Is 'I Care a Lot' Based on a True Story? Is Marla Grayson a Real Person?

The new movie I Care a Lot debuts on Netflix this weekend and it’s sure to be a big hit for the streaming service!

Fans will likely be wondering if the movie is based on a true story and if Rosamund Pike‘s character Marla Grayson is a real person or not… and we have answers for you.

Rosamund plays a professional, court-appointed guardian for dozens of elderly wards whose assets she seizes and cunningly bilks through dubious but legal means. Watch the trailer here!

J Blakeson, the writer and director of the movie, says that he came up with the idea for the movie after reading news stories about similar situations, but the actual film is not based on a true story.

“The idea first came when I heard news stories about these predatory legal guardians who were exploiting this legal loophole and exploiting the vulnerability in the system to take advantage of older people, basically stripping them of their life and assets to fill their own pockets. These stories were horrifying and not uncommon,” Blakeson told The Moveable Fest.

He continued, “So I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole in reading about these various stories happening in various places and thought there was something almost Kafkaesque about somebody knocking on your door and just taking you away for a reason you didn’t think was valid. They had the law on their side and there was nothing you could do, so that terrified me and I thought it was a good jumping off point for a story [about] a central character who is ruthless and machiavellian, and hopefully an iconic centerpiece for this…you know, it’s not dark, but it is kind of dark ride of a movie.”

Rosamund told Vogue, “J [had the idea] after seeing an article [about wards being exploited by guardians] and thinking: ‘This should be a film, but if I tell the story from the victim’s point of view, it’ll be unbearably awful. What if I tell it from the perpetrator’s point of view?’”

So, no, Marla Grayson is not a real person!