Why is the big year record not accurate?
At the end of The Big Year (2011), Kenny Bostick does a big year and finishes with 755 bird species. After watching the film, I checked Wikipedia for Big year and reached the following information:
The Big Year of 1998 was the subject of a book of the same name by Mark Obmascik. In that year three birders, Sandy Komito, Al Levantin and Greg Miller, chased Komito's record of 721 birds. In the end Sandy Komito kept the record, listing 745 birds plus 3 submitted in 1998 and later accepted by state committees for a revised total of 748. The book was adapted for the 2011 20th Century Fox film The Big Year.
As of 2011, the world record is still 748, but in the movie it is 755. Why is the record in the movie not the same as the real one?
Best Answer
This page has a calculation on what one birder SHOULD have done, who ended on 748:
In late August instead of birding in Colorado for some code 1 birds that he could have picked up at other times of the year, he could have been in the Pribiloffs for a few days before going to Gambell. If he had he could have seen taiga and dark-sided flycatchers (code 4's), a jack snipe (code 4) and a long-toed stint (code 3). All of these birds could have been seen without missing out on other birds that John saw during the same time periods. If he had seen all these additional birds his 2011 total would have been 755.
I'd theorise then that they were basing it on the theoretical maximum then, ie the answer to the "if he'd done everything right, how many could he have seen?" question.
Pictures about "Why is the big year record not accurate?"
Is The Big Year accurate?
Adapted from Mark Obmascik's best-selling book, The Big Year is a true story about three singularly obsessed men who compete to see who will be the \u201cbest birder in the world\u201d by spotting the most species in a year (in their case, 1998).Is Kenny Bostick a real person?
Of course, the movie is a fictionalized account and changed the names and personal stories of the men. In the film, Komito becomes the character Kenny Bostick (played by Owen Wilson); Greg Miller is Brad Harris (Jack Black's character); and Al Levantin turns into Stu Preissler (portrayed by Steve Martin).Who holds the record for The Big Year?
When Sandy Komito (the cheery guy played by Owen Wilson in the movie The Big Year) saw 748 species in 1998, many thought his North American birding record would last forever. In fact, Komito's number stood for 15 years\u2014until Neil Hayward managed to log 749 species during his frenzied transcontinental run.Was The Big Year filmed on Attu?
The pelagic departure scenes were filmed in Tofino, which is on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and the scenes that are supposed to represent Attu were filmed around an area called Tombstone Territorial Park, which is located not too far from Dawson City, Yukon. Birders.Breaking the Global Birding Big Year Record with Arjan Dwarshuis | EPISODE 6
More answers regarding why is the big year record not accurate?
Answer 2
I always liked to think it had to do with Hank Aaron's true home run record. Obviously birding and baseball have no relation but I still always liked to think they made Bostick's record 755 which is what Aaron's home run total was. Maybe their sticking it to that cheater Barry Bonds. Of course, this is probably all ridiculous and completely false.
Answer 3
Okay -- this is just a guess, I do not really know what I'm talking about, but my guess is that they portrayed some of the characters in the movie as being less than ideal people. THUS, it is possible that someone could claim their character was defamed. SO, to give themselves legal wiggle room " ... characters, names, businesses and certain locations and events have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes." This way, SHOULD they ever end up in court over something in the movie, they could say, "We weren't talking about you ... WE were talking about a FICTIONAL character." (i.e., the disclaimer at the end of the credits). Net: Every component, such as the actual # of birds, would go to the defense of that concept, in such a situation. (Note, as they say, even the names of the real people were changed to protect the guilty.) But that is just my guess. Does that make sense?
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Mikhail Nilov, Elina Fairytale, Elina Fairytale, George Milton