What Did ‘American Made’ Leave Out About The Real Barry Seal?

By Victor Stiff

In American Made, facts matter less than fiction.

This past weekend, American Made lost out on the top box office spot in a neck and neck race with It, missing first place by a scant $300,000. However, when comparing what happens in the “biopic” to the events that inspired the film, there’s a Grand Canyon-sized gap. Universal’s film may be billed as based on the life of smuggler and freelance CIA spy Barry Seal, but the film’s director, Doug Liman, is hesitant to label the picture as a biopic. Apparently, calling American Made a biopic is cinematic catfishing.

We all know that biographic films play it fast and loose with facts. It’s nearly impossible to take one person’s life and compress it into a two-hour film while including a riveting arc, compelling characters, and meaningful themes. Adapting the life of someone like Barry Seal is even more difficult because one tends to keep their covert work with drug lords and government agencies under wraps. American Made still keeps its WTF meter cranked all the way up. There are several scenes showing Barry partying like a rock star with his chum Pablo Escobar (which didn’t happen). And although the film never addresses rumors that Barry flew the getaway plane for JFK’s killers, that revelation wouldn’t feel out of line.

American Mades’s plot isn’t true, it’s truthy, and Liman will be the first to admit it. In a recent interview with Vulture Liman stated,

You know, we’re not making a biopic. Tom Cruise doesn’t look like Barry Seal. His character is inspired by the stories we learned about Barry, and a lot of times, stories like this, not only do journalists look at the veracity of the actual events portrayed, but also the personal aspects.

The article What Did ‘American Made’ Leave Out About The Real Barry Seal? appeared first on Film School Rejects.