The new movie Domino, ...
The "real" thing: Keira Knightley
Question: The new movie Domino, starring Keira Knightley boasts that it's based on a true story... sort of. First, what is the true story? Second, when a movie is based on a true story, how much is really accurate?
Answer: It's based on the story of professional bounty hunter Domino Harvey, the daughter of late actor Laurence Harvey (star of the original version of The Manchurian Candidate) and Vogue model Pauline Stone. Harvey rejected the privilege and glamour of her parents' lifestyle, working as a firefighter and a ranch hand before being hired by a bail-bond company in South Central Los Angeles. The Hollywood appeal of this story is obvious: An attractive woman — though it must be said that Harvey was no Keira Knightley, who looks more authentically like the offspring of two professional beauties than their real daughter — from a celebrity background who loved guns and found her place in a notoriously macho profession. Harvey's life was, of course, too complicated to make a good movie, which by today's ruthlessly reductive standards means a movie without loose ends, irreconcilable contradictions and ambiguities. Harvey died shortly before the movie's release, at age 35, of a heart attack; she had a long history of drug abuse and published reports say she had toxic levels of a prescription painkiller in her system. Among other things, the film glosses over her addiction, as well as the fact that she died under the shadow of a variety of drug-related offenses, including conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Director Tony Scott concedes as much at the outset, appending the words "sort of" to the movie's "based on a true story" introduction.
Accuracy is seldom the strong suit of movies "based on" or "inspired by" true stories. Real life is messy. Movie stories need to tie things up within a limited time frame and to make their points clearly and concisely.