Fall True Story & Real-Life Inspiration Revealed (2024)

Fall tells the story of two young girls who attempt to climb an old TV tower, and while the concept may initially seem far-fetched, the film’s narrative is actually based on a real location that inspired the story. Fall follows Becky and Hunter, two best friends who are attempting to overcome their fears and take control of their own lives by pushing the limits of what they can do. After climbing 2,000 feet to the top of an abandoned TV tower, the women find themselves stuck with no way of contacting the world below them.

Fall made a huge splash on Netflix thanks to its intense cinematography and vertigo-inducing premise, which led to Fall 2 entering development. In Fall, Becky and Hunter are stranded 2000 feet above the ground with limited supplies to keep them alive and no signal to contact their families or call for help. It’s a simple premise, but Fall makes the terrifying prospect incredibly nailbiting to watch. Most aspects of the Fall story were fabricated for narrative value, but the real truth behind this location does raise some fascinating creative possibilities.

Fall Is Not Based On A True Story

The Vertigo-Inducing Horror Is Realistic, But Not Real

Luckily, Fall is entirely a piece of fiction that isn’t based a specific true story. Even from Fall’s first trailer it was clear that the movie was an exaggerated tale. There’s no known incident that inspired filmmakers Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank to write Fall, but the core themes and ideas of the film are still grounded in reality. They both claim that “the inception of the height idea came about when we were shooting Final Score at a stadium in the UK.” (via Radio Times).

The idea of heights and falling was clearly important throughout the process of writing and directing Fall, toying with one of humanity’s most common and universal fears. Although Fall wasn’t a huge commercial hit, it still gathered many fans thanks to its consistently frightening premise. The writing duo also explained how they were" filming at height, and off camera, we got into this interesting conversation about height and the fear of falling and how that's inside of all of us, really, and how that can be a great device for a movie.”

The B67 TV Tower Is Actually Real

Fall Used A Real Location For Its Fictional Story

While there isn't a specific Fall true story, the tower Becky and Hunter climb is real. When searching for the right location for their film, Fall’s team came across the KXTV Tower in Walnut Grove, California. Standing at 2,049 feet tall, the tower is reportedly the seventh-tallest man-made structure ever to have been built (via National World), and it made a perfect substitute for the film’s fictional tower.

The structure really brings Fall to life, and it’s one of many reasons why celebrities, such as Stephen King, have praised Fall’s use of horror. There may never have been any real-life incidents at the location, but Mann still saw it as “the perfect kind of character to be at the center”. The director also shared:

“[We] scoured all around California, and it was during COVID, so we'd just drive and drive and drive to these random remote locations, to try and get access. A lot of them had kind of radio masts and things at the top of these mountains and you're just finding the right kind of top of a mountain with the right cliff and the right sunlight positioning.”

While it can’t have been easy to find the right structure to center this story around, the KXTV Tower definitely has the history and the scale to make the audience truly fear for the protagonists’ lives in Fall.

Will The Fall Sequel Also Be Inspired By A True Story?

Details Of Fall 2 Still Remain Scarce

Fall 2 has been confirmed, and many fans of the first movie are already wondering what the story for the sequel could be. It's already been hinted that Fall 2 won't be a direct sequel to Fall, the chief of which being that Becky's experience will likely put her off of climbing to such heights for a long time to come. However, specifics have yet to be confirmed about the Fall 2 story, including whether it will take inspiration from real life events or not.

Ultimately, Fall 2 (the script of which has already been completed according to Variety) could be a completely fictional series of events that still draws inspiration from a true story. This will likely be the case, just like with Fall. The sequel to the vertigo-inducing thriller doesn't need to adapt a true story to create a thrilling narrative, but being entirely fictional doesn't mean it can't take a few notes from real-life scenarios where adventurous climbers have bitten off more than they can chew.

As Fall showed, free-climbing is one of the most dangerous outdoor activities, and many height enthusiasts find themselves stranded. Scriptwriters Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank more than likely studied such real-life tales for research and to ensure accuracy. More will likely become apparent when details about the Fall 2 story are released, and it will become clearer just how much it's inspired by a true story when key information like where the characters are trapped, for example, becomes known.

Fall

PG-13

Thriller

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Fall stars Grace Caroline Currey as Becky, a once fearless climber who believed in exceeding human limitations and pushing herself to the limit. But when a tragic accident during a climb leaves her traumatized, she can no longer pursue the life she once loved. However, adventure calls again when her friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner) seeks her help on an ascent up an abandoned 2,000-foot tall radio tour, to which Becky reluctantly agrees after reflection. However, this ascent goes wrong, and now the two are stranded 2,000 feet in the air with no way down. Now Becky and Hunter must use their survival skills to weather the elements and escape their vertical prison before they run out of time. Fall was released in theaters on August 12 2022, and costars Jeffery Dean Morgan. The film also shares the producer of 47 Meters down, a similar thriller-styled film.

Director

Scott Mann

Cast

Virginia Gardner , Jeffrey Dean Morgan , Grace Caroline Currey , Mason Gooding

Runtime

107 minutes

Writers

Jonathan Frank , Scott Mann