Is Netflix’s ‘I Care a Lot’ Based on a True Story?
Netflix‘s I Care a Lot is allowing Gone Girl actor Rosamund Pike to shine in all of her glory in a new sinister dramedy. In the film, Pike stars as Marla Grayson, a woman obsessed with money and control who takes advantage of some of the most vulnerable people in society.
The film also stars Eiza Gonzalez and Game of Thrones alum Peter Dinklage. But is I Care a Lot based on a true story?
[Spoiler alert: This article contains MAJOR spoilers from Netflix’s I Care a Lot. Read at your own risk.]
What is Netflix’s ‘I Care A Lot’ about?
In the film, Pike stars as Marla, a care specialist whose business involves taking guardianship of vulnerable older people. Marla targets wealthy older people who don’t need to be cared for, taking over all of their assets, sticking them in care homes, and selling off their assets to make herself richer.
Thinking she’s hit the jackpot with the wealthy and retired Jennifer Peterson (Dianne West), Marla goes after her with a vengeance. However, she soon discovers there is more to Jennifer that meets the eye. Though she is a childless woman with no immediate family, Marla finds herself going up against a powerful gangster, Roman Lunyov (Dinklage), and his rag-tag group of minions.
Determined to win at the increasingly dangerous cat and mouse game, Marla does everything she can to avoid the gangster and continue with her thriving business.
Does Marla Grayson die in ‘I Care a Lot?’
In the film, Roman Lunyov does everything he can to kill Marla when she refuses to release Jennifer Peterson from her clutches. However, Marla perseveres, eventually getting Roman in a position where she demands $10 million from him.
Instead, Roman convinces her to build a global partnership with him where they both became filthy rich. Their plan initially works until Marla is gunned down by a disgruntled man whose mother died after being forced into Marla’s care.
“In my head, Marla never believed she was going to die, Pike told USA Today. “I mean, right until the point that she breathes her last, I think she still thinks she’s going to win and she’s going to get out of it. I really do.”
Is Netflix’s ‘I Care a Lot’ based on a true story?
One of the things that have struck fans about I Care a Lot is how shocking realistic it is, especially considering America’s fractured health care and judicial system. However, I Care a Lot isn’t based on a true story, at least not entirely.
Director J Blakeson said that he was inspired by true scenarios that do pan out every single day. “It’s true to life in the fact that there are lots of these predatory guardians who do pray on vulnerable and elderly people, and sort of entrap them in these guardianships and basically sort of strip their life apart,” he told Collider. “The true-life stories of it are really quite harrowing and horrifying so unfortunately, yeah, it does happen.”
Blakeson went on to say that he was horrified by similair stories that he disocovered when doing research for his script. “Imagine opening your door one day and there is a person standing there holding a piece of paper that gives them total legal power over you,” he said. “This provided a lot of themes that interested me, like ambition, the American Dream, and humans becoming commodities. So the story started there. I sat and wrote it on my own and very quickly it formed into what is now I Care a Lot.”
