The Origins Of 6 Features Common In Films
3. The Fictional Events Disclaimer Was Born Out Of A Lawsuit
In 1932, MGM released the film Rasputin And The Empress. The
film centred on the legendary life and death of Russian mystic, Grigori
Rasputin. The preface to the film read, “This concerns the destruction of an empire brought about by the mad
ambition of one man. A few of the characters are still alive—the rest met death
by violence.”
This turned out to be a terrible mistake that led to led to almost every movie released since then being slapped with a variation of the following disclaimer, “The characters and events portrayed in this motion picture are entirely fictional. Similarities to any persons living or dead are purely coincidental.”
Rasputin And The Empress was fairly accurate in its adherence to historical facts. A few cinematic liberties were taken but nothing too outlandish. However, one man was very displeased with the movie. Prince Felix Yusupov. He was the man who murdered Rasputin. He had never made a secret out of that fact. In fact, Yusupov wrote a memoir in which he dutifully chronicled how he had managed to kill Rasputin.
The movie erred when it showed a character, Princess Natasha, getting raped by Rasputin during a séance. Natasha’s character was based on Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, Yusupov’s wife. The real Irina had never met Rasputin. Yusupov and his wife went to court. They sued MGM for libel; claiming the rape scene had soiled Irina’s honour by portraying her as unfit to be a wife.
MGM was fined $127,373 (2.4 million in 2020 dollars). It also paid an out of court settlement equal to about 19 million in 2020 dollars in addition to taking the film out of circulation. Ever since then, practically every film has been slapped with the fictional events disclaimer. Even a biopic on the life Jake La Motta on which the legendary boxer was actually a consultant still bore that disclaimer.