When people talk about a Bette Midler movie from the ‘90s that focused on a trio of powerful women taking what they want, most people envision Hocus Pocus. While that makes a lot of sense since Hocus Pocus is great and fans are very excited by the first look at its sequel, that still is a shame. After all, anyone who has seen The First Wives Club should know that movie deserves to be talked about a lot more.Arguably one of the best movies to watch when you are getting over a breakup, The First Wives Club tells the story of a group of betrayed women getting revenge on the men who did them wrong. Of course, lots of people who’ve been betrayed in life have dreamed of getting vengeance but most people never go through with that. With that in mind, it may interest fans to know that there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not The First Wives Club is based on a true story.
Did The First Wives Club Happen In Real Life?
Over the years, there have been a lot of movies that were extremely anticipated because they were based on popular books. In a lot of cases, that can be a double-edged sword. After all, fans of the book will almost certainly watch the movie but they are a lot more likely to be disappointed since films rarely live up to what they imagined while reading. In an interesting twist, a lot of fans of The First Club have no idea the movie was based on a book and that arguably could be a good thing or a bad thing.
Before the movie The First Wives Club went into production, an author named Olivia Goldsmith wrote the book the film is based on. Instead of waiting for the book to come out and either succeed or fail, movie studio executive Sherry Lansing bought the film rights to the book in 1991. In 1992, the book “The First Wives Club” was published but when the movie came out, most people were unaware of the novel.
Tragically, the author of the book “The First Wives Club”, Olivia Goldsmith, passed away in 2004 after suffering a heart attack while she was under the knife. However, years before that, Goldsmith spoke to the South Florida Sun Sentinel writer Sherri Winston and revealed that part of her famous novel is based on reality. Sadly, the wives getting revenge on their exes was made up for the book and movie. Worse yet, Goldsmith revealed that the stories of betrayal that happened early in her book and the movie were all too real.
"The sad thing about First Wives is that all of the terrible things that happened to the wives were taken from actual people I knew. But all of the revenge was fictional." Elsewhere in the interview, Olivia Goldsmith explained her favorite theme to write about and The First Wives Club definitely touched on the topic. "It's always about an outsider vs. an insider. It's always about bullies. We're angry because it's unfair. I hate unfairness; it gives me anger. And anger fuels things."
The Truth About Other Movies That Are Based On True Stories
When viewers sit down to watch a movie and the words “based on a true story” flash on the screen, a lot of them sit up and pay a little bit more attention to the film. After all, even though everyone loves a good fantasy movie or the crazy action that takes place in blockbuster films, when you watch something that actually happened it is that much easier to invest.
If there is one thing that should be clear to everyone about Hollywood by now, it is that the powers that be are willing to embrace any concept if it will make them more money. For example, after Avatar made 3D popular, every major movie had to follow suit so they could cash in. With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that several completely fictional movies have been marketed as being based on real events.
In some cases, movies that claim to be based on a true story take inspiration from one true thing and then make up the rest. For example, one element of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s character Leatherface was based on Ed Gein but every other aspect of the film was fictional. Despite that, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre claims to be based on a true story.
Some other completely fake or partially made-up movies that claim to be true include Fargo, A Beautiful Mind, 300, Argo, and The Revenant among others. With a list like that in mind, it seems clear that The First Wives Club deserves to claim it is based on a true story more than a lot of films that actually pretend they focus on real events.