Movies based on factual events, or biopics, are dominating the big screen theater this fall season. The blatantly named films, “Sully” and “Snowden” are just two of the many movies in the past few years that have been released that depict real events.

And though “based on a true story” may roll on the screen before the opening scene, does this necessarily ensure the events portrayed in the film are true? Does the director have a right to change the facts in the film to better suit his or her production needs?

“The maker of the biopic has two obligations. One is to stick to the truth as much as possible, and the other is to create a dramatic structure that makes the film work artistically,” said Peter Forster, an adjunct in the undergraduate studies of Communication and Media. “Every filmmaker has to use (artistic license), but I think the real skill is to do it without distorting the facts. Whether it’s based on a true story or a fictional one, it still has to be exciting.”

Forster is no newcomer to the art of storytelling, fictional or not. Having directed over 40 theatrical productions in the U.S. and the U.K., and being the resident director of theater development at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts and a teacher at the Chicago Training Center, his entire profession has revolved around the notion of storytelling, whether it be on screen or on stage.

The real life events revolving around both “Snowden” and “Sully” are exciting in their own right. Edward Snowden leaked National Security Agency (N.S.A.) information to the press in order to reveal national privacy issues, while Capt. Sullenberger managed to execute an emergency water landing in the Hudson River. Both of these stories do not need much help to capture the attention of audiences, as they were already popular in the newspapers and television media.

The story of Capt. Sully is a very well-known one: Sully, an experienced pilot later called as a hero, was able to save the passengers aboard his plane by safely executing a water landing in the Hudson River. The movie “Sully,” however, brought up different points regarding whether or not the decision to execute this water landing was the correct one.

This different portrayal of the pilot gave the story a whole meaning, though it still used the same facts.

“It’s essential to have a point of view. The filmmaker must have a point of view so that the film has a narrative focus,” Forster said. “Filmmakers’ concerns will be revealed whether they are making a film about a true or fictional topic.”

This portrayal of Captain Sullenberger is not one that was previously accepted before the movie. Newspapers previously praised the pilot as a hero and talked about his great decision to land in the Hudson River. Movies like Sully with opposing views challenge the viewers further and force them to see the real “heroes” in a different light, while also affecting cultural opinions of events.

Though “based on a true story” creates an obligation to stay true to the facts, there is still a clear difference between a biopic and a documentary.   

“A biopic is for entertainment, and it has the same structure fictional movies have,” Forster said. He also stated that it would be interesting to take a look at a documentary, such as “Citizenfour” — an Edward Snowden documentary — and its film counterpart, “Snowden.” “I’d like to make some sort of evaluation on how the character of Snowden comes across.”

“Sully” and “Snowden” are both dramas based on serious events, which encourages a more accurate portrayal of key facts throughout the movie. Can we expect this same accuracy in other genres, however?

Olivia Crouch, a DePaul digital cinema major, agrees that facts are essential to the creation of a biopic of any genre. 

‘“The Blindside’ stayed true and factual to the story. It needs to follow the same rules,” Crouch said. “It’s important to stay true to the story.”

DePaul student Matthew Cooper disagrees.

“A filmmaker’s job is to make the best movie he or she possibly can. A documentarian is more responsible for providing facts,” Cooper said. “When it comes to filmmaking, I think the movie comes first and it is far more important than telling the true story.”

As for television, there are often very few factual shows airing on the small screen. “John Adams,” was a short miniseries that was extremely rigid in portraying historical facts correctly. This attention to facts and details contributed to its first Emmy Award in 2008. 

“It’s very literal, ‘John Adams,’” Forster said, noting the similarities between the mini-series and biopics.

When talking about stories rooted in facts, it’s hard not to mention “Hamilton: An American Musical.” “Hamilton” is a musical revolving around Alexander Hamilton’s life, but performed through songs and scenes that include both gender-blind and color-blind characters. It does not appear to be as factual as “Sully” and “Snowden,” yet still includes hard facts in many of its songs.

“The rules in theatrical performance are different than the ones in film. Film is usually a more literal media. Most people are more open to experimentation in the theatre,” Forster said. He said it is very hard to encourage new ideas in film, such as the ones seen in “Hamilton,” because “we expect a different kind of truth from the camera; we have different expectations.”

These different expectations of the events we see on screen and those that actually happened will and continue to stay with us throughout this fall film season, as the biopic-loving Academy Award movies continue to pour out.

In the end, it comes down to two questions, Forster said.

“Does this feel like reality? Do I care?” He said.