The true story behind Charlize Theron’s crime drama ‘Monster’ – Gudstory

patty jenkins‘2003 serial killer biopic Demon There is a film which becomes unforgettable after watching it once. This can largely be attributed to Charlize Theronoscar winning performance playing Aileen Wuornos, the real-life woman on whom the film is based. While Theron has since denounced method acting, she shaved her eyebrows and gained thirty pounds for the role, a decision Jenkins was adamant on. The writer-director also went against the wishes of the film’s funders who objected to the actress’s physical transformation. Wuornos gained national attention after killing seven people in the early ’90s. jenkinsThe interpretation of Aileen’s story for the big screen is powerful, despite facing some criticism for its sympathetic portrayal of Aileen. According to CNN, Jenkins’ goal when making the film was to remain as true to the real-life Aileen story as possible., which he felt he had achieved when he wrote letters to Aileen while in prison, which confirmed many details of the script. While Aileen committed heinous crimes, Demon It also allows us to sympathize with him by showing him what he had to endure, facing various forms of abuse from an early age.

Patty Jenkins said Aileen’s life of struggle led her to her story. Throughout the film, Wuornos, who was working as a sex worker at the time, kills a client who attacks her, another because she feels she is in danger, and another because she feels That she is doing it for love. Demon The focus is on Aileen’s life between 1989 and 1990 when she killed seven men – for which she was nicknamed the “Maiden of Death” – but how much of the true story behind it was true remains to be seen. Demon, As it turns out, there was much more to Aileen Wuornos than what was shown in the film. Like any dramatic biopic, certain elements had to be fictionalized in order to create the film we now know as one of the best serial killer movies of all time.

Demon

release date

24 December 2003

director

patty jenkins

mold

Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Turgeson, Annie Corley, Pruitt Taylor Vince

rating

R

Order

111

styles

Biography, Crime, Drama

Writers

patty jenkins

TAGLINE

Based on a true story

‘Monster’ is based on real-life serial killer Eileen Wuornos

Whereas Demon While it references parts of Aileen’s traumatic childhood, it does not go into details. The acclaimed biopic begins by showing Aileen as a child with a bruised face that suggests abuse. Theron’s character in the film also talks about being raped by her father’s friend, being physically abused by her father when she spoke out, and performing sex acts at only thirteen years old. She discusses getting pregnant at the same age and adopting a child before being thrown out of the house. This portrayal of Aileen’s childhood is largely true, but the real truth is even sadder.

According to Dead Ends: The Pursuit, Conviction, and Execution of Serial Killer Aileen WuornosA book by journalist Michael Reynolds, who first revealed Aileen’s story in 1990, brought her to her grandparents’ home with her older brother, Keith, after her teenage mother, Dianne Wuornos, struggled to raise them herself. But had left it. Eileen’s father abandoned 16-year-old Dianne with two infants when Eileen was only two months old. Contrary to the Fast & Furious star’s version of events Demon, it was Eileen’s grandfather and his friends who raped and assaulted her. Other sources also confirm that Aileen never met her biological father. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was already serving a prison sentence for sexual crimes against children, and died by suicide in prison. According to Vice’s interview with Don Botkins, Aileen’s close childhood friend, Aileen was harassed by other children over her sexual activity, and she had sex with some of them in exchange for drugs. When Aileen told the children about being raped at the age of thirteen, they did not believe her and instead ridiculed her. Aileen’s childhood is such a tragedy in itself that a meaningful film can be made. With this revelation, some people feel sympathetic towards Aileen that society failed her.

Christina Ricci’s character in ‘Monster’ is based on Wuornos’ real-life lover Tyria Moore

Demon It highlights Eileen’s life in her thirties when she committed the murders, and the film does not cover her earlier adult life, including any romantic relationships. In real life, after riding from Michigan to Florida, Eileen was briefly married to an older, wealthier man named Lewis Fell, who was 69 years her senior. Their marriage was short-lived. Nine weeks into their marriage, Fell obtained a restraining order against Aileen and annulled their marriage, alleging that he had caned her. Around the same time, Aileen lost her 21-year-old brother to cancer. Her insurance paid her about $10,000, which Eileen reportedly spent on buying a car, alcohol and drugs, which she wrecked.

In DemonThe film explores Eileen’s relationship with a semi-fictional love interest, Selby Ward (iconicly played by addams family alum, Christina Ricci). Aileen’s real life partner’s name was Tyria Moore., In the film, Ricci’s character, Selby, is the opposite of Eileen in both physicality and demeanor: a wounded dove looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places. In real life, Moore was close in appearance to Wuornos and was a janitor at a hotel in Daytona Beach. The two met in 1986, long before Aileen began her killing spree. On the other hand, the film reveals that Aileen met Selby just before his first murder.

Aileen Wuornos was convicted before her murders and was legally adopted while in prison

Wuornos has often been called “America’s first female serial killer”, although this claim is disputed, and she had a history of violent behavior before her murders. For a decade before Eileen committed the murders, the Los Angeles Times reported that she had run-ins with the law and had been convicted of armed robbery. According to Michael Reynolds dead ends, he was also arrested for DUI, disorderly conduct and firing a weapon from a moving car. In 1985 he was suspected of being involved in gun theft. In 1986, the year she met Moore, he was questioned for armed robbery. Aileen’s run-ins with the law revealed how deeply troubled she was, and should have been a warning about the possibility of her turning into something even worse: a serial killer.

You would imagine that Aileen’s life would be less dramatic after going to prison—it wasn’t. As a child, he was adopted by his abusive grandfather. While in prison, Wuornos was again legally adopted as an adult., according to the Los Angeles Times report. A horse-breeding couple, Arlene and Robert Praley, became interested in Eileen’s story and petitioned the court to be allowed to adopt her. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times at the time, Arlene Prawle said of her decision to adopt Aileen, “We did it because we want her to know what it’s like to have a family that supports her.” Cares.” According to the Los Angeles Times report, Arlene was extremely happy to meet and kiss her legally adopted daughter for the first time. “I felt satisfied, a sense of fulfillment and confirmation that what I was doing was right,” she said. According to the Buffalo News, the couple were making money from media interviews regarding Wuornos’ situation, and they fell out with him shortly thereafter.

‘Monster’ doesn’t reveal much about Eileen’s last days or execution

At the end of Demon, we see Eileen being dragged out of the courtroom, and screen notes indicate that she was executed by lethal injection. However, The film does not delve in-depth into what happened before or after Wuornos’s execution., Eileen initially tried to appeal the death sentence but was unsuccessful. In the course of events, he dismissed his lawyers and withdrew his defence, instead admitting his crimes and opting for the death penalty. According to ABC News, Eileen wrote to the Florida Supreme Court, “I am someone who deeply hates human life and would kill again.” Eileen’s attorney had “serious doubts about her competency to be executed”, but psychiatrists deemed her mentally competent to volunteer for execution.

Demon It also does not include details such as his last meal, which is tradition for death row convicts. Aileen declined the offer of a final meal, which could have been anything less than $40, and opted for a cup of coffee instead. His last statement before his execution was: “I’d just like to say that I’m sailing with the Rock and I’m sailing with Jesus, like ‘Independence Day,’ on June 6, like in the movie, with the big mother ship and all that.” Will be back along. I’ll be back.” Even Wuornos admitted that his life was like a movie.

The story of Aileen Wuornos captured the nation’s imagination, and numerous films, documentaries, books, and other forms of art have been made about her tragic story. Some viewers have expressed sympathy for him, while others have criticized his portrayal. Demon, being disrespectful towards the victims of his crimes because the film does not show their side of the story. Still, Patty Jenkins’s Demon Gave the world a chance to be more introspective on Aileen’s storyHowever it couldn’t cover everything, as you would expect in a film running less than two hours covering such a complex and conflicted life as Aileen Wuornos.

Demon Available to watch on Netflix.

watch on netflix