Real Bad Moms: Movies Based on True Stories

Farrah played evil Diane Downs in “Small Sacrifices,” based on Anne Rule’s true crime book of the same name. Diane shot her three young children in order to start a new life with a man who did not want children. She attempted to place the blame for the foul deed on an unknown carjacker but two of the kids survived.

Farrah Fawcett previously succeeded in her bid to be regarded as a serious actress in an off-Broadway play named “Extremities” on the Broadway stage, playing a woman who turns the tables on her would-be rapist. In “The Burning Bed” (1984), Farrah played Francine Hughes, a woman who killed her abusive husband, Mickey, while he slept. Paul LeMat played Mickey and Grace Zabriskie played his rotten mother, Flossie.

The role isn’t exactly against type for Grace, a wonderful character actress, but she did such a great job, you didn’t wonder at all how the husband turned out so evil. The film was based on Faith McNulty’s book of the same name, subtitled “The True Story of Francine Hughes, a Woman Who Rebelled.”

Cate Blanchett played the title role in the Joel Schumacher film, Veronica Guerin (2003), about the murder of this real life Irish reporter. During the time she was attempting to expose criminal drug activity in Ireland, Veronica was threatened and shot in her home, and also received threats against her young son, which she ignored.

On one level, Cate’s not really playing against type since some still see Veronica Guerin as a dedicated hero. Others have, however, looked askance at her decision to continue reporting on dangerous criminals with full knowledge of the jeopardy she was putting herself and her child in. What price glory?

Irish criminal, John Gilligan was tried and acquitted for the murder and later stated that the hit on Guerin was arranged by John Traynor, her connection to the crime figures she wrote about.