With all shows and movies based on true events, there is a disclaimer making it clear that what you are about to watch has been adapted and dramatized. For many projects, this message is important to let audiences know that everything they see isn’t always the truth. In Netflix's latest show on the 2023 TV schedule, Painkiller, which documents the rise and consequences of OxyContin, these disclaimers aren’t just text on screen. They are read by families who have lost loved ones to addiction, and the producers explained to CinemaBlend why they made that decision.
At the beginning of each Painkiller episode, a disclaimer is read by one or two people who have lost a loved one to OxyContin and have been impacted by the opioid epidemic. For example, in Episode 1, Jennifer Trejo-Adams, a mother who lost her son Christopher to a long battle with addiction, notes that moments in the show are fictionalized. Then she says “what wasn’t fictionalized” and proceeds to tell the story about how her son died in a parking lot after years of addiction. At the end, she gets emotional and starts to cry, which happens in most of the disclaimers throughout the season. It’s moving, quite powerful and it shows the audience the real-world implications of Purdue Pharma and drug addiction.
