But you might be surprised at some of the real details used in the film:
The Grimsby Fishing Industry Really Did Fold Overnight
‘You know, it really did die overnight,’ said Three Day Millionaire director Jack Spring when discussing the moment the characters in his film discover Grimsby’s final fishing trawler – and their place of work – is closing down.
The Grimsby Telegraph describes how the final fleet of trawlers was sold in 2017, meaning there was suddenly no longer any Grimsby-based vessels docking at the town’s fish market, a far cry from the town’s heyday, when – as the film accurately describes – ‘a fisherman could walk across the length of the tied-up trawlers to cross the town’s docks.’
‘Three-Day Millionaire’ Is A Real Term
The film’s main characters describe themselves as ‘three day millionaires’ as they leave their trawler for the weekend to spend the contents of their pay packet on lavish nights out before they head back out to sea, and this is a genuine Grimsby phrase for the trawlermen that’s been used since the mid-20th century.
As this BBC article explains, another nod to true events in the film is the way the boys get suited up before heading out to party, as three-day millionaires back in the 1950s would typically “wear pale grey or blue suits with lots of pleats in the back of the jackets and baggy trousers… The men would stand out in what almost amounted to a uniform.”
Grimsby Really Did Become The World’s Biggest Wind Farm
Perhaps the most surprising ‘true story’ element to Three Day Millionaire comes at the film’s conclusion, when dastardly business owner Mr Barr (Colm Meaney, Gangs of London) finally decides to invest his fortune into Grimsby via ‘hundreds of thousands of square feet of seafood packaging premises’ and ‘the largest wind turbine manufacturing plant on the planet’.