Trainwreck [1] is a work of fiction . . . mostly. While there are a lot of made-up elements in the romantic comedy, writer/star Amy Schumer also incorporated several details from her real life into the film. Of course, Schumer doesn't really work at an obnoxious magazine under an insanely tanned Tilda Swinton [2], but other parts of her character mirror Schumer in unexpected ways. Here are five things from the movie that Schumer plucked directly from her own life.
Schumer's father really has MS.
Colin Quinn plays Gordon, Amy's dad, in the film. Not only is Schumer's real father actually named Gordon, but like the character he inspired, he also has multiple sclerosis. Schumer has spoken about his disease in her stand-up act [3], joking that despite being in a wheelchair, he still thinks he's God's gift to the world. She's also used her popularity to bring awareness to MS [4] and has donated part of the profits from Trainwreck's comedy tour to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Like her character, Schumer also realized she was "broken."
We had a chance to sit down with Schumer for a roundtable interview while she was promoting Trainwreck, during which she admitted that she related to the movie on a number of levels. Most surprisingly, she said that she came to the conclusion while writing Trainwreck that she was "broken." Schumer continued, "I had trouble accepting love and believing that I was someone who was lovable and deserving of love." These themes are featured prominently in the movie, so kudos to Schumer for writing from the heart.
She's close with her sister, Kim.
Amy also named the character of her sister, Kim, after her real-life sister. Brie Larson plays her in the film, and while Schumer was discussing her own "broken" phase during our interview, she said that her "sister had been really sweet. She was pretending that I was OK." The two are close in real life and have even written a kidnapping comedy movie together [5].
She dated a pro wrestler.
John Cena plays Amy's boyfriend in Trainwreck, and in real life, Schumer dated Cena's fellow WWE star Dolph Ziggler. She even talked about the experience [6] on The Howard Stern Show, calling him "sweet and funny," but saying the sex was "too athletic."
That whole breakup scene really happened.
The scene in which John Cena's character breaks up with Amy when she's high is based on a real incident from Schumer's life. She told us that she was almost too scared to include it [7], but that the guy who broke up with her gave her his permission to put the scene in. Not only was she actually high during their conversation, but she asked if she could leave in the middle of the breakup talk.