In making movies or TV shows about real people or historical events, such as "The Crown," for example, how much artistic liberty do you think it is OK for producers to take?

None

I can’t think of any movie that’s historically accurate.

I'm very fine with fictitious parts for period dramas. I enjoy reality-checking them. As an amateur historian, I can even identify which parts are made up or truthful while watching them.

Despite scholarly efforts, some historical events & details tend to remain unknown or inconclusive, which however offers some opportunity for creativity.

Diana should have been portrayed by Mecha Godzilla.

I can’t think of any movie that’s historically accurate.

I, too, hate documentaries.

People are dumb. They'll believe what they want to believe regardless of the truth or accuracy. You only have to read about the actors who play the baddies in dramas, and the abuse they get by some dumb yahoo who thinks it's "all real" that he dumped his on-screen wife for a younger woman. Every actor has a story to tell like this. Braveheart....utter tosh historically. But you have to admit it's a great movie. Just make it entertaining.

If they depict real people, there will be a tendency for viewers to look upon them as being true documentaries and any lies (artistic liberty) they contain become a form of propaganda

I can’t think of any movie that’s historically accurate

I can think of a whole bunch. For war movies alone, there's:

Restrepo, Battle of Britain, Tora, Tora, Tora, Saving Private Ryan, Das Boot, Stalingrad, Band of Brothers, and plenty more.

@samuraivunyl

they would be even more boring than they already are.

I guess you've never heard the saying, "Truth is stranger than fiction." I've read tons of non-fiction historical accounts that beggar the imagination.

There is no excuse for what the producers of "The Crown" has done. It's usually easier and less effort to the recount the facts than to make up lies. They chose to do the latter, and for ideological reasons, aka, "propoganda."

from a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest), I'd say at least 5.

It depends on what you are doing. A movie/TV series with accurate costumes/scenes, you work within historical facts with an awareness of the work of historians of the period. If you are doing something else - comedy ('Black Adder'; 'The Simpsons') or fantasy ('Dr. Who') - you have more leeway.

Anything contemporary or involving recently/living people has to be done with great care, as what you will produce will be taken as documentary fact by most viewers. This is inescapable and places a responsibility upon those writing and producing film and TV not to misrepresent history out of laziness, maliciousness, salaciousness, political bias, to benefit a fictional storyline or to increase their profits.

There have been cases like this.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/feb/25/u-571-reel-history

Getting some condemnation on to the public record may help prevent such stuff polluting the historical record.

It all contributes to our postmodern, post-truth era. This will either be our downfall as a civilisation and a species or we will transcend it all and finally achieve our full potential. Odds are on the former right now. In fact, these comment pages often provide lots of evidence for that.

I can think of a whole bunch. For war movies alone, there's:

Restrepo, Battle of Britain, Tora, Tora, Tora, Saving Private Ryan, Das Boot, Stalingrad, Band of Brothers, and plenty more.

All of those movies could be decimated by anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the actual history. There are literally hundreds of sites listing the inaccuracies in Saving Private Ryan.

Off the top of my head, the landing craft crew would have been British not American.

Well as long as they're not deliberately slandering anyone or trying to muddy anybody's names and reputations, some creative licencing can be allowed. However, at its core, it should be based on fact and reality. The genre of the movie or show should also be taken into account - are you doing a drama, fantasy, comedy etc.? If it's something like The Crown, it obviously needs to be researched and fact-checked as much as possible but if it's a fantasy movie they have more room for creativity.