And Sharon Stone did an excellent job portraying my “rock bottom.” That’s really what it was like.” But the actual storyline, in my opinion, was very close. There was, of course, the changing of names, cities, etc I’d give it a solid 90%, the other 10% was “Hollywood-ized.” There were some exaggerations and added scenes for dramatic effect, like the big bar fight scene, which never happened in real life. “ It is as close as they could get without having the rights. In an interview with CBS News, post the publication of the book, she was asked how close ‘Alpha Dog’ comes to portraying the actual events, to which she said: The book received wide attention in the aftermath of what happened. The book narrates her journey through grief and pain when she found out about her son, Nicholas’s death. In 2010, Susan Markowitz, Nicholas’s mother, published a book titled, ‘My Stolen Son: The Nick Markowitz Story.’ She wrote the book along with Jenna Glatzer. ‘My Stolen Son: The Nick Markowitz Story’ Credit: Penguinrandomhouse
Many of these instances are mentioned in the case report which ultimately made its way into the scenes of the film. Hollywood, who was on the run since the murder, was tracked down after five years in Brazil. The body was soon found, which led to the arrests of those involved. Hollywood’s friends walked Nicholas up a trail to an already dug grave where Nicholas was hit on the head with a shovel and shot to death. As a result, Hollywood called up Ryan Hoyt, a person who owed money to Hollywood to arrange Nicholas’s murder by providing him a gun. But the legal consequences, as stated by his friends, spooked Hollywood. Hollywood supposedly had no intention of harming Nicholas and wanted to let him go home.
He was also seen attending house parties with Hollywood’s friends. Though Nicholas initially was initially scared, many eye witness reports confirm that he appeared to be calm and having fun with his kidnappers. Things escalated out of control when Nicholas, seen walking along the road, was kidnapped by Hollywood in a way to get back his money. His stepbrother Ben Markowitz owed money to Jesse James Hollywood, a community, sub level drug dealer. The movie and its many parallels shadow the events that led up to Markowitz’s death. Yes, the film is based on the real-life murder of Nicholas Markowitz. The criticism could perhaps be a result of not fleshing out the characters to make them relatable in their actions even though it’s out of one’s immediate realm of experience. This is not to say that movies dealing with drugs are not received well because there are, of course, ‘Requiem for a Dream’ and ‘Trainspotting’ that leaves you aghast and informed at the same time. To this mist comes the disarray of violence, sex, rap, and a lot more dope.
The film has received quite a bit of skepticism about its portrayal of ‘kids on drugs’ marathon or the shaky, intrusive manner of delegating the politics of a pot dealer and his friends.