Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American biographical crime movie directed and also produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Jeff Nathanson and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. The supporting cast features Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner, James Brolin, and Malachi Throne. It is about a notorious con artist who has duped people worth millions of dollars with his masterful art of deception.
Little did many people know, the movie is actually based on the autobiography of Frank Abagnale, who allegedly, before his 19th birthday, successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and also a Louisiana parish prosecutor but the truth of his story is very questionable.
Frank Abagnale was a famous check-forger, imposter, and also con artist. He has committed his crimes primarily between the ages of 15 and 21. He was arrested multiple times in multiple countries, spending six months in a French prison, six months in a Swedish prison, and finally four years in a US prison in Atlanta, Georgia. So many histories.
Abagnale wrote that he was ‘honored’ to have Spielberg, DiCaprio, and also Hanks make a movie inspired by his life, but added, “It is important to understand that it is just a movie, not a biographical documentary”. Still, he later told an interviewer that the movie and the subsequent stage musical based on it were actually about 80 percent accurate.
Things That Are Based On True Story:
- The relationship between Frank Abagnale and the FBI Agent is loosely based on Frank’s relationship with a real FBI agent, Joseph Shea. According to Abagnale, their friendship lasted 30 years, until Shea’s death in 2005. Special Agent Shea was the head of the FBI investigative team chasing after Frank and had spent several years looking for him. While pursuing Abagnale, Shea initially believed his suspect was in his own late twenties to mid-thirties, because of how sophisticated the crimes and forgeries were.
- Frank Abagnale forged a Harvard Law School transcript, passed the bar in Louisiana, and became a practicing attorney. Much like he says in the movie, it was all a matter of retaking the test. He studied hard, failed the exam twice, did eight more weeks of studying, then passed on his third try.
- Frank wrote about this incident in his 1980 memoir, “Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake.” He claims that he removed the toilet and wriggled through the hatch until his feet dangled above the tarmac. But this has become a source of debate with airline experts rebutting that it’s impossible to get from a toilet into the rest of a plane.
- Brenda, the Amy Adams character, is based on a flight attendant Abagnale apparently dated while on the run. They were never actually engaged, but he did spend time with her family.
- Frank Abagnale now runs Abagnale & Associates, an organization that advises companies on fraud and develops anti-fraud measures.
Sources: YouTube Movieclips Classic Trailers, Mental Floss, Slash Film.