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What constitutes a remake of a documentary? Would you consider Milk](Milk (2009) - Movie | Moviefone) to be based on The Times of Harvey Milk](The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) - Movie | Moviefone)? Rob Epstein, who directed the latter, was thanked in the credits of the former and his film was surely an inspiration. His footage was even lifted or recreated for parts of Gus Van Sant’s dramatized version. But *Milk *was ultimately deemed an original work, at least as far as the Academy Awards are concerned.
If you were to argue the case that the biopic is based on the documentary, where then would you draw the line? Is Monster](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/monster/17493/main?icid=movsmartsearch) based on Nick Broomfield’s first Aileen Wuornos film (he too is thanked)? Is part of Munich](Munich (2006) - Movie | Moviefone) based on One Day in September](One Day in September (1999) - Movie | Moviefone)? And speaking of films by Kevin Macdonald, is The Last King of Scotland](The Last King of Scotland (2007) - Movie | Moviefone) at all a remake of Barbet Schroeder’s General Idi Amin Dada](General Idi Amin Dada - Movie | Moviefone)? It does feature footage from the doc, after all.
There’s no denying Cate Blanchett’s segment of I’m Not There](I'm Not There (2007) - Movie | Moviefone) is lifted from D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/dont-look-back/1009718/main?icid=movsmartsearch), but it’s easier to say the latter was merely used as reference. Frederick Wiseman meanwhile insinuates Stanley Kubrick stole much of the first half of Full Metal Jacket](Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Movie | Moviefone) from his own boot camp film Basic Training](Basic Training (1971) - Movie | Moviefone), which was indeed used by Kubrick as uncredited research material. The later fiction film is considered solely based on an autobiographical novel by Gustav Hasford.
Continue reading Doc Talk: Why Remake a Documentary as a Dramatic Film?