10 Modern Romance Movies Inspired by Real Love Stories

Remember the time Nicolas Cage starred in a heartwarming romantic comedy about a New York police officer who splits his lottery winnings with a waitress? Well, it's inspired by a true story! Robert Cunningham shared his $6 million fortune with waitress Phyllis Penzo in 1984. Unfortunately, the romance between the two main character is fabricated for the film, but we don't mind.

This 2001 drama isn't just about mathematician John Nash's descent into paranoid schizophrenia, it's about the unbelievable love story between him and his wife, Alicia. Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly played the couple, who were married for merely six years before divorcing. They remained close, resumed their relationship decades later, and eventually remarried. They died in a car crash together in 2015.

The film that earned Reese Witherspoon her Academy Award was inspired by the real relationship of June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash. The two met in 1955, when Johnny was married to his first wife, Vivian. Two years after he and Vivian divorced, Johnny married June, and they remained together until June's death in 2003 — Johnny died just four months later.

If you sobbed at Nicholas Sparks's The Vow, prepare for even more tears on your next viewing . . . because this really happened. Main characters Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) were inspired by Krickitt and Kim Carpenter. Two months after their wedding, the couple got into a horrific car accident that left wife Krickett without the past two years of her memory. They stuck it out, and as of 2014, they're still together.

All right, stay with me: the 2005 movie Fever Pitch is a remake of the 1997 UK film, also called Fever Pitch. That movie is based on Nick Hornby's 1992 essay titled "Fever Pitch," which is an autobiographical account of one of his relationships. While the American movie, starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, focuses on a man who is obsessed with the Boston Red Sox, Hornby was actually fixated on soccer (aka football, to the Brits out there).

Before it was a 1967 film starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, the story of Bonnie and Clyde was splashed across the front pages of newspapers nationwide. Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were a pair of high-profile robbers who terrorized banks during the '30s. Their love for each other had to be strong to withstand multiple homicides.

Miranda Otto portrays American poet Elizabeth Bishop in this moving biopic, which is as much about her relationship with Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares (Glória Pires) as it is about her career. While the two women had a torrid love affair in the '50s and '60s, the later years of their relationship were marred by Bishop's alcoholism and Soares's depression. Their relationship ended when Soares committed suicide in 1967.

Hilary Swank took home the Oscar for her role as Brandon Teena, a transgender boy who falls for a girl (Chloë Sevigny). Some may be horrified to find out that Teena was a real person, given the character's tragic outcome. This movie is definitely rooted in the drama category, but it's also a tender romance — and not for the emotionally faint of heart. If you want to learn more about the inspiration, check out The Brandon Teena Story on Hulu.

Val Kilmer stars as a man who undergoes surgery to restore his sight in this 1999 film. Though the names are changed, the story is inspired by Shirl Jennings, whose story is told in the 1993 New Yorker piece "To See and Not to See." Mira Sorvino plays the loving girlfriend who persuades Shirl (named Virgil in the film) to pursue an operation. Jennings went on to write a book about his experience after the release of the movie.

Finally, yes, The Notebook is inspired by a true story. Author Nicholas Sparks admits on his website that the movie is based on the love story of his wife's grandparents. He tells a possibly even sweeter story about how the day after his wedding to his wife, they had an impromptu second ceremony for her grandparents, who were too ill to make it to their wedding. "It was then they told us the story of how they met and fell in love, parts of which eventually made their way into The Notebook," he writes. "I remember watching them together and thinking to myself that, after 60 years of marriage, these two people were treating each other exactly the same as my wife and I were treating each other after 12 hours. What a wonderful gift they’d given us, I thought, to show us on our first day of marriage that true love can last forever." BRB, sobbing.