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Jerry West -

Los Angeles Lakers legend and NBA icon Jerry West didn't just dislike the portrayal of himself in HBO’s drama series 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,' but he even got his lawyers to demand retraction and an apology from HBO and the show's producers for their "deliberately false characterization."

In a letter issued to executive producer Adam McKay, HBO, and parent company Warner Bros.-Discovery on April 19 2022, West’s attorneys state that the series has “caused great distress to Jerry and his family,” demanding a legal retraction within two weeks, reports Variety.  

The series, which was renewed for a second season, follows the Lakers at the beginning of the “Showtime” era in the '80s, led at the time by players such as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Jerry West is played by Jason Clarke, who portrays West as an aggressive executive agitated by his multiple NBA Finals losses as a player.

“You took a happy and super successful Lakers era and turned it into a pulpy soap opera,” reads the letter. “You depicted the people in a false light, not at all who they are, to garner ratings and make money."

The letter also contains testimony from individuals who worked alongside West at the time, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who offered his own criticism on his personal blog. "Instead of exploring his issues with compassion as a way to better understand the man, they turn him into a Wile E. Coyote cartoon to be laughed at,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote of West's depiction. “He never broke golf clubs, he didn’t throw his trophy through the window. Sure, those actions make dramatic moments, but they reek of facile exploitation of the man rather than exploration of character.”

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Gucci family -

The heirs of Aldo Gucci (played by Al Pacino), who served as chairman of the Gucci fashion house from 1953 to 1986, were less than pleased with the result of Ridley Scott's crime biopic 'House of Gucci.' The family issued a statement on November 29, 2021, criticizing the production, arguing it "did not bother to consult the heirs before describing Aldo Gucci and the members of the Gucci family as thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them," reports Variety, adding that the movie attributes "a tone and an attitude to the protagonists of the well-known events that never belonged to them." 

“This is extremely painful from a human point of view and an insult to the legacy on which the brand is built today,” it continued. The family also had a problem with how Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) "is portrayed not just in the film, but also in statements from cast members, as a victim trying to survive in a male and male chauvinist corporate culture.” They explain, “This couldn’t be further from the truth,” and claim that when the Gucci company was a family business, it was "an inclusive company" with several women in positions of power. 

"Gucci is a family that lives honoring the work of its ancestors, whose memory does not deserve to be disturbed to stage a spectacle that is untrue, and which does not do justice to its protagonists," the statement concluded, adding that the "members of the Gucci family reserve the right to take action to protect the name, image and dignity of themselves and their loved ones."

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Patrizia Reggiani -

Patrizia Reggiani, the Italian socialite who served nearly two decades in prison for hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), has also been open about her disdain for Gaga's approach. "I am rather annoyed at the fact that Lady Gaga is playing me in the new Ridley Scott film without having had the consideration and sensibility to come and meet me," she told Italian outlet ANSA in March, insisting that "It is a question of good sense and respect." Gaga responded, telling British Vogue, "I only felt that I could truly do this story justice if I approached it with the eye of a curious woman who was interested in possessing a journalistic spirit so that I could read between the lines of what was happening in the film's scenes," she said. "Meaning that nobody was going to tell me who Patrizia Gucci was. Not even Patrizia Gucci." Gaga also did not read the book upon which the movie is based. Her approach was focused on dyeing her hair, speaking in an Italian accent in front of and behind the cameras for months, and taking up photography. "I have no evidence that Patrizia was a photographer, but I thought as an exercise, and finding her interests in life, that I would become a photographer," the singer explained. The dialect coach on set also slammed Gaga's accent, calling it more Russian than anything. 

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Amanda Knox -

Amanda Knox publicly called out Matt Damon's film 'Stillwater,' and its director Tom McCarthy, in a Twitter thread on July 29 for using her story without her consent. McCarthy told Vanity Fair that the film, though fictional, is inspired by Knox's wrongful conviction of the murder of Meredith Kercher, in which the real culprit is Rudy Guede. Knox criticized the way that her name is used to garner attention around the film and how the many fictional liberties 'Stillwater' takes skews the public's perception of her story and ultimately her reputation. "By fictionalizing away my innocence, my total lack of involvement, by erasing the role of the authorities in my wrongful conviction, McCarthy reinforces an image of me as a guilty and untrustworthy person," she wrote. "And with Matt Damon’s star power, both are sure to profit handsomely off of this fictionalization of 'the Amanda Knox saga' that is sure to leave plenty of viewers wondering, 'Maybe the real-life Amanda was involved somehow.'" 

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Jada Pinkett-Smith - 'All Eyez on Me,' the biopic about the life and career of late rapper Tupac Shakur, had many critics, the loudest of which was Jada Pinkett-Smith, a lifelong friend of Shakur’s who disliked how their relationship was portrayed in the film.

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Frank Abagnale - The infamous man upon whom the film 'Catch Me If You Can' starring Leonardo DiCaprio is based once praised the movie that made his fraud look glamorous. But, with time and moral reflection, he’s publicly expressed his regret that his worst years are now immortalized.

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Hunter S. Thompson - The late writer wasn't happy about the semi-biopic of his life, 'Where the Buffalo Roam' which he called “horrible,” though he maintained Bill Murray did a good job.

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Joni Mitchell - The biopic 'Girls Like Us' has yet to be made and she already hates it! The singer-songwriter dislikes her biographies because they allegedly spew nonsense about her. When rumors arose of Taylor Swift playing her in a biopic, Mitchell squelched it immediately, saying “All you've got is a girl with high cheekbones.”

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Michael Oher - 'The Blind Side' tells an uplifting real-life story, but one that Michael Oher, the real troubled African American youth who made it into the NFL, took issue with. He didn't like how simple it made him look, or how it took credit away from his own effort.

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Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams - The real doctor that Robin Williams’ character was based on in ‘Patch Adams’ had many problems with the film. The first was that the film focused on his comedic elements and not his activism and struggle, and the second was that Williams made millions to play him and didn’t give any of that money back to the hospital.

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Lil' Kim - The rapper told Hip Hop Weekly that she had seen Naturi Naughton's audition tape for 'Notorious,' and dubbed her the worst possible candidate for the role. Unfortunately for her, Naughton is now cemented as Lil' Kim on-screen.

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David Letterman - The 1996 film 'The Late Shift' tells the story of longtime 'Tonight Show' host Johnny Carson retiring, and the battle between Jay Leno and David Letterman to take over his spot. Letterman said Michael Higgins' imitation made him look like a "psychotic chimp."

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Mark Zuckerberg - Zuckerberg pointed out that in the famed movie about how Facebook started, 'The Social Network,' the most accurate element was his wardrobe. He also didn't like that they made it look like he started the site to get girls, while he's had a partner dating back to before Facebook.

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Julian Assange - The founder of WikiLeaks reportedly wrote to Benedict Cumberbatch asking him not to take the role, calling it “toxic” and “deceitful” and claiming that the film's aim is to create a false history.

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Marc Schiller - One of the victims of the Sun Gym Gang wasn't happy that Michael Bay turned his book, filled with real gruesome murders, into a fun action comedy, 'Pain & Gain,' starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie.

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Ike Turner - Portrayed as a physically and mentally abusive tyrant, you can't blame the late Ike Turner for disliking his portrayal by Laurence Fishburne in 1993's 'What's Love Got to Do With It,' the story of his life with ex-wife Tina.

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Aaliyah's family - The family of the late singer tried to block the production of the TV movie 'Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B' as they felt her story had too much magnitude to let a network exploit it. The film was released in 2014 and criticized the whole way through, from Zendaya's casting, to the re-casting with Alexandra Shipp, to the absence of Aaliyah's music.

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Johnny Cash's family - While 'Walk the Line' is considered one of the better biopics, his daughter Kathy Cash completely objected to her mother's portrayal as a shrill psycho who hated his career, and she even walked out on the screening.

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Art Howe - The former team manager played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in 'Moneyball' took issue with his physical portrayal as a slightly heavier man, as well as several details that were completely inaccurate.

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Madonna - Though the film seems to be stuck in production, perhaps because of Madonna, the Material Girl has had a lot to say about it. She wrote on her Instagram that only she can tell her story, and that anyone who tries is “a charlatan and a fool.”

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Whitey Bulger and Kevin Weeks -

'Black Mass' is a biopic about a gangster named Whitey Bulger, played by Johnny Depp, and his associate Kevin Weeks, played by Jesse Plemons. Bulger, was serving two life sentences in jail before he was killed by other inmates, said that the film unfairly puts the blame on him, and Weeks echoed another sentiment of his when he said that the film absolves the federal government of their role in everything that happened.

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H. Richard Hornberger - The television show 'M*A*S*H' was based on Hornberger's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, in which he was the character Hawkeye Pierce. The writer hated the anti-war implications and liberal tendencies of his character which were added into the series.

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Winnie Mandela -

The main problem Winnie Mandela, longtime wife of activist and politician Nelson Mandela, found with her self-titled biopic was that she wasn't consulted at all, though they filmed in South Africa where she resides. She found the whole thing inappropriately romanticized.

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MC Ren - Though he didn't have a problem with the film 'Straight Outta Compton' in general, MC Ren was hurt when, as a major contributor to NWA, he wasn't given the on-screen time he deserved.

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Nina Simone's family - The singer's family was upset at the choice of Zoe Saldana, who darkened her skin and wore a prosthetic nose to play the role. They also didn't like that the film revolves around a purported relationship between her mother and manager, Clifton Henderson, who in reality was gay.

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Sarah Palin -

The politician has demonstrated her ability to handle mocking from 'Saturday Night Live,' but when it came to the serious portrayal of the 2008 presidential campaign in the film 'Game Change' she was very vocal about the false narrative she perceived.

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Olivia de Havilland - The iconic actor filed a lawsuit over the unauthorized commercial use of her name and identity in the television series 'Feud: Bette and Joan,' clearly left unmoved by her portrayal by Catherine Zeta-Jones.

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Jessica Lynch - The American soldier who was captured and kept as a prisoner of war in Iraq, and whose rescue later became the subject of a TV movie called 'Saving Jessica Lynch,' took issue with the retelling of her story and the enormous dramatic liberties the production company took.

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Philip Zimbardo - The famous psychologist behind the infamous Stanford prison experiment was not a fan of the 2001 film 'The Experiment.' He said that it made Stanford, himself, and psychology as a whole look bad.

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Mark Schultz - The Olympic gold medalist wrestler, who was recruited by millionaire and mentally unstable John DuPont, didn't like his portrayal in the film 'Foxcatcher,' played by Channing Tatum. He claimed the film had ruined his legacy, and rejected the implication that he had been close with DuPont, who ended up murdering another wrestler.

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Jack Dunn - The star-studded film 'Spotlight' highlights how the Boston Globe exposed heinous abuse and cruel cover-up by the Catholic Church. One of the characters believed the light shone wrongly on his character who came off morally ambiguous at best. He sued for defamation and the filmmakers apologized and paid up.

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Andrew Greene -

A very minor character in the film 'Wolf of Wall Street,' based on the duplicitous rise of corporate conman Jordan Belfort, tried to sue for his depiction as Nicky "Rugrat" Koskoff, a criminal, substance user, a degenerate who is seemingly devoid of ethics.

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