If you're wondering, is Fargo based on a true story? You can read in our article. Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 masterpiece Fargo opens with a very specific disclaimer: “This is a true story. The events described in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of survivors, first and last names have been changed. Out of respect for the victims, the rest is told exactly as it happened.” And from that point on, the Coens spin a story that seems too hilariously twisted to be true. So what's really going on? Was Fargo based on a true story? Or have the Coens just been fooling us all this time?
The Coen brothers' Fargo is not based on a true story.
One thing we can say for sure is that despite what they would have you believe, the Coens definitely did not dramatize any real event "exactly as it happened." Fargo tells the story of Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a cash-strapped Oldsmobile dealer who hires two notorious crooks, Carl and Gaar (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare), to kidnap his wife (Kristin Rudrud). Jerry plans to use the kidnapping to extort the necessary amount of money from his father-in-law (Harve Presnell), who owns the dealership where Jerry works.
As you might guess, the criminals end up not being very smart, and the case quickly spirals out of control, especially when a shrewd and very pregnant police detective named Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) takes on the case. After Gaar kills a policeman, he begins to feud with Carl, and Jerry becomes increasingly desperate to win back his wife. This would be tragic if the Coens didn't have a knack for finding dark humor in the most bizarre and brutal circumstances. Jerry's extortion attempt goes completely awry, and Carl ends up on the bad end of a woodcutter in the film's creepiest (and probably most famous) scene.
The rejection of the "true story" in Fargo was only intended to set the tone for the film
And all of this brings us back to the question: Is this all a true story, as the movie claims? For the most part, the answer is no. In 2016, in honor of the film's 20th anniversary, Ethan Coen told HuffPost that the disclaimer was added to the film to set a certain tone. “We wanted to make a true story film,” he said. “You don’t have to have a true story to make a true film.” Essentially, the Coens wanted the film to have the feel of a sordid crime drama, even if the events depicted never actually happened. However, the "true story" claim isn't a complete lie, as the Coens did cherry-pick several real-life details to include in the film.
The wood chipper episode was inspired by a real-life murder that happened in Connecticut about ten years before Fargo was released. A man named Richard Crafts was arrested and found guilty of murdering his wife and using a wood chipper to dispose of her body. And Joel Coen told HuffPost that Macy's character was inspired by a real-life General Motors employee who tried to defraud the company by "papering over" the serial numbers of some cars—a scam similar to the one the film hints Jerry is involved in before he switches to kidnapping.
Is Fargo based on a true story?
Like many directors before them, the Coen brothers plucked a few details from real life to incorporate into their fictional film. The disclaimer stating that this is all true is just a minor stylistic trick. So it's funny that the disclaimer lives on in Noah Hawley's excellent television series Fargo, which was based on the original film and has now run for five seasons on FX, with several more seasons to come.
The TV series Fargo has many clever connections to the movie Fargo, the most notable of which is that the briefcase of money that Buscemi's character buries in the snow in the film eventually resurfaces in the series during its first season. But one of the most obvious connections is that each episode of the series opens with the same text proclaiming that what you are about to see is “the true story,” “at the request of the survivors, names have been changed,” and “out of respect for the dead.” , the rest is told exactly as it happened.”
The only thing that changes from season to season is the date and location, as Fargo is an anthology series that jumps around time and place to tell a new story each season. (Recall that in the first season, mild-mannered insurance agent Martin Freeman is terrorized by chaos agent Billy Bob Thornton. In the second season, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons try to get out of trouble after they accidentally kill the son of a mafia boss. In the third season, Ewan McGregor plays twins, and Carrie Coon also appears. Season 4 is set in the 1950s and, interestingly, features Chris Rock in a big dramatic role. The fifth season is the last, and sees furious housewife Juno Temple trying to escape her abusive husband. ex-husband, the formidable sheriff played by John Ham).
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