Investigating reports of slavery on cocoa plantations in the West African nation, Finkel found the reality to be far more complex. Though he had moved into a coveted writing position with the New York Times Magazine by his early 30s, the journalist got himself in a fix with a 2001 story about child laborers in Mali.
Finkel didn't prioritize accuracy in his reportingįirst of all, Finkel wasn’t always so respectful of accuracy in reporting. Though Finkel writes at the outset that he feels the need to emphasize the truthfulness of what he reports, truth can of course be a slippery concept. The film, directed by Rupert Goold and starring James Franco as Longo and Jonah Hill as Finkel, is based on Finkel’s book, True Story: Memoir, Mea Culpa, recounting the case and his personal involvement with his impersonator. The police department accepted Dee Dee's claims without further investigation, and simply noted in their report that Gypsy did indeed suffer from "a mental handicap.Is truth indeed stranger than fiction? Maybe so in the case of the movie True Story, based on the real case of Christian Longo, accused murderer of his wife and three children, and Michael Finkel, the disgraced journalist whose identity Longo briefly assumed. He was not notified, and the claims went unchecked. Rod Blanchard, Gypsy's father, sent Dee Dee money monthly for his daughter's care. When the police paid Dee Dee and Gypsy a visit, Dee Dee explained that the inconsistent birth dates and name spellings were designed to evade an abusive husband. Two years later, an anonymous call to the Springfield Police Department expressed doubt that Gypsy was truly ill and requested authorities to take a look at inconsistencies on her birth certificate. Though the girl had a relatively clean bill of health, doctors chose not to probe and instead treated her for vision, hearing, sleep, and salivation problems that stemmed from the muscular dystrophy Dee Dee insisted Gypsy had.Īccording to the BuzzFeed article, one doctor in Springfield, Missouri, pediatric neurologist Bernardo Flasterstein, did tell Dee Dee about his doubts in 2007 he even noted "a strong possibility of Munchausen by proxy." But nothing came of his suspicions. With MSBP, doctors may be reluctant to bring up any suspicions that a patient or their caretaker is lying or exaggerating symptoms, because it could be harmful to the patient's wellbeing.Īs early as 2001, tests for Gypsy's muscular dystrophy and her brain and spine scans all came up negative for any issues. Patricia Arquette and Joey King in The Act Hulu + Brownie Harris People became suspicious about Gypsy's conditions.
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