Erin Brockovich (2000)

Based On the Life of: Erin Brockovich

Starring: Julia Roberts

Movie Budget: $51 million

Star Salary: $20 million

Erin Brockovich’s eponymous film won Julia Roberts an Oscar for her portrayal of the law-clerk-turned-environmental-activist. Erin Brockovich is about the case of Anderson v. Pacific Gas and Electric, a case investigated and filed by Brockovich when she was just a lowly clerk. Brockovich had discovered that a major corporation was polluting the water of her town of Hinkley, California.

Many in Hinkley were getting sick and some were dying from drinking water contaminated by hexavalent chromium. The film follows Brockovich’s fight to get those in power to take her seriously and stand up to a heartless corporation in order to save lives.