10 Disturbing True Stories Behind Famous Movies

Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can is a ludicrously entertaining biopic of legendary conman Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), and though Spielberg's film makes many changes to Abagnale's true story, it's all taken quite the twisted turn in recent years.

In 2020, a new book from journalist Alan C. Logan provided persuasive evidence that the majority of Abagnale's stories were fictionalised - namely that he cashed over $2 million in fake checks during the 1960s and 1970s, successfully posed as a doctor, lawyer, professor, and pilot, and regularly evaded the grasp of the FBI.

Logan discovered that Abagnale was actually in prison during the period where he claims to have carried out his most elaborate scams, and was only ever convicted of cashing $1,500 in bad checks.

As for posing as a pilot? In reality he dressed up as a pilot, befriended a flight attendant, and then stalked her all over the United States to maintain his ruse.

Logan argues that Abagnale began building a mythology around himself in the late 1970s, and due to his sheer persuasive charisma, was able to spin it off into media appearances, a best-selling 1980 autobiography, and of course the Spielberg film.

On one hand it adds another layer of amusement to the story, that even the book and movie themselves are fabrications, but also points to dark aspects of human nature - how committed a person can be to constructing a narrative about their life, and how willingly we'll blindly believe a compellingly told story.