Naman Shrestha
Starring Catherine Dyer as Amelia, Lifetime’s ‘The Surrogate Scandal’ is a thriller film that revolves around Amelia who agrees to be a secret surrogate for the celebrity couple Grace and Alex Hardy. However, things turn sour when she finds out that Grace had a failed childbirth, which resulted in the death of her estranged daughter, Beth. Given the seemingly suspicious circumstances surrounding the entire tragedy, Amelia decides to infiltrate the Hardy residence by posing as a nanny.
As Amelia investigates and spends more time with the family, she learns some dark secrets about her daughter’s death. Directed by Amanda J. Strachan, the thriller movie includes several realistic and familiar themes, including surrogacy, which is why it is natural for some of you to pose the question — is ‘The Surrogate Scandal’ based on reality or not? Well, let’s explore the same together, shall we?
The Surrogate Scandal is an Original Work
No, ‘The Surrogate Scandal’ is not based on a true story. Despite the similarities with reality, the storyline of the Lifetime film is the product of Vicky L. Neal’s creative mind and outstanding writing prowess. With enough experience under her belt, from writing screenplays for ‘The Lioness’ and ‘Romanorum,’ she was able to conjure up a realistic yet intriguing screenplay for the Amanda J. Strachan directorial.
As mentioned above, many of you might find the Luisa d’Oliveira starrer quite realistic because it mainly revolves around the predominant theme of surrogacy, which is not something unheard of in real life. As unfortunate as it may sound but there exist two-faced people in reality as well, which is portrayed aptly by the character of Amelia who poses as a nurse to invade the privacy of the Hardy household.
Besides that, another reason why the Lifetime movie may seem kind of familiar to you is that there are many movies and TV shows, such as ‘When The Bough Breaks’ and ‘Together Together,’ that focus on similar themes and instances of surrogacy while highlighting the complications it may bring to the table. However, one of the most suitable examples has to be that of the 2013 mystery thriller film titled ‘The Surrogate.’
Starring Cameron Mathison, Annie Wersching, Amy Scott, and Matthew Alan, the Doug Campbell directorial follows a married couple who struggle to conceive a child of their own so they decide to take the help of a young woman and hire her as their surrogate. After they spend some time together, the surrogate’s true nature comes to light and the couple finds out that she has ulterior motives of her own.
As you may have noticed, the subjects of surrogacy and the deceitful nature of people to get what they want are explored in ‘The Surrogate’ just like in ‘The Surrogate Scandal.’ Thus, by considering all the above-mentioned factors, it would be fair to say that despite the inclusion of realistic subjects, the Lifetime movie does not have anything to do with reality and is a work of fiction.
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