10 Movies Based On True Stories (That Were Total Lies)

10. Fargo

Here's one that's just downright ridiculous.... and downright hilarious, too. It's also the only inclusion on our list that justifies its existence as a "true story" because the filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing when they branded it as such.

So stick Fargo into your DVD player and you'll find that the movie opens with a black screen and a title card which reads: "This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed." And yet Fargo is entirely fictional from start to finish.

So why did the Coens do this? What was the point? Quite simply, they decided that if they set the movie up as a true story from the very beginning, then the audience would be more likely to be believe some of its more outlandish events instead of writing them off as too ridiculous. In director Joel Coen's own words: "If an audience believes that something's based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept."

The truth is that Fargo's plot exists as a sort of hodgepodge of various real life crimes that took place in North Dakota.