy.
07:56He also thought treadmill clocks were sending him back in time and spirits were tunneling
08:00into his house.
08:10On one hand, part of what makes Foxcatcher such a disturbing experience is that DuPont
08:15remains clouded in mystery throughout.
08:17On the other hand, DuPont's life before the Schultz brothers could have been an equally
08:21unsettling film.
08:234.
08:24John Nash's Sexuality, Arrest, and Child – A Beautiful Mind
08:41This Best Picture winner ends with mathematician John Nash dedicating his Nobel Prize to his
08:45wife Alicia.
08:47Although he did win the Nobel in 1994, Nash and Alicia were divorced for more than 30
08:52years before remarrying in 2001.
08:55Where Alicia has a prominent role in the film, it completely ignores Eleanor Stier, a nurse
09:00who had an illegitimate child with Nash when he was single.
09:04Also absent is their son, John David Stier, who Nash neglected for most of his life.
09:14Nash's sexuality isn't fully explored either.
09:17Although Nash denied being gay, some have recounted his infatuation with various men.
09:22His 1954 arrest for indecent exposure is omitted as well.
09:35Had these chapters been included, we feel Nash's portrayal would have been even more
09:39layered.
09:403.
09:41Tough Luck, Togo – Balto
09:43Being a family-friendly animated film, we know how to take the true story label with
09:48a grain of salt.
09:49Well, maybe a truckload of salt, as Balto didn't even run the most dangerous part
10:02of the 1925 serum to the gnome.
10:04That distinction goes to another dog named Togo, who went through freezing hell to make
10:09the delivery.
10:11Since Balto led the last leg, he got the glory, the statue, and the movie.
10:26To be fair, Togo has received more credit in recent years.
10:29He even got his first statue in 1997 and a live-action film in 2019.
10:34While that movie delves deeper into Togo's journey, it overlooks the aftermath where
10:38he chased after a reindeer, disappeared, and was eventually returned to his owner,
10:43Leonard Seppala.
10:452.
10:46Getting to Know the Real Anna – The King and I
10:56As seen in this classic musical and its source material, Anna Leah Nowens accepted a job
11:01teaching the King of Siam's wives and children.
11:04Anna's life leading up to this point isn't what pop culture has led you to believe, however.
11:09For starters, Anna was a mixed-race woman born in India.
11:12While the film portrays her as upper-class, Anna was left little money after her husband
11:17died.
11:18She thus moved to Singapore and started a school for British officers' children.
11:22Anna took this time to reinvent herself, claiming that she was originally from Wales.
11:26Her father was a major, and her late husband was an army officer.
11:34She also adopted a polished English accent, lied about her age, and neglected to mention
11:38her mother's heritage.
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12:011.
12:03Something That Happened Next – Zola
12:12Like the Twitter thread it's based on, this film might have exaggerated some elements
12:16regarding Asia Zola King's crazy Tampa trip.
12:20On the whole, though, this unbelievable true story is more fact than fiction.
12:29The insanity didn't end with the road trip.
12:31Two women named Brianna Pello and Jessica Forgey subsequently got mixed up with Jessica
12:36Rae Swietkowski, renamed Stephanie in the film, and her pimp.
12:48Swietkowski reportedly contacted Zola a few days after the trip, claiming that her pimp
12:54got arrested in Vegas.
12:56Given everything that previously transpired, Zola chose to not get involved.
13:00He pled guilty to sex trafficking and coercion, receiving a 16-year sentence with the possibility
13:05of parole after five.
13:07This movie needed an epilogue.
13:16Do you agree with our picks?
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