Top 7 movies based on real-life scandalous stories

7. "Erin Brockovich"

• 2000
• USA
• Drama, biography
• Director: Steven Soderbergh
• Starring: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Coyote, Cherry Jones
• IMDb Rating: 7.4

After divorcing her second husband, Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is forced to take a job as a paralegal at a small firm to support her three children. She soon learns that a large corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, is contaminating the city's groundwater with carcinogenic hexavalent chromium, causing cancer in the townspeople. But it's not enough to find evidence of illegal activity, she must also make a case and find the strength to stand up to the huge corporation.

The real Erin Brockovich-Ellis claimed the movie was 99% accurate. Julia Roberts won the Oscar for Best Actress, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA, and Critics Choice awards and the title of Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globe Awards.

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6. "Richard Jewell"

• 2019
• USA
• Drama, biography
• Director: Clint Eastwood
• Starring: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde
• IMDb Rating: 7.5

Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) is a security guard who has always dreamed of becoming a real cop. In 1996, he gets the opportunity to keep order at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. On duty Jewell discovers a homemade bomb in time. Clearly following the instructions, he evacuates those present in the stands, thanks to which he saves many people. However, the universal gratitude does not last long: a few days later he becomes the main suspect in the case.

The movie is based on a true story of a service feat, for which Richard Jewell "awarded" public bullying. The film was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (Kathy Bates).

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5. "Dark Waters"  

• 2019
• USA
• Drama, detective, biography, history
• Director: Todd Haynes
• Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman, Bill Camp
• IMDb Rating: 7.6

Corporate lawyer Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) takes on the task of investigating the illegal activities of the huge chemical corporation DuPont, which has been polluting the environment for years, poisoning the health of hundreds of local residents. Bilott will face off in court against one of the giants of American industry.

"Dark Waters" is based on real events: at one time, the environmental scandal associated with DuPont became the most discussed event in America.

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4. "Bridge of Spies" 

• 2015
• USA, Germany, India
• Thriller, drama, military, history
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Austin Stowell
• IMDb Rating: 7.6

1957, Brooklyn. Renowned attorney James Donovan (Tom Hanks) gets an unusual case: his client Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance) is suspected of spying for the Soviet Union. Unlike his colleagues, Donovan defends the accused according to the law, much to the annoyance of all Americans. The lawyer manages to get Abel a prison sentence instead of the death penalty. It soon becomes clear that Francis Powers (Austin Stowell), an American spy, has been caught in the USSR. The Soviets offer to swap Abel for Powers, and Donovan undertakes to make the deal.

This is the true story of the first and most famous intelligence exchange between the two countries. Mark Rylance won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing Rudolf Abel.

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3. "Zodiac"

• 2007
• USA
• Thriller, detective, drama, crime
• Director: David Fincher
• Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr, Chloe Sevigny
• IMDb Rating: 7.7

California, 1969. An unknown man attacks a guy and a girl, the young man miraculously manages to survive. A little later, a letter arrives in the editorial office of the local newspaper, in which an anonymous author takes responsibility for the incident and attributes several other murders to himself. Detectives Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), as well as journalists Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) take up the investigation.

The movie is based on the true story of one of the most notorious serial killers of the United States, whose identity has not been established until now. The exact number of Zodiac's victims is unknown: the number varies from 7 to 37 people.

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2. "The Big Short"

• 2015
• USA
• History, biography, comedy, drama
• Director: Adam McKay
• Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo
• IMDb Rating: 7.8

After a lot of analytical work, hedge fund head Michael Burry (Christian Bale) comes to the conclusion that the American mortgage market is incredibly inflated and is about to burst. To capitalize on this, you just need to play down. Michael takes a risk and becomes a millionaire, at the same time enriching the clients of the fund. Several people decide to follow the financier, who is considered crazy by all others.

The movie is based on a true story about several people who got rich on the biggest financial shock of the XXI century. The film won an Oscar and a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay.

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1. "Spotlight" 

• 2015
• Drama, crime, biography
• Director: Tom McCarthy
• Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci
• IMDb Rating: 8.1

The Boston Globe newspaper is headed by new editor-in-chief Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) and offers the paper's take on a sensitive and poignant topic. The fact is that a priest of the Boston Catholic Church is accused of sexual abuse of children. To get to the truth, Baron entrusts the editor of the investigative team Spotlight Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton).

The movie is based on real events of 2012. The Boston Globe newspaper published an article about the Catholic Church in the United States not only failing to investigate pedophilia and sexualized abuse, but also obstructing the police. Priests were not suspended, but simply transferred to another parish. In the piggy bank of numerous awards "Spotlight" — Oscar for best film and screenplay.

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