10 Movies Based on True Stories With Fictionalized Main Characters

Liza Drake in Pain Hustlers (2023)

The newish Netflix pharmaceutical drama stars Emily Blunt as the likable Liza Drake, a down-on-her-luck single mom who gets involved in pharmaceutical sales after meeting Pete Brenner (Chris Evans) at the adult entertainment establishment where she works.

It’s based on the nonfiction Evan Hughes book Pain Hustlers: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup, and as many have noted, the fictional Florida company in the film, Zanna, has many parallels with Insys Therapeutics, the real company examined in the book.

But Liza Drake is not a real person. She’s an appealing audience surrogate who invites us into the world of opioid sales. There are no pure heroes in Pain Hustlers, but Liza is as close as we get.