Summary

• Denzel Washington’s portrayal of John Creasy in Man on Fire showcases his action movie skills and emotional depth.
• The character Creasy is not based on a real person, but is inspired by real-life high-profile kidnappings.
• The story of Man on Fire is adapted from a novel by A. J. Quinnell, featuring the character in multiple adaptations.

John Creasy (Denzel Washington), the protagonist of Tony Scott's Man on Fire, is not based on a real person. Washington and Scott have a long history of collaborating on movies together. They've spent time on a nuclear submarine in Crimson Tide, averted a train derailment in Unstoppable, and in Man on Fire, rescued an innocent girl from the clutches of a villainous cabal. In Man on Fire, Creasy is a washed-up former SAD/SOG officer whose frivolous bodyguard job for Lupita (Dakota Fanning) turns into an action-packed conspiracy after she's kidnapped.

Man on Fire shows Denzel Washington at his action movie best and watching Creasy go from despondent, suicidal CIA agent whose best years are behind him to a man reinvigorated with his life thanks to the kindness and friendship of a young girl is thrilling as well as tearjerking. Washington has portrayed plenty of real people in his career, including Malcolm X, Herman Boone, Frank Lucas, and more. However, John Creasy is not one of them, surprisingly. Despite being one of the best characters in any Tony Scott movie, he's not an original character.

John Creasy Was First A Character In The Man On Fire Novel

But His Story Is Inspired By Two Real-Life Kidnappings

Man on Fire is not an original story by Tony Scott. It's based on a 1980 book by A. J. Quinnell of the same name, starring John Creasy, a fictional character. Creasy went on to star in four more books by the author: The Perfect Kill (1992), The Blue Ring (1993), Black Horn (1994), and Message From Hell (1996). The reason people often mistakenly believe that the character is real is that the story is inspired by two real-life and high-profile kidnappings.

The first was the kidnapping of a Singaporean businessman's eldest son for ransom (via The Sun). Worrying his other children would be targeted if he paid, the man refused and his son was killed. The second inspiration is a notorious tale about one of America's wealthiest families, the Gettys. 16-year-old John Paul Getty III, the grandson of oil magnate Paul Getty, was kidnapped in Rome in 1973. Enduring five months of captivity, Getty III lost an ear to his captors before his legendarily miserly grandfather begrudgingly paid the ransom (via People).

That Getty story led to a movie and a TV series. The show, Trust, premiered on FX in 2018, starring Donald Sutherland as Paul Getty and Harris Dickinson as Getty III. Tony Scott's brother, Ridley Scott, directed the film adaptation, All the Money in the World, with Christopher Plummer as the elder Getty and Charlie Plummer as the younger.

There is no relation between Christopher and Charles Plummer.

Every Man On Fire Movie & TV Show

Netflix Is Planning A TV Series

Tony Scott isn't the only one to be inspired by Quinnell's story, as there have been a number of Man on Fire adaptations, including some foreign ones. There was even an adaptation that came out before Scott's: the 1987 Man on Fire starring Scott Glenn as a renamed Christian Creasy and directed by French filmmaker Élie Chouraqui.

Ek Ajnabee, a Hindi adaptation, came out a year after Scott's film and stars Amitabh Bachchan as Col. Suryaveer "Surya" Singh, the Creasy of the film. This was quickly followed the same year by a Tamil-language adaptation, Aanai, with Arjun Sarja as "Vijay". Beyond these film adaptations, there is a Man on Fire television series planned for Netflix that was announced in 2023 and will depict the first two Quinnell novels, Man on Fire and The Perfect Kill.

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