Differences between the film and reality
Were the characters of Rayon and Dr.Eve real or fake?
Dallas Buyers Club
The characters of Rayon and Dr. Eve Saks were fictional; the writers had interviewed transgender AIDS patients, activists, and doctors for the film and combined these stories to create the two composite supporting roles. However, Woodroof did lose all his friends after they found out he was HIV-positive. In his interviews with Borten, Woodroof implied that this, along with interactions with gay people living with AIDS through the buyers club, led to a rethinking of his apparent anti-gay sentiments and changed his views on gay people. Other people who knew him said that he did not harbor anti-gay sentiments and was himself bisexual. Also, while a rodeo enthusiast, he never rode any bulls himself. Although the film shows Woodroof diagnosed in 1985, he told Borten that a doctor had informed him he might have the disease well before that; Woodroof believed he may have been infected in 1981, something that was briefly alluded to in a flashback in the film. While Woodroof was known for outlandish behavior, according to those who knew him, both the film and McConaughey made him rougher than he actually was, describing him as "outrageous, but not confrontational" and not as obviously anti-gay earlier in his life. The real Woodroof also had an ex-wife, Brenda, a daughter and a sister who were not approached by the writers and were left out of the script to make the film more of a character study.