Best biography movie questions of 2008

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The Other Boleyn Girl picture

Question: On the corrections page for this movie, someone stated that Henry was the father of both of Mary's children. How? Didn't he stop seeing her while she was still on bed rest during the pregnancy of their first child?

Answer: The information on the corrections page is inaccurate. Mary Boleyn married William Carey in 1520. Because her exact birth date is unknown, no one knows how old she was when she married. It was shortly after her wedding that she began her affair with Henry VIII. It is also unknown if either of the two children she bore during this time were fathered by Henry, though there was certainly a high probability that he sired one or both. However, Henry never publicly acknowledged either child, unlike the illegitimate son he had with another mistress. The events in the film and book are fictional, and they vary from the historical facts. It is never mentioned in the film that Mary had a second child, either by Henry or William Carey.

raywest

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Changeling picture

Question: Was Mrs. Collins' son ever found?

Answer: No. He was murdered at age nine. The movie uses creative license to bring up the suspicion that he could have somehow survived to create a dramatic hope in the end. Moreover, the killer was very unstable and retracted his testimony more than once. There is no solid proof of the boy surviving the killings. The police even found partial evidence of Walter Collins at the burial site. See the Wikipedia article for more information.

Earthling

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Cadillac Records picture

Question: Did Little Walter really shoot a person who was posing as him, as portrayed in the movie?

Answer: From what I have read, this is total fiction, apparently to show his real-life alcoholism and short temper.

raywest

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Valkyrie picture

Question: Why did all of the officers and high-ranking officials put out their cigarettes when Hitler's plane landed at the airfield?

Answer: Hitler was fanatically anti-tobacco: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-nazis-forgotten-anti-smoking-campaign/373766/.

Brian Katcher

Answer: They are supposed to stand at attention when he arrives and salute when he walks past them. It is considered bad form to salute the Führer (or any leader) with a cigarette in your mouth or hand.

lionhead

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