They’re newsmakers without even trying. We’re talking about the innovators, politicians, activists, heroes and, yes, villains who inspire headlines. We know their stories; but that just makes casting them that much harder. Here they are: Newsmakers and the stars who have tackled their stories onscreen.

It’s been 20 years since The Hand That Rocks the Cradle sent chills up parents’ spines, not to mention having them run out to buy nanny-cams. Charlie Peters, screenwriter (Blame It on Rio, My One and Only) and longtime instructor of screenwriting at USC, was the teacher of the class in which Amanda Silver wrote the script for the film. Peters says, “I was impressed by both her mastery of film structure and her wonderfully creative mind. I knew from the first draft that the script would sell. Of course, I had no idea the movie would be that successful, but I’m so happy that it was.”