Was the Movie ‘Arkansas’ Based on a True Story or a Book? Explained

‘Arkansas’ is a 2020 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Clark Duke, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Boonkrong and co-starred in the film. The film follows the lives of two low-level drug dealers, Kyle and Swin, who work for a mysterious boss named Frog, whom they have never met. Their seemingly simple job becomes complicated when they get involved in a series of mishaps and betrayals that put them in danger of Frog’s wrath. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Liam Hemsworth, Vince Vaughn, Vivica A. Fox, John Malkovich, and Michael Kenneth Williams. Considering the movie’s unique setting and incredibly deep storyline, plenty of fans were wondering whether the movie was based on a true story or had some different source material.

‘Arkansas’ is not based on a true story but rather on a book

The movie ‘Arkansas’ was released in 2020, and as you know by now, it follows the story of two low-level drug dealers, Kyle and Swin, who get in quite a lot of trouble with their mysterious boss, Frog, due to a series of unintentional mishaps. The story is told in five chapters and one of the most notable aspects of the film is its setting that was captured in incredible detail with well-developed characters and plot points.

The movie does not draw parallels with true events, but it does have source material despite the screenplay being co-written by Clark Duke and Andrew Boonkrong. The film was, in reality, based on a debut novel written by John Brandon under the same name.

Quite a lot of research went into ‘Arkansas’

The movie doesn’t step away from the book too much, and the premise is basically the same: two disillusioned twenty-somethings, Swin and Kyle, find themselves involved in the complex web of the Dixie Mafia. As they go on a journey driven by a desire for excitement and an unconventional lifestyle, they become unwitting drug mules for the mysterious boss, Frog. The book explores their encounters with the unexpected and dangerous events that come their way, revealing their different personalities while solidifying their partnership in crime. Despite their differences, Swin and Kyle’s shared reluctance to connect deeply with anything becomes the glue holding them together, even as Swin faces the prospect of becoming a father quite soon.

John Brandon never mentioned that the book was based on true events, but he did reveal the secret of how he managed to craft such a convincing setting in his interview with ‘McSweeney’s Books’ :

I actually had a rough plot for before I started. It happened by accident. I did maybe a year of research for the book before I wrote a word, not so much in service to historical Civil War accuracy (though hopefully I didn’t make any blunders in that regard), but more to get a feel for the times — how cooking and chores were done, how smoking worked, horses, guns, etc.

Brandon further explained that his approach was a lot more methodical than you would expect:

Anyway, I was doing all this more-or-less random research, and it was impossible to ask myself if I might be able to use this detail or that detail without asking what, exactly, I’d use it for. Automatically, my brain wanted to attach all the found details to characters, which made it necessary to think about what each character would be doing in the book, which led to thinking about when and why they might do these things. A year is a long time. By the end of the research, I had a semblance of a plot. It felt different to me, writing from a blueprint.

And this is pretty much it; both the book and the movie are not the product of real life, but rather of a methodical research. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!