Coen brothers confirm Fargo is a true story after all, or at least based on some

The Coen brothers’ 1996 classic Fargo is prefaced with the following text:

‘This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.’

Until now we took this to be false, and only included to place the film within a certain genre.

"We wanted to make a movie just in the genre of a true story movie,” previously said. “You don't have to have a true story to make a true story movie."

But it seems the Coens’ bluff might actually be a double bluff, as they’ve now revealed key elements of the plot were inspired by real world happenings.

"There are actually two little elements in the story that were based on actual incidents," Joel Coen told HuffPost. "One of them is the fact that there was a guy, I believe in the '60s or '70s, who was gumming up serial numbers for cars and defrauding the General Motors Finance Corporation. There was no kidnapping. There was no murder. It was a guy defrauding the GM Finance Corporation at some point."

"The other thing based on something real,” he continued. “There was a murder in Connecticut, where a man killed his wife and disposed of the body -- put her into a wood chipper. But beyond that, the story is made up."

The Coens are renowned for their intricate plots, having created yet another with Hail, Caesar!

One of the film’s stars, Alden Ehrenreich, last week told us what it’s like working with the duo and how each of them function on set.