The Netflix series Inventing Anna stars Julia Garner as Anna Sorokin, a socialite hustler living in New York who pretended to be a German heiress named Anna Delvey between 2013 and 2017 in order to defraud banks, hotels and wealthy people. knowledge.
While the Shonda Rhimes-created show is based on true events, the main inspiration for the nine-part series comes from the New York magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” by Jessica Pressler. In the show, Anna Chlumsky plays Vivian Kent, a version of Pressler working for the fictional magazine Manhattan, and the series is as much about the process of getting her article printed as it is about Anna’s con.
Inventing Anna isn’t alone in drawing inspiration from the glossy pages of a magazine – films from Top Gun to Boogie Nights began as stories told by reporters. From political exposes to meta-comedies, here are 10 movies that are also based on magazine reports to watch after you binge Inventing Anna.
Hustlers
Another New York magazine article, also written by Pressler, titled “The Hustlers at Scores” served as the basis for the 2019 film Hustlers. Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez play strippers who rob wealthy clients by drugging them and using their credit cards. Julia Stiles plays a fictionalized version of Pressler named Elizabeth, and her role in the film is mostly about framing the narrative — her interview questions for Destiny (Wu) prompt the film’s story to unfold.
Adaptation
Based on Susan Orlean’s 1995 New Yorker article “The Orchid Thief,” Adaptation stars Nicolas Cage as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman — and his fictional twin brother Donald — who struggles with writer’s block then that he is trying to adapt The Orchid Thief. Meryl Streep plays Orlean, while Chris Cooper plays John Laroche, the subject of the feature film. The meta-comedy-drama eventually turns into completely fictionalized events, but the basis of the story is rooted in Orleans’ play New Yorker, which later became a book.
boogie nights
Paul Thomas Anderson’s second film, Boogie Nights, was inspired by “The Devil and John Holmes”, a 1989 Rolling Stone article by Mike Sager – John Holmes is the porn star Mark Wahlberg’s character Dirk Diggler, was based, and the film traces his rise (and fall) in the porn industry in 70s California. Sager’s essay also inspired the film Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer, on the Holmes’ involvement in the 1981 Wonderland murders.
ugly coyote
Coyote Ugly was inspired by the GQ article “The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon” by Elizabeth Gilbert, also known as the author of Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert worked in the table dance bar in New York where the film is set and the article is a memoir of his time working there. The film, released in 2000, follows an aspiring New Jersey songwriter (Piper Perabo) who tries to make it in the big city and gets a job at the Coyote Ugly Saloon.
Saturday night fever
“Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night”, written by Nik Cohn for New York magazine in 1976, served as the basis for the movie Saturday Night Fever. Originally published as a factual report, Cohn revealed 20 years later that his story was in fact fictional and that the man John Travolta’s Tony was based on did not actually exist. In the film, Tony is a young Italian-American who uses his local nightclub as an escape from the harsh realities of real life.
almost known
Almost Famous is based on “The Allman Brothers Story”, a Rolling Stone feature film by Cameron Crowe. Crowe also directed the film, which is semi-autobiographical and follows a teenage Rolling Stone journalist (Patrick Fugit) who goes on tour with a fictional band called Stillwater in the 70s as he tries to get his first cover. . Rather than being entirely based on The Allman Brothers, Crowe says Stillwater is an amalgamation of several of the bands he encountered during his time as a music journalist.
Superior gun
The basis for the Tom Cruise Top Gun actor was Ehud Yonay’s 1983 “Top Guns” article in the California magazine, about the lives of fighter pilots at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego (also known as the name “Fightertown USA”), which was the location of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School. In the 1986 film, Cruise plays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a US Navy pilot who goes to train there. A sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, will be released in May 2022.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is based on the two-part report of the same name for Rolling Stone by Hunter S. Thompson (which Thompson later turned into a novel). The first article was a report on the death of a Mexican-American journalist at the hands of the Los Angeles police, while the second was a report on the National District Attorneys Association conference on narcotics and dangerous drugs. Johnny Depp plays Raoul Duke, a fictionalized version of Thompson, while Benicio del Toro is Dr. Gonzo, a fictionalized version of Oscar Zeta Acosta, a lawyer and Thompson’s primary source.
The fast and the furious
Director Rob Cohen was inspired to direct The Fast and the Furious after reading Ken Li’s 1998 VIBE magazine “Racer X” article about a street racer named Rafael Estevez from New York City. The article also mentions the popularity of customizing Japanese import cars and efforts by law enforcement to reduce street racing. The first film in the Fast franchise follows undercover cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) tasked with uncovering the identity of a group of hijackers led by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel).
The bling ring
Sofia Coppola’s 2013 film The Bling Ring was based on “The Suspects Wore Louboutins”, an article by Nancy Jo Sales in Vanity Fair. It tells the story of a group of teenagers who tracked the whereabouts of celebrities online in order to rob their homes when they were empty – their victims included Paris Hilton and Rachel Bilson (Hilton also made an appearance in the film). Over approximately 10 months in 2008 and 2009, they stole approximately $3 million in cash and property.
For more viewing suggestions, be sure to check out the best Netflix movies available to watch right now.
