American Hustle (2013)

Directed by David O. Russell, American Hustle is based on the true story of the Abscam scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, a federal corruption investigation that snared six members of the U.S. House of Representatives, a U.S. senator, a New Jersey state legislator, three Philadelphia councilmen, and several political operatives. It involved invested Arab sheiks trying to get Atlantic City casino licenses, and eager to hand out suitcases full of money, among other lures.

American Hustle says in its credits that it is a work of fiction, but it gets the gist of the sting operation right. What’s made up are the lead characters, though all are based on real people. Christian Bale plays con man Irving Rosenfeld, Amy Adams plays his partner in crime and mistress, Sydney Prosser, Jennifer Lawrence plays his wife, Rosalyn Rosenfield, Bradley Cooper plays FBI agent Richie DiMaso, and Jeremy Renner plays mayor Carmine Polito.

Several characters are aged down from the people they are based on — because it’s Hollywood — and the film makes several changes for dramatic purposes. For example, while the real woman who inspired Sydney was born in the U.K., in the film she’s an ex-dancer from New Mexico.

And according to Bradley Cooper, his character was based on multiple people: “He was like a hybrid of three guys,” Cooper told a Santa Barbara International Film Festival audience earlier this year. “I remember one of the guys who thought it was based on him was not very happy.”