Real events have always been some of the most reliable sources of inspiration for directors and writers, which means there’s no shortage of compelling films drawn from accounts about real people and events. Whether you’re in the mood for an exploration of recent history or you’re looking to travel further back in time, there’s a movie out there for you.
There are plenty of options available, but we’ve gone ahead and curated a list of films that are inspired by true stories and are absolutely worth your while. Our list has it all: engrossing portraits of icons, spotlights on unsung figures from the past, and thrilling portrayals of harrowing events.
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Eddie Murphy’s salute to blaxploitation filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore is a fun and outrageous story of dogged perseverance. Murphy stars as Moore, an aging entertainer who, after years of struggling to make it in Hollywood, begins performing stand-up comedy as a foul-mouthed pimp character named Dolemite. The concept takes off, allowing him to turn his brash routine into an album and then a film career, which Moore approaches with a scrappy, homemade spirit. Look out for the supporting cast, which features Da’Vine Joy Randolph (a few years before her Oscar win) in her breakout film role, Keegan-Michael Key, Wesley Snipes, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, and more.
Zac Efron got plenty of attention for his wrenching performance in 2023’s The Iron Claw, but he was doing drama long before bulking up to play Kevin Von Erich. In 2019, he did something very different when he starred as Ted Bundy in true crime documentarian Joe Berlinger’s drama based on the life of the serial killer. The narrative tracks Bundy’s meeting and long-term relationship with Liz Kendall (Lily Collins), who believes his claims of innocence even as the law starts to catch on to his trail of murders. If you’re squeamish about depictions of violence but still interested in the story, Extremely Wicked focuses more on the bond between Bundy and Kendall –– and on explaining how Bundy evaded conviction for so long –– than it does on the actual details of his crimes.
Adapted from Charles Graeber’s 2013 true crime book, The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, this film is an unsettling thriller about serial killer Charles Cullen and the woman who helped bring him down. Jessica Chastain stars as Amy Loughren, a single mother and nurse who begins to suspect that Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), a new colleague who she’s become fast friends with, is complicit in the sudden deaths of several patients. For even more on this story, you can check out the documentary about the police investigation into Cullen, Capturing the Killer Nurse.
Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Charles Brandt’s 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses remains one of a select group of films to receive 10 nominations at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The acclaimed epic reunites Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci, following Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a union truck driver who descends into a life of crime when he starts working as a hit man for a mafia family, led by Russell Bufalino (Pesci). Don’t be intimidated by its more than three-hour run time; The Irishman makes every moment worth it by elegantly mapping Sheeran’s fall from grace, from beginning to lonely end.
Dev Patel earned his first Oscar nomination for his performance in Lion, which is adapted from Saroo Brierley’s memoir A Long Way Home. Patel plays Saroo, an Indian man who, at 5 years old, was separated from his family and subsequently adopted by an Australian couple (played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). Two decades later, armed only with his memories and Google Earth, Saroo embarks on a harrowing, obsessive journey to find his birth family and return to where he came from. Kidman also earned an Oscar nomination, though Lion’s breakout star is Sunny Pawar, who plays young Saroo.
Liz Garbus –– who has become best known for her documentaries like What Happened, Miss Simone? and There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane –– directs this chilling drama based on Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery, Robert Kolker’s nonfiction book about the murders of young female sex workers on the South Shore of Long Island, New York. Amy Ryan plays Mari Gilbert, a mother who puts pressure on the police to search for her missing daughter. Her advocacy opens up a larger investigation into the case. A suspect was arrested in connection with a number of the Gilgo Beach killings in 2023 (he has pleaded not guilty to four murder charges), and Garbus will probe that development in an upcoming documentary.
Nominated for seven Academy Awards, Bradley Cooper directs, co-writes, and stars in this intimate portrait of the complicated yet loving relationship between legendary composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan). The film follows Bernstein’s rise to prominence, beginning with his conducting debut at 25 years old, and shines light on his numerous affairs with men, as well as his alcohol abuse — all of which caused tension within his marriage. Cooper and Mulligan’s performances anchor Maestro, but the stylistic details are just as important: It’s hard to describe the film’s much-discussed six-minute conducting scene, which Cooper throws himself into with whole-hearted commitment. You just have to see it to believe it.
Directed by married duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, NYAD dramatizes the experiences of the titular Diana Nyad (Annette Bening), who in 2013 became the first person to complete the 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, at the age of 64. This seemingly impossible feat is Nyad’s lifelong dream, having first attempted the crossing in her twenties, and several decades later she’s spurred into trying it again by her own prickly determination. Though swimming is largely a solitary event, the film stresses how deeply Nyad needed the help of her team, led by her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster — who, like Bening, earned an Oscar nomination for her performance) and navigator John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans).
Academy Award-nominated director John Madden dramatizes an audacious World War II-era plot, involving a corpse, a briefcase full of fake documents, and James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Set in 1943, the film follows Captain Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen), a pair of British intelligence officers who devise a plan to deceive the Nazis in an effort to lure their armies away from the Italian coast and throw Germany off their plan to invade Sicily. A thrillingly unbelievable story of wartime espionage, the film also co-stars Kelly Macdonald, Johnny Flynn, and Jason Isaacs.
Rustin earned Colman Domingo his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Bayard Rustin, the Black Civil Rights leader who organized the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. (played here by Aml Ameen) delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Rustin’s contributions to the Civil Rights Movement have mostly gone unsung, due in large part to him being openly gay. But the film depicts the fiery and commanding Rustin’s refusal to get knocked down, even as his determination put him at odds with prominent Black leaders like NAACP chief Roy Wilkins (Chris Rock) and Representative Adam Clayton Powell (Jeffrey Wright).
Scoop gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how a shocking royal interview came to be. The film is based on Sam McAlister’s own account of how she managed to book Prince Andrew for his explosive 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, where he was questioned by journalist Emily Maitlis about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Scoop gets into the behind-the-scenes mechanics of the broadcast, with Billie Piper starring as McAlister, Gillian Anderson as Maitlis, and Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew.
Two Academy Award winners, John Ridley (screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave) and Regina King, unite for this film that brings Shirley Chisholm’s story to life. King plays Chisholm, a former schoolteacher and Brooklyn native who became the first Black congresswoman and, in 1972, became the first Black candidate to seek a major party’s nomination with her bold and trailblazing run for president. The star-studded supporting cast is filled out by Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, André Holland, Terrence Howard, and more.
Adapted from Pablo Vierci's 2008 book of the same name, J. A. Bayona’s Spanish-language film tells the harrowing story of the Uruguayan rugby team who, in 1972, became stranded in the Andes mountains after a plane crash. As the men begin to rapidly die due to the harsh conditions, the survivors toy with the impossible idea of resorting to cannibalism to keep themselves alive. What Society of the Snow does so well is focus on the relationships between the survivors, finding the balance between the treacherous conditions and the kindness they show each other.
In 1969, a group of anti-Vietnam War activists were charged with crossing state lines to incite a riot at the previous year’s Democratic National Convention, and, in 2020, Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed The Trial of the Chicago 7, which is inspired by their story. It’s a history lesson packed into an engaging, and often unbelievable, courtroom drama that highlights just how much power the government has always had over the American justice system. Sorkin’s script is packed with grand speeches and clever quips, giving the film’s sprawling cast (which features Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Michael Keaton, Jeremy Strong, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) plenty to sink their teeth into.
Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce lead this two-hander about the working relationship between two pontiffs during a critical era for the Catholic Church. Set mostly in the wake of the 2012 Vatican leaks scandal, the film finds Pope Benedict XVI (Hopkins) and the future Pope Francis I, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pryce), coming together to discuss whether Bergoglio would be a suitable replacement after Benedict resigns. Where Benedict is conservative, Bergoglio is liberal-minded, but they find common ground by discussing their lives, watching television, and bonding over sports. The Two Popes is a comedy about an unlikely friendship, but it’s also a thoughtful examination of faith.
Anna Kendrick makes her directorial debut with the chilling crime thriller Woman of the Hour, based on the true story of Rodney Alcala, the serial killer who became known as the Dating Game Killer. Set in the ’70s, Kendrick also stars as Sheryl Bradshaw, a struggling actor who agrees to appear on the game show The Dating Game. Unbeknownst to Sheryl, the innocuous Bachelor #3 is actually Alcala (Daniel Zovatto). The film alternates between two timelines, following Alcala and his victims and exploring Sheryl’s career issues.
