Yes, A Man on the Inside is based on a true story – and there’s a film about it

A Man on the Inside is Netflix’s biggest show right now and for very good reason.

The brilliant comedy is about a retired professor who is sent on a secret mission to find a missing necklace in a retirement home.

Charles, played by Ted Danson from The Good Place, gets a new lease on life when he’s hired to go undercover.

However, what starts as a spy show ends up being a heartwarming story about Alzheimer’s that so many people can relate to.

Did you know, it’s actually based on a true story?!

Yes, A Man on the Inside is a true story

If you’ve ever seen the 2020 film The Mole Agent, that’s the true story A Man on the Inside is loosely based on.

An 83-year-old guy from Chile called Sergio Chamy was hired by a private investigator to go undercover at a local nursing home.

The reason for his mission was different to the Netflix show as was hired to investigate allegations that the nursing home was mistreating one of its residents called Sonia.

However, there are many parallels between the two stories including the wide range of charming elderly people he met and his comedic inability to use technology.

Some of the characters are based on real people

Gladys, the woman with dementia who stole the necklace, is based on a real person called Marta. She is the one Charles and Sergio both become closest to while undercover.

Another of the residents, Virginia, is also based on a real person called Berta. Virginia gets a crush on Charles, just like Berta developed a crush on Sergio in the care home.

In the real life story, Sergio also found that nobody was actually mistreating Sonia at all, just like Charles discovered there was no necklace thief.

"Mi amigo el Pulpo me prestó su premio": Sergio Chamy cumplió el sueño de tener un premio de la Academia en sus manos, aunque prestado, no le quitó emoción del momento.https://t.co/wWSlnV0nnS pic.twitter.com/pCaRNNkelZ

— T13 (@T13) April 26, 2021

This was the main inspiration for the Netflix show

However, Sergio did find that Marta was stealing items from Sonia and other residents due to her memory loss, which was the main inspiration for A Man on the Inside.

Gladys, like Marta, was found to be the one who took both the necklace and the watch without realising as she has dementia.

Sergio became famous in Chile after his story was shared in the 2020 film and is now an actor who has just starred in his first movie called Perra Vida. 

You can watch The Mole Agent on Netflix.

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Featured image by: Netflix/YouTube