Movies are pure magic; they can take us to places we could never possibly visit in real life, and allow narratives to unfold that are just too absurd to happen in boring old real life. However, sometimes reality has a habit of being a lot stranger than we give it credit for; sometimes Hollywood seems to appreciate this and draws from these "stranger than fiction"-type stories for inspiration, and other times, it's a case of film buffs deciding they'd like to enact a scene from one of their favourite movies. Whether it's movies informing real life or the other way around, here are 10 outrageous movie plots that, believe it or not, have actually happened...
10. Ocean's Eleven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7VTkceSsEw Steven Soderbergh's remake of Ocean's Eleven is a slick, intelligent heist film that sees a gang of dapper, genius thieves pulling off an audacious heist at three Las Vegas casinos, and thrilling though it is to watch, most assumed that such a feat simply couldn't happen in real life. In Australia, however, one enterprising hacker managed to turn a casino's surveillance array against itself, playing at a high-stakes table while having the hands of other players fed to him in an earpiece. This allowed him to make off with a cool $33m. The man was banned from the casino after being identified on surveillance footage, and the employee looking after him was fired. Apparently the man's luxurious spending didn't cause much suspicion because of the decadent nature of the casino which tends to attract high-rollers. In a move that totally isn't going to encourage repeat offences, one Vegas security consultant suggested that the technology used to pull off the heist was far less elegant than in Soderbergh's film; it can all be purchased from run of the mill electronics stores. It was also suggested that this is a far more regular occurrence than most would expect, yet casinos rarely disclose it for sake of embarrassment.