Well, I don't actually want to justify their potrayal - however, it's hardly the first (or 1000th) time this has happened. And it's not just Hollywood. Casting real people as villains is as old writing at least (and probably older). As seen by Salieri (the composer) - the movie Amadeus is based on 200 years old fictional accounts of Mozart's life after all. If people would just stop believing works of fiction, and take them for what they are, this wouldn't be a problem.
[I suppose that if you actually knew the person being cast in a bad light also makes quite a bit of a difference...]
I know..... I watched a lot of movies and I am a history buff. I knew as a fact that the makers of Titianic actually bulit a statue of one of the sailors in his home town because they casted him in a negative light without historical backings. The movie aroused a lot of angers in his home town. I know I should not be saying this. Sallieri died too many years ago. I don't think anyone cares. Mortensen died in 1991. He must have many friends, fans and relatives who knew him still alive. I feel sorry for his kids if he has any who is still alive.
[Because we all know that "Morty" turned-out for Blackpool wearing Birkenstock boots every fecking time... ]
I can't believe this thread .......... next you'll be telling me, that in the film "Braveheart"; there should have been a bridge at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
[Speaking of fiction: I would pay money to see Rossdale actually wearing the No.9 shirt back in the '40s & '50s and being on the bad end of a few "calling cards" from the likes of Malcomn Barras, Bill Slater or Willie Woodhouse... ]
The surviving members of 1950’s U.S. World Cup team did not think highly of “The Game of Their Lives” when it came out in 2005. That was in part because they didn’t care for how the movie portrayed their opponents. The England players weren’t sneering toffs, but instead much like themselves: modest, tough, working-class men. The Americans always took pains to say that the English conducted themselves as gentlemen, and showed exemplary sportsmanship after absorbing a crushing defeat. I think that the movie’s condescending post-match toast by “Mortensen” was probably derived from some remarks by FA secretary Stanley Rous, at a banquet in New York’s Waldorf-Astoria after a U.S. national team match held as warm-up for the World Cup, against a touring FA XI. The U.S. had put up a credible performance, losing only 0-1 against an English site that included (I believe) Stanley Matthews and Nat Lofthouse. Addressing the American players at the banquet, Rous emphasized how tired the All-England team were, at the end of a busy tour: “When you go to Brazil and play the England national team, then you will find out what football is all about.” Rous probably intended his remarks to be gracious, rather than contemptuous, but in retrospect they were remarkably tone deaf. (Just think, for a moment, how the England players on the touring XI must have heard what he implied about them!) I’m sure what he said got under the Americans’ skins, and stoked their motivation a bit, even though they probably didn’t blame their actual opponents for a stupid remark by some old fart in their association. In fairness, though Rous did not stick around after the match in Brazil to give the U.S. players an opportunity to thank him for his comments at the Waldorf-Astoria, he did tell the press in Belo Horizonte, in commendation of the Americans, “They were fitter, faster, and better fighters.”