History HistoricalVillainUpgrade / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/TheMummy1932'' and ''Film/TheMummy1999'' both do this to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep#Medicine Imhotep]], the Ancient Egyptian chancellor of Pharaoh Djoser. From what little historians have unncovered about Imhotep he was ''definitely'' a great positive influence upon Egypt and to an extent mankind itself, with his great knowledge and skill in architecture, mathematics, and especially medicine as a physician resulting in him being revered as a HealerGod by Egyptian society. In the 1993 Universal ''Mummy'' movie however, Imhotep is a skulking undead EvilSorcerer who in the later Creator/BrendanFraser films is a WalkingWasteland, OmnicidalManiac and even a DarkMessiah - basically ''the exact opposite'' of everything the real life Imhotep was worshipped by Ancient Egyptians for.

* ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt1993'' did this to Ike Turner, exaggerating his real flaws (namely drug addiction, anger issues, and hitting Music/TinaTurner on a few occasions) to an utterly insane degree in order to make him a deranged, misogynistic monster who regularly beat Tina within an inch of her life over the slightest provocation, and even going as far as raping her at least once. Little-to-none of this is supported by reality. What makes this example especially vile is that Ike was ''still alive'' when the movie was made, and it pretty much destroyed his career and reputation [[YankTheDogsChain right as he was finally cleaning up his life]]. Tina herself (whose autobiography inspired the film) and Music/PhilSpector were both revolted by the Villain Upgrade, with Tina [[CreatorBacklash refusing to even watch the entire movie]], and the only reason Ike himself didn't sue the filmmakers for slander was because he short-sightedly signed a waiver prior to production that prevented him from doing so.

* ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt1993'' did this to Ike Turner, exaggerating his real flaws (namely drug addiction, anger issues, and hitting Music/TinaTurner on a few occasions) to an utterly insane degree in order to make him a deranged, misogynistic rapist who regularly beat Tina within an inch of her life for no reason, little-to-none of which is supported by reality. What makes this example especially vile is that Ike was ''still alive'' when the movie was made, and it pretty much destroyed his career and reputation [[YankTheDogsChain right as he was finally cleaning up his life]]. Tina herself (whose autobiography inspired the film) and Music/PhilSpector were both revolted by the Villain Upgrade, with Tina [[CreatorBacklash refusing to even watch the movie]], and the only reason Ike himself didn't sue the filmmakers for slander was because he short-sightedly signed a waiver prior to production that prevented him from doing so.

* ''Film/{{Wired}}'', the {{biopic}} of the late Creator/JohnBelushi, was universally reviled by Belushi's friends and family as a glorified character assassination of the beloved entertainer. The film glosses over most Belushi's short-but-illustrious career to focus almost exclusively on his drug addictions, and on top of that, he is portrayed as a boorish, violent, unprofessional, adulterous, openly racist hedonist who cares nothing for the harm his actions cause. In real life, while he did struggle with cocaine addiction, John Belushi was a kind, compassionate, generous man who took his work seriously and made a genuine (albeit sadly unsuccessful) effort to clean up his life.

* ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt1993'' did this to Ike Turner, exaggerating his real flaws (namely drug addiction, anger issues, and hitting Music/TinaTurner on a few occasions) to an utterly insane degree in order to make him a deranged, misogynistic rapist who regularly beat Tina within an inch of her life, little-to-none of which is supported by reality. What makes this example especially vile is that Ike was ''still alive'' when the movie was made, and it pretty much destroyed his career and reputation [[YankTheDogsChain right as he was finally cleaning up his life]]. Tina herself (whose autobiography inspired the film) and Music/PhilSpector were both revolted by the Villain Upgrade, with Tina [[CreatorBacklash refusing to even watch the movie]], and the only reason Ike himself didn't sue the filmmakers for slander was because he short-sightedly signed a waiver prior to production that prevented him from doing so.

* In ''Film/GoodbyeChristopherRobin'' Christopher’s mother Daphne Milne is portrayed as an absentee socialite and often heartless beauty who lets the nanny Olive do all the mothering to C.R while she instigates her son’s burdening fame by publishing her husband’s poem “Vespers” and keeps pushing to exploit their newfound success. She does get some redeeming humanising moments later but only when her son enlists for UsefulNotes/WW2. While it’s true he became estranged from his mother after his marriage to his first cousin and his father’s death, Daphne in reality was still there for her son in his childhood and very close to him with C.R stating she was the one who helped fashion most of the Winnie the Pooh ideas, playing with him in the nursery and that characters like Rabbit and Kanga are based on her. Since the film wants to put his father A.A in more likeable light as the author, Christopher’s relationship with him is treated as more significant and close than with his mother even though it was the other way round in reality. Daphne publishing the poem without telling her husband is also fictitious, as he was the one who gave her permission to publish “Vespers” in the first place.

* ''Film/TheMummy1932'' and ''Film/TheMummy1999'' both do this to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep#Medicine Imhotep]], the Ancient Egyptian chancellor of Pharaoh Djoser. From what little historians have unncovered about Imhotep he was ''definitely'' a great positive influence upon Egypt and to an extent mankind itself, with his great knowledge and skill in architecture, mathematics, and especially medicine as a physician resulting him being revered as a HealerGod by Egyptian society. In the 1993 Universal ''Mummy'' movie however, Imhotep is a skulking undead EvilSorcerer who in the later Creator/BrendanFraser films is a WalkingWasteland, OmnicidalManiac and even a DarkMessiah - basically ''the exact opposite'' of everything the real life Imhotep was worshipped by Ancient Egyptians for.

* ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt'' did this to Ike Turner, exaggerating his real flaws (namely drug addiction, anger issues, and hitting Music/TinaTurner on a few occasions) to an utterly insane degree in order to make him a deranged, misogynistic rapist who regularly beat Tina within an inch of her life, little-to-none of which is supported by reality. What makes this example especially vile is that Ike was ''still alive'' when the movie was made, and it pretty much destroyed his career and reputation [[YankTheDogsChain right as he was finally cleaning up his life]]. Tina herself (whose autobiography inspired the film) and Music/PhilSpector were both revolted by the Villain Upgrade, with Tina [[CreatorBacklash refusing to even watch the movie]], and the only reason Ike himself didn't sue the filmmakers for slander was because he short-sightedly signed a waiver prior to production that prevented him from doing so.

* ''Film/ProfessorMarstonAndTheWonderWomen'': Josette Frank is portrayed as wants to [[MoralGuardians censor comics]] like ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' she believes are [[ThinkOfTheChildren corrupting for minors]]. The real Frank was actually a strong ''pro''-comics supporter, and was later attacked for this by people who ''did'' hold such views. In fact, the most criticism she ever had for ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' was sending a single letter. Frank had no authority to even attempt censoring it, and never interrogated Marston.

* ''Film/TheMummy1932'' and ''Film/TheMummy1999'' both do this to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep#Medicine Imhotep]], the Ancient Egyptian chancellor of Pharaoh Djoser. From little historians have unncovered about Imhotep he was ''definitely'' a great positive influence upon Egypt and to an extent mankind itself, with his great knowledge and skill in architecture, mathematics, and especially medicine as a physician resulting him being revered as a HealerGod by Egyptian society. In the 1993 Universal ''Mummy'' movie however, Imhotep is a skulking undead EvilSorcerer who in the later Creator/BrendanFraser films is a WalkingWasteland, OmnicidalManiac and even a DarkMessiah - basically ''the exact opposite'' of everything the real life Imhotep was worshipped by Ancient Egyptians for.

** Sir Charles Warren is made into an incompetent buffoon actively hampering the investigation. The real Sir Charles while a talented military officer was ill-suited for the job of police commissioner. And he was constantly criticized by the liberal press and even the Government to point he actually quit his post during the Ripper case.

* ''Film/ProfessorMarstonAndTheWonderWomen'': Josette Frank is portrayed as wants to [[MoralGuardians censor comics]] like ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' she believes are [[ThinkOfTheChildren corrupting for minors]]. The real Frank was actually a strong ''pro''-comics supporter, and was later attacked for this by people who ''did'' hold such views.

* ''Film/EightMenOut'' and ''Film/FieldOfDreams'' are especially hard on Kenesaw Mountain Landis, first Commissioner of Baseball. The allegation that he dealt with the Black Sox scandal in a ham-handed and unfair manner, with particular scorn coming for his treatment of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (who indeed participated in the fix, took money for it, and kept his teammates' actions secret), is not true. In particular, this ignores how hated the participating players in the scandal were at the time, as well as the implications the scandal held for the legitimacy of baseball. To this day, an unambiguous ban holds for gambling on baseball by anyone active in the sport, including players, coaches, manager, and owners, in part thanks to Landis.

* In ''{{Film/Agora}}'', Cyril of Alexandria is potrayed in the movie as instigating the murder of Hypatia for being a female scientist, a supposed witch, and a pagan - along with generally being depicted as TheFundamentalist. In history, he didn't order Hypatia to be killed, much less for any of the reasons he has in the film. To a desgree, this trope also applies to the Christians of Alexandria in general.

* ''Film/{{Quills}}'': Dr. Royer-Collard was a monarchist, not a Bonapartist, and was not the man who introduced terror baths to Charenton, nor did he have anything to do with stopping the plays, as he arrived years after the French authorities closed them down (while the theatre at Charleton was not closed until a year after the Creator/MarquisDeSade died). He was a ReasonableAuthorityFigure (certainly compared to the movie) and his only "mistreatment" of de Sade was trying to get him thrown out of Charleton on the - completely accurate - grounds that he was not mentally ill and only got himself institutionalized as a cushy alternative to prison; in addition, the real de Sade died peacefully in his sleep, and Collard had nothing to do with it.

* Commodus gets this treatment a fair amount as seen in ''Film/TheFallOfTheRomanEmpire'' and ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. While he was ''far'' from a benevolent ruler in real life (with his rule making the end of "Pax Romana" the golden peroid of peace within the Roman empire), Commodus was really more incompetent and "not naturally wicked" according to Cassius Dio, lavishing in ConspicuousConsumption and {{Egopolis}} excess and often staged gladiatorial combat which made him hated by the Roman public. As far as films go however Commodus is just vile and evil as Caligula himself, being a SmugSnake, [[{{Patricide}} father murdering]], [[HumanSacrifice human sacrificing]], [[VillainousIncest incestuous]] rapist. The real Commodus might've been an endulgent and bloodthirsty asswipe, but he ''absolutely'' didn't kill his own father Marcus or go around crucifying innocent women and children. Although the real Commodus did slaughter harmless animals in the arena and club disabled veterns while dressed as Hercules, which is at least close to the level of cruelty he displays in the film adaptations.

* ''Stand!'': This musical re-telling of the 1919 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_general_strike Winnipeg General Strike]], adapted from an earlier musical about the strike, does this to the Manitoba police. In real life, the Manitoba police unions willingly joined the strikers, and the government had to send the [[TheMounties Royal North-West Mounted Police]] and strikebreakers with guns in because the police in Manitoba would not act to supress the strike. This led to the dismissal of the entire police force. In the film however, the police openly worked to supress the strike, and only stepped out to allow the Royal North-West Mounted Police to step in when it was clear that they could not supress the strike. This historical inaccuracy may have been an [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory deliberate artistic choice]] to allow the movie to [[ValuesDissonance appeal to a more modern audience]]. This is because thanks to issues surrounding police brutality being raised in TheNewTens, particuarly police brutality towards racialized minorities, it can be very difficult to portray police forces sympathetically for a progressive-leaning audience.

** ''Film/{Anonymous}'' gets mentioned below for its portrayal of William Shakespeare, but the utterly bizarre depiction of Elizabeth as a woman who secretly slept around ''so'' much that she was constantly having bastard children, didn't bother keeping track of which families they were sent to, and ends up having an ''incestuous'' bastard by one of them definitely puts it here as well.

* Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, receives a big one in the 1938 film ''[[Film/MarieAntoinette1938 Film/MarieAntoinette]]''. The real Orléans was a genuine believer in the principles of Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau and Montesquieu, who used his position to foster support for liberalism and democratic reform. He was initially supportive of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, but eventually turned against its excesses, saved several people from being executed, and was eventually guillotined himself. In the movie, however, Orléans is, in fact, the primary orchestrator of the entire Revolution, which he cooked up as part of an insidious plot to seize the throne, after failing to seduce Marie Antoinette. During the so-called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affair_of_the_Diamond_Necklace "Affair of the Diamond Necklace"]], he becomes a full-blown DiabolicalMastermind, using forgery and impersonation to frame the Queen for fraud. Eventually, he maliciously casts the deciding vote in favor of executing Louis XVI, before being executed offscreen by the rabble (he did vote in favor of it, but was hardly the decider, though some people did take that as an attempt by him to get rid of the king and seize the crown for himself). The recent French film, ''The Lady and the Duke'' has a more sympathetic portrayal of the Duke of Orleans, seeing him as someone way out of his depth in revolutionary politics.

* While the real Music/BrianJones could certainly be problematic [[note]]although there is speculation that he might've been bipolar[[/note]], he's still got nothing on his movie counterpart, as portrayed by Leo Gregory in the 2005 film ''Stoned'', who possesses absolutely none of Brian's charm, musical skills, or other more savory character traits. To elaborate: his movie counterpart is a [[DesignatedHero selfish, irresponsible, drug-addicted, abusive, lazy manchild]], who at one point in the movie sexually assaults his girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, who subsequently left him for Music/KeithRichards (there's actually quite a bit of debate about what happened, but Keith said Brian tried to rope her into a foursome and threw food at her when she refused). To the average viewer who might know next to nothing about the life of Brian Jones, it'd be rather easy to just wish for him to meet his fate sooner rather than later (and the film's runtime is only an hour and forty-two minutes). Especially not helping is that the movie tries to blame his downfall on Anita Pallenberg, [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming which is especially egregious considering that, since the movie fails to elaborate that they were abusive to each other, Anita is more of a victim than anything else in this movie]].

* The HBO TV film ''Film/Conspiracy2001'' (about the Wannsee Conference) gives one of these to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Klopfer Gerhard Klopfer]]. Whilst undoubtedly a foul racist and war criminal in RealLife, ''Conspiracy'' turns it UpToEleven: The film-Klopfer is morbidly obese, lecherous, ugly (hint: he's portrayed by Ian [=McNeice=], who also played Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in the ''Series/{{Dune}}'' miniseries), does unpleasant impressions of gassed Jews, is so disgusting as to make the other Nazis uncomfortable and is even hinted to be a pedophile. Klopfer was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_119-06-44-12,_Gerhard_Klopfer.jpg ordinary looking]], with no evidence of the rest existing.

* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' portrays Website/{{Facebook}} founder Mark Zuckerberg as a really pompous asswipe (at best), while the real Zuckerberg wasn't anything near that description despite his alleged stealing of Facebook from the Winkelvoss twins and the few reports of his one or two {{Jerkass}} moments. Oh yeah, and the whole "facemash.com" debacle.

* ''Film/KingArthur'' does this to Cerdic and Cynric, the first and second kings of Wessex; a particularly impressive feat, given that almost no accurate information on them exists due to the Saxons not keeping written records until well after they had died. It ''is'' pretty much certain (given that he succeeded him) that Cynric did not die several minutes ''before'' his father, however. Both they and Arthur are associated with the Battle of Badon Hill, which functions as the film's climax, despite the fact that no one will likely ever know if they were there, if they fought Arthur, or if Arthur existed at all.

* The East Indina Trading Company get this in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' and ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd''. In real life the company accounted for half the world's trade in mid-1700s and early 1800s supplying many countries with cotton, silk, sugar, salt, spices and tea and were more commonly the victims of pirates rather than the other way around. However since ''[[FriendlyPirate pirates are the heroes]]'' here the East Indina company in the films are essentially TheEmpire, who join forces with cursed octopus head man Davy Jones to take over the seas. The company in real life being in the pocket of Britain, certainly wouldn't have arrested and tried to execute a wealthy English governor's daughter like Elizabeth for simply being involved with pirates. [[PlayedWith Although]] ''At Worlds End'' revealing the East Indina Trading Company dealt in the [[SlaveMarket slave trade]] (which is [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil why]] Jack InUniverse betrays them to become a pirate) is indeed accurate to real life.

* ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'': The Dragon Emperor is almost the same as the real Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Ch'in Dynasty, who if anything was even worse than the one in the movie. They simply adds supernatural powers to him -- and a plan to TakeOverTheWorld with his animated Terracota army. The writers didn't take the risk of having the movie BannedInChina for having its founder as a villain and called him Emperor Han.

* Commodus gets this treatment a fair amount as seen in ''Film/TheFallOfTheRomanEmpire'' and ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. While he was ''far'' from a benevolent ruler in real life (with his rule making the end of "Pax Romana" the golden peroid of peace within the Roman empire), Commodus was really more incompetent and "not naturally wicked" according to Cassius Dio, lavishing in ConspicuousConsumption and {{Egopolis}} excess and often staged gladiatorial combat which made him hated by the Roman public. As far films go however Commodus is just vile and evil as Caligula, being a SmugSnake, [[{{Patricide}} father murdering]], [[HumanSacrifice human sacrificing]], [[VillainousIncest incestuous]] rapist. The real Commodus might've been an endulgent and bloodthirsty asswipe, but he ''absolutely'' didn't kill his own father Marcus or go around crucifying innocent women and children. Although the real Commodus did slaughter harmless animals in the arena and club disabled veterns while dressed as Hercules, which is at least close to the level of cruelty he displays in the film adaptations.