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Home Culture

Is ‘The Boy Next Door’ based on a real story?

by Dana Khammash
January 31, 2022 - Updated on May 17, 2025
Is 'The Boy Next Door' based on a real story?

“The Boy Next Door,” a Jennifer Lopez movie, is a hot erotic movie to watch that could be described as deviant fun, or as Lopez describes it, a “crazy, popcorn thriller.” This movie has many twists and turns that will keep you and leave you on the edge of your seat.

The Boy Next Door is based on a real-life event despite the difference between the actual event and the movie.

The movie was released in 2015 and sparked buzz as people started to ask if it was based on real-life events. It’s currently available on Netflix and other streaming platforms.

The Boy Next Door Story

The movie begins when a handsome teenager named Noah (Ryan Guzman) moves in next door, newly separated high-school teacher Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez) encourages his friendship and engages in a little bit of harmless (or so she thinks) flirtation. Although Noah spends much of the time hanging out with Claire’s son, the teen’s attraction to her is palpable.

One night, Claire gives in to temptation and lets Noah seduce her, but he turns violent when she tries to end the relationship. That was the movie story.

The Real Story

The screenwriter Barbara Curry reveals that the real story is “much tamer” than what appeared in the film. Curry used to pass by a home she admired during her runs. She told her husband about the house, and they considered buying it after it was sold.

However, Curry says she found out that a boy her son went to school with lived across the street from home. According to her, the boy often got into trouble. She was worried that if they purchased the house, this boy might influence her son.

“This boy was kind of a bad boy,” says Curry. “He was always getting in trouble, possibly getting kicked out of school, you know, stuff like that. And I wondered, ‘If we lived in this house, that boy is going to live right across the street from my son, and I bet you they’re going to become friends, and will this boy influence my son?'”

So they decided not to buy the house. Still, that incident inspired her to come up with the idea of writing a script about a newly separated woman’s unexpected romantic relationship with the boy next door.

Then Curry thought it was exciting that a neighborhood boy could cause conflict and drive a wedge between a family.

According to Curry, the first few drafts of the movie focused on a 12-year-old boy and a mother’s trial of trying to get her son out of this boy’s clutches, and gradually, it became something else. Then there was the decision to have the two characters (the mother and the boy) sleep together, and of course, she had to make the boy age a lot older.

Despite the difference between the real story and the movie, don’t you think that the movie story happens a lot in real life?

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Dana Khammash

Dana Khammash

Based in Amman, Jordan, Dana Khammash is a culture and media writer at Digital Boom. She explores the evolving landscape of entertainment across the Arab world, with a focus on drama, streaming, and cultural trends. Known for her creative perspective and sharp editorial voice, Dana brings depth and nuance to stories that reflect the region’s changing media narrative. Her work bridges the worlds of pop culture and social context, offering readers a fresh lens on the stories shaping MENA's creative industries.

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