The Disturbing True Stories Behind the Orphan Movies

The Real Story Behind Orphan

Kids aren't just creepy in the movies. Jaume Collet-Serra’s 2009 horror movie Orphan tells the story of a couple who unknowingly adopts a grown woman posing as a 9-year-old girl, and it was shockingly based on real-life events. Despite the Orphan movie's mixed reviews, the performance of Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther, the mysterious orphan, was haunting and exceptional.

Esther in Orphan (2009)

Audiences will be disturbed to learn of Orphan's real story — despite its shocking premise, the movie is inspired by Barbora Skrlová, a real woman who was discovered posing as a 13-year-old boy in Norway. Strangely, ten years after Orphan's release in 2009, a similar incident occurred in which an Indiana couple adopted a six-year-old Ukrainian girl named Natalia Grace, who also had a form of dwarfism and a murderous streak like Skrlová. This made the August 2022 theatrical release date of the Orphan movie's sequel, Orphan: First Kill, quite timely, but the true stories behind the Orphan movie — as well as those seemingly inspired by its plot — are far more disturbing than the events of the films.

Isabelle Fuhnam as Esther in Orphan: First Kill

The Case of Barbora Skrlová Is the True Story Behind the Orphan Horror Movie

The Orphan true story is the case of Barbora Skrlová. The inspiration for Orphan shot to international infamy in 2008 when 13-year-old “Adam,” an adopted boy in Norway, went missing, and it was discovered that he was actually Barbora Skrlová — a 33-year-old Czech woman. Skrlová committed her first crimes in the Czech Republic where she went to live with two sisters, Klara and Katerina Mauerova, and Klara’s two children. Klara had significant mental illness, so much so that it was the cause of her separation from her children’s father, allowing Skrlová to more easily manipulate her.

Esther with Kate in the background in Orphan

These details were loosely adapted to create Orphan and Orphan: First Kill's Esther/Leena and her relationship with her fictional adoptive family. The real Leena from Orphan — Barbora Skrlová — began controlling and manipulating Klara's family, pretending that Klara’s two sons, Ondrej and Yakub, were breaking things and misbehaving. Skrlová then convinced the sisters to administer increasingly violent punishments for the boys’ imagined mistakes. Eventually, Skrlová convinced the sisters to lock the boys in the basement and deprive them of food.

Ester stares into the camera from Orphan First Kill

When a neighbor alerted the police to potential abuse in the household, the two sisters were arrested, but Skrlová escaped, pretending to be a child. When a 13-year-old boy of Czech parents went missing, Skrlová stepped in to pose as him. It is believed that the parents helped Skrlová pose as their son until she eventually ran away, and their ruse was discovered. This shocking case gripped the world's attention and, as evidenced by the many similarities, is the true story that inspired 2009's Orphan.

isabelle fuhrman smirks in orphan first kill

Orphan May Have Inspired a Copycat Crime

After the original film's 2009 release, nearly 10 years later, a unique case came to light that may have been inspired both by Orphan's real story and the fictional events of the movie. Indiana couple Kristine and Michael Barnett were well-versed in raising children with special needs. In 2010, they adopted six-year-old Natalia Grace from Ukraine; she had a form of dwarfism that made it difficult for her to walk. Natalia had been in the US for about two years when she came to live with the Barnetts, after her last adopted family had given her up for undisclosed reasons.

Ester outside of a burning house with blood on her face in Orphan First Kill

After a while, Kristine reported that the girl was threatening the family, standing over them at night, and she even saw her once trying to pour bleach in Kristine’s morning coffee. Strangely resembling the twist in Orphan: First Kill, the Barnetts eventually legally changed Natalia’s age on her birth certificate to twenty-two years old in 2012. Later in 2013, they rented her an apartment and moved to Canada — based on Kristine’s belief that Natalia was dangerous and running a scam.

Tricia and Gunnar argue in Orphan First Kill

This was after Kristine began to suspect that Natalia was not a child and backed up this suspicion with Natalia’s sophisticated vocabulary, lack of interest in toys, and medical tests which supposedly show Natalia as having the bone density and teeth of a teen or young adult — though later tests dispute these conclusions. Legal charges were waged against the Barnetts in 2014 when Natalia reported to the police that she had been abandoned by her family. When asked about the case, Kristine specifically referenced the 2009 film saying, “The movie Orphan is exactly what happened.”

Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther Holding a Poster Tube in Orphan First Kill

The Orphan Prequel Also Shares Parallels With Real Life

The sequel - Orphan: First Kill - builds on the lore of Esther 13 years after the first movie's original release. It seems to have drawn a little inspiration from the true-to-life case that the Orphan's real story inspired as well, with Esther pretending to have ties to the United States similar to how Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Ukrainian Natalia Grace. Moreover, from the beginning to the ending of Orphan: First Kill, Isabelle Fuhrman convincingly plays a younger version of the same deadly character, despite being over a decade older since she first embodied the role of Esther/Leena.

Orphan First Kill Isabelle Fuhrman

Orphan: First Kill's Practical Effects Show How Easy It Is To Be Fooled

How Isabelle Fuhrman's de-aging in Orphan: First Kill was cleverly achieved through practical effects not only signals a refreshing return to the fundamentals of horror - it also makes it clear that the premise can all too easily occur in real life. This is part of what makes Orphan and Orphan: First Kill truly frightening movies. Disturbingly, the Orphan's real story may not be entirely over.

If the team behind Orphan: First Kill can successfully turn a 24-year-old actor into an 8-year-old girl then it's entirely possible that people like Natalia Grace and Barbora Skrlová are still victimizing real families out there. Although Fuhrman's de-aging in Orphan: First Kill was achieved through a professional effects team, minimal CGI, and clever camera angles, it still shouldn't be that easy, and it puts into perspective how adults can pass off as children through various techniques. Fuhrman's successful de-aging even calls to mind the criticism against Orphan putting parents off adoption, which, although true, only further serves the premise of the Orphan films.