FAQ

Monster is based on the original screenplay by director Patty Jenkins. However, the character of Aileen "Lee" Wuornos (Charlize Theron) is based on the real-life serial killer of the same name.

There are many books about female serial killers that mention Aileen Wuornos. One book that deals specificially with Wuornos is Dead Ends: The Pursuit, Conviction and Execution of Female Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos, the Damsel of Death (2003) by Michael Reynolds. There are also two documentary films about Wuornos, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992) (1992) and Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) (2003), and a made-for-TV biography Balades fatales (1992) (1992).

Altogether, seven. They included: (1) Richard Mallory, 51, (2) Dick Humphreys, 56, (3) David Spears, 43, (4) Charles Carskaddon, (5) Peter Siems, 65, (6) Troy Burress, 50, and (7) Walter Jeno (Gino) Antonio, 62. All of the murders took place in Florida between 30 November, 1989 and 19 November, 1990. She was not charged for Siems' murder because his body was never found.

It's not necessarily "hidden." Most viewers assume that the word "monster" refers to Aileen Wuornos and the fact that she murdered seven men. However, the "Monster" also refers to a Ferris wheel that Wuornos, in the film, says she wanted badly to ride when she was a child. When she finally got to ride on it, however, she became so scared and nauseated that she threw up on herself. The Monster is a metaphor for wanting something badly but not knowing what it's really like until you get it. Aileen tells this story just after she's murdered her second victim, explaining that in her life it has always been the harmless stuff that hurts the most.

The title of Monster and its association with Aileen Wuornos effectively serve to raise questions about the common use of words like that in describing people who've performed violent acts, or things that are otherwise commonly perceived as disprovable in their society.

It's said that Charlize gained 30 pounds, shaved off her eyebrows, colored her hair, and wore contacts and prosthetic dentures to completely change her appearance. Toni G, the movie's make-up artist, also applied a great deal of makeup to age her skin and add freckles. To capture Wuornos' mannerisms and speech patterns, Theron watched clips from Nick Broomfield's documentary, "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer".

Stories have reported that Tyria is litigious, and Patty Jenkins in an interview said that everything had to pass scrutiny by a platoon of lawyers. Consequently, they created an entirely new girlfriend, Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), who did not resemble Moore in any way. Moore was red-haired, overweight, worked as a carpenter and brick mason, and was older than Selby. She was 27 or 28 years old at the time the murders occurred, while Ricci was 23.

Christina Ricci actually had broken her arm before production started so the director decided to add it to her character.

Aileen gave birth to a boy shortly after her 15th birthday in March, 1971. The child was immediately given up for adoption.

Between November 1989 and Wuornos's arrest on 9 January 1991.

Aileen Wuornos really did have a female lover, but she is nothing like the character of Selby. The character of Tom is a composite of Wuornos' various friends at the bar she frequented. The men Aileen shoots are loosely based on Wuornos' real victims. The other characters are entirely fictional.

It is tough to say. During her trial, Wuornos gave a graphic testimony in which she described being tied up, tortured, and raped by Richard Mallory, her first victim. However, in Nick Broomfield's documentary, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, she claimed that this story was made up and that she shot him so she could take his car. Later, when she thought the cameras were off, she claimed that she had in fact been raped, and that she only said that she shot Mallory in cold blood so she could be executed to avoid life in prison. What we do know is that Richard Mallory had previously spent ten years in prison for aggravated rape.

No. Although widely reported as such during her trial, Wuornos was not the first American woman to commit serial murders. In fact, over 80 have been recorded. However, her murders were different from those of other female serial killers and were more typical of those committed by men, i.e., she killed outdoors instead of at home, used a gun instead of poison/suffocation, killed strangers instead of friends/family.

No, although Jenkins and Wuornos exchanged letters. Wuornos' best friend Dawn Botkins also provided Jenkins and Theron with access to a great deal of Aileen's personal material.