10 Movies That Ruined Real Life People's Reputations
7. The Imitation Game - Commander Alastair Denniston
Despite winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, 2014's Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game was widely scrutinised for its shaky historical authenticity, as well as its downplaying of Turing's homosexuality.
But the film also got other "characters" wrong beyond Turing, namely Commander Alastair Denniston (Charles Dance), Turing's superior who oversees the cryptography team at Bletchley Park.
Denniston is portrayed here as a standoffish, disagreeable man who only stood in the way of Turing's attempts to crack the Enigma code.
This is largely counter to historical reports of Denniston and his interactions with Turing, prompting many to suggest that the film simply contrived Denniston as a "villain" to generate some added tension. After all, why else would you cast Charles Dance?
Denniston's family were offended enough to write a complaint to the Daily Telegraph:
"While the much-acclaimed film The Imitation Game rightly acknowledges Alan Turing’s vital role in the war effort, it is sad that it does so by taking an unwarranted sideswipe at Cdr Alastair Denniston, portraying him as a hectoring character who merely hindered Turing’s work."
This promoted the film's writer, Graham Moore, to respond that he attempted to convey the "natural conflict of people working extremely hard under unimaginable pressure," before referring to Denniston as "one of the great heroes of Bletchley Park."
Still, are people going to remember this tacit apology, or the acid-tongued portrayal of Denniston by one of our finest actors?