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

8. Aftermath

Uma Thurman Notting Hill
Lionsgate

Not to be confused with the numerous other movies with the same title, 2017's Aftermath is a picture based on the tragic events of 1 July 2002 and the fallout of that.

That date saw a cargo jet and passenger jet have a mid-air collision over the German town of Überlingen that killed 71 people. After an investigation, the blame for this incident was placed at the door of the Swiss Air Traffic Controller service, with the tragedy taking place close to the Swiss border.

Nearly two years after this crash, Peter Nielsen - the air traffic controller on duty at the time of the crash - was murdered in a revenge attack by Vitaly Kaloyev. Kaloyev had lost his wife and two children in the 2002 accident.

In Aftermath, Arnold Schwarzenegger headlined an adaptation of this real tragedy. Names and locations were changed, but Schwarzenegger's Roman Melnyk was very much based on Vitaly Kaloyev - with Roman's wife and daughter killed in a mid-air collision, before he himself hunts down and kills the air traffic controller who he deems responsible for causing this crash.

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Senior Writer

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.