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Front Row: The rise of film and TV drama based on real events

The rise of film and TV drama based on real events

29/04/2011

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, The rise of film and TV drama based on real events

Kirsty Lang reports on why true stories currently inspire so many films and TV dramas.

Arts news and reviews with Kirsty Lang. Kirsty talks to directors, actors and producers about the rise and rise of films and TV dramas inspired by real events.

When director Danny Boyle read mountaineer Aran Ralston's account of how he cut off his own arm after being stranded in a canyon for five days, he knew he wanted to turn it into a film, which became the Oscar-nominated 127 Hours. 

Kirsty Lang talks to Boyle about the process of adapting a true story for the big screen. She also discusses the rise of films and TV dramas based on real events with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin who won the Oscar for his script for The Social Network; Public Enemies screenwriter Ronan Bennett; and actress Hilary Swank who played real characters in Boys Don't Cry and the recent Conviction. 

Screenwriter Peter Morgan, who wrote The Deal, The Last King of Scotland and Frost/Nixon, discusses how he approached the subject of Diana's death which ultimately became The Queen, starring Helen Mirren. 

And director Peter Weir explains why he turned his hand to an apparently true story when adapting the bestseller The Long Walk, turning it into his recent film The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell. 


Producer Jerome Weatherald.

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