10 Movies You Didn't Know Were Based On Real-Life People

1. 50 First Dates

Uma Thurman Notting Hill
Columbia Pictures

One of the more unbelievable 'based on real life' movies to be featured here, is Peter Segal's 50 First Dates.

After the so-so Anger Management, Adam Sandler bounced back in a major way with this heart-warming 2004 effort. And to do that, he re-teamed with his Wedding Singer co-star Drew Barrymore.

It's Barrymore's character of Lucy Whitmore who has her roots in real life here. In 50 First Dates, Lucy had a car accident that causes her to wake up afresh every day, believing it to be the day of said accident and unable to retain new memories.

Surprisingly, Lucy was partially based on a woman called Michelle Philpots.

From Spalding, Lincolnshire, England, Michelle lost the ability to form new memories in 1994 after being involved in multiple vehicle accidents. The diagnosis from doctors was that Michelle has anterograde amnesia, and she manages each and every day by using a Post-It Note system that prompts her of what she needs to know.

Interestingly, Michelle didn't marry her now-husband Ian until three years after '94, meaning every day he has to win her over, much like Sandler's Henry Roth had to in 50 First Dates.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.