FILM · 2003 · USA
Monster
28 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (28)
- #001
Aileen Wuornos, known as an uncooperative person, granted writer-director Patty Jenkins access to the hundreds of letters she wrote to and received from Wuornos in order to gain insight into Aileen's life.
- #002
The real Aileen Wuornos actually used a storage facility, as seen when she leaves Selby's house on the morning they first meet. Although it is shown only once in the film (and before the murder spree), in real life she stored some of her victims' belongings there. She sold many of the other items to pawn shops, which ultimately led to her fingerprint being identified and then to her arrest.
- #003
Selby is based on Tyria Moore, Aileen Wuornos's real-life girlfriend at the time of the murders. Selby is for all intents and purposes a fictional character. Moore was known as a reclusive person and did not give many details about her personal life, and she asked that her name and likeness not be used in the film, which director Patty Jenkins agreed to. The producers had to use a great deal of imagination when writing Selby.
- #004
When Lee is first shown interacting with a john in the film, she shows him a photograph of two small children, says they are her own children and that she needs some money to reach them. According to Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992), the real Aileen Wuornos actually used this method to persuade her johns to pay for sexual favors, because her physical appearance had begun to deteriorate rapidly due to her wild lifestyle, making it increasingly difficult for her to earn money as a prostitute. She showed photographs of her adoptive sister's children, claiming they were her own. Wuornos's grandparents legally adopted her as a baby after her biological mother abandoned her, which means her adoptive sister was in fact her aunt.
- #005
Charlize Theron won the Oscar for her role as Aileen Wuornos on 29 February 2004, Wuornos's birthday.
- #006
At the beginning of the film, Lee tells Selby that she has a "pressure cleaning" job. In the book Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992), the real Aileen Wuornos mentions that she bought an expensive pressure cleaning kit for her former lover. He left Wuornos shortly afterwards and took the expensive kit with him.
- #007
Patty Jenkins said she screen-tested Kate Winslet, Heather Graham, Brittany Murphy and Kate Beckinsale. However, since seeing Charlize Theron's dark turn in The Devil's Advocate (1997), Jenkins knew she wanted her. Upon seeing a scene from The Devil's Advocate on television, Jenkins decided Theron was perfect. She said that an actress who, like Theron, would allow a close-up of her nose, would be open enough to handle a difficult role like Aileen Wuornos.
- #008
The name 'Aileen Wuornos' is never mentioned in the film. She is referred to only as 'Lee'.
- #009
According to Patty Jenkins, the film was shot in twenty-eight days. Four scenes, or nine pages of script, were shot in a single day.
- #010
Patty Jenkins wrote the script in seven weeks. Production was set up in two months.
- #011
Scott Wilson turned down the small role of Horton several times before finally agreeing to play it. He felt he needed to go emotionally to a place he did not think he was ready to go to as an actor in order to play the role correctly.
- #012
A pawn shop in Beverly Hills sold the gun Charlize Theron used in this film for $4,500.
- #013
"Fuck" and its permutations are spoken 189 times.
- #014
One of the reasons the producers cast Christina Ricci as a smaller and more submissive character was to provide a visual and dramatic contrast with Theron. Tyria Moore was in fact a heavier-set, fair-haired and more aggressive woman than Ricci's portrayal.
- #015
Charlize Theron's Best Actress Oscar was this film's only Oscar nomination.
- #016
Fourteen years after this film, Patty Jenkins released her second film, Wonder Woman, in 2017.
- #017
Kate Hudson was initially offered the role of Selby but turned it down.
- #018
The two undercover bounty hunters in the film are based on the two undercover police officers who helped capture Wuornos. They called themselves "Bucket" and "Drums".
- #019
The brutal attack on Aileen by a customer was based on one of the many accounts she gave of how her first murder was committed. It is believed that there was more than one version of the story and that some may have been created to help the serial killer in court. Because of her lifestyle and her being a pathological liar, none of her statements can be conclusively proven or disproven.
- #020
Reese Witherspoon campaigned for the lead role.
- #021
Charlize Theron gained between 20 and 30 kilos and shaved her eyebrows to play Aileen Wuornos. Christina Ricci also gained 20 kilos for her role, and both actresses wore decidedly unglamorous clothing.
- #022
It is director Patty Jenkins's first feature film after two short films. She did not direct another film for 14 years, until she finally made Wonder Woman in 2017. Before that she tried to pitch ideas, including the superhero film Thor: The Dark World (2013), but no studio was interested.
- #023
The roller rink is the Semoran Skateway in Casselberry, Florida. The amusement park where Selby and Aileen Wuornos ride the Ferris wheel is on International Drive in Orlando, Florida.
- #024
One of the undercover police officers who arrests Aileen Wuornos at the end of the film is played by Kane Hodder. The stuntman is known for the role of Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988), Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) and Jason X (2001).
- #025
In the film Aileen uses a rather battered .22LR caliber Smith & Wesson Model 617 revolver. In reality, the actual gun Aileen Wuornos used was a High Standard Double Nine, a .22 double-action revolver.
- #026
In his conversation with Aileen, Thomas implies that he fought in Vietnam. "What you're feeling right now is guilt over something you have absolutely no control over. You know how many of us came back from the war and were practically killing ourselves because we felt exactly the same way?"
- #027
In a 2026 interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Christina Ricci named it one of her five favorite films she has made.
- #028
Scott Wilson (Horton / the last "John") and Pruitt Taylor Vince (Gene / the stuttering "John") worked together on season 2 of AMC's hit series The Walking Dead. Scott Wilson played Hershel Greene and Pruitt Taylor Vince played Ottis.
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