How An Exiled Prince Caused Filmmakers To Begin Including Disclaimers That Movies Are Works Of Fiction
Sometimes, the line between actual history and fictitious events gets a little blurry. That’s why basically every modern movie comes with a disclaimer that goes something along the lines of how it is a work of fiction and any similarities to real life or people are just a coincidence.
It offers viewers clarification and also guards against lawsuits. But what drove producers to start adding the legal statement to films?
It all started in 1933 when an exiled Russian prince sued MGM for inaccurately depicting the murder of Grigori Rasputin.
Prince Felix Yusupov was one of the individuals responsible for Rasputin’s assassination. Yusupov and several other Russian aristocrats were not happy about the influence that Rasputin seemed to have over the Czar, Nicholas II, and, particularly, his wife, the Czarina Alexandra. After all, Rasputin was just a lowly peasant who claimed to be a magical healer.
So, in December 1916, Yusupov invited Rasputin to his palace. He offered him cakes laced with cyanide and shot him.
Rasputin was still alive and was able to run out into the courtyard, where he was shot again. Then, he was bound and thrown into the icy Neva River. He finally died by drowning.
Instead of making Yusupov pay for his crimes, the Czar exiled the prince and his wife, Irina. They went to go live in Paris, but he became penniless after squandering his fortunes during bad business decisions.
In 1932, MGM released Rasputin and the Empress, based on the events of the murderous affair. Yusupov heard about the film but didn’t want audiences to link him to the movie’s version of events.
However, he couldn’t build much of a libel case since he had already bragged about killing Rasputin and even wrote a memoir about it.
fergregory – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
So, he alleged that the film defamed his wife, Princess Irina, the niece of Nicholas II. The film showed his wife, who was portrayed as “Princess Natasha,” as a devoted follower of Rasputin.
In the movie, she was hypnotized and assaulted by Rasputin, making her unfit to be a wife. In reality, that had never happened to Irina. She hadn’t even met Rasputin before.
An MGM researcher even pointed out the inaccuracy to the studio during production. She warned that the Yusupovs could sue, but the studio fired her for speaking up.
Irina ended up suing the studio. In court, it was argued that audiences would associate the movie with the Yusupovs since they were the only significant characters still alive.
The jury sided with Irina, and she was awarded about $125,000. The court’s decision that the film’s disclaimer should’ve stated that it was not meant to portray factual events led to it becoming the norm in every Hollywood film from then on.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Freaky