The Bikeriders is based on the book of the same name which centred on the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club in the 1960s, but the movie isn't quite based on real life.
Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, the movie sees Austin Butler play Benny, a member of outlaw motorcycle club Vandals MC, ran by Tom Hardy's Johnny, who finds himself torn between his loyalty to the club and his partner Kathy (Jodie Comer).
Talking to Digital Spy, Nichols noted how the movie was inspired by the book, but with his own fictional additions.
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"I would say 70% of the dialogue is taken from this book, certainly of Kathy's dialogue. To say that this story follows these real people, that's not true either," he explained.
"It is this really odd hybrid where we had Danny [Lyon, author] visiting these people in 1965, and then he was done. And that's all I really had. So I had to invent everything before and everything after.
"It really is a balance of saying: these are fictional characters, but they hold a lot of reality in them, taking directly out of Danny's book."
As for Comer, she recently shared how she was inspired by her nan when it came to creating the character of Kathy.
"There was elements of her. She's extremely vivacious and an incredible storyteller," she said. "There was a humour I found in [Kathy] and a warmth that I felt like a lot of women, especially from Liverpool or the north."
The movie marks the first on-screen pairing of Tom Hardy and Austin Butler, with the former saying he already wants to work with Butler again on a future movie, calling him a "really generous, sensitive soul".
The Bikeriders is released in cinemas on June 21.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
