27 Strange Places That Movie Actors Found Inspiration for Their Roles

You’ll never look at Sonny Corleone the same way again
27 Strange Places That Movie Actors Found Inspiration for Their Roles
Add Cracked to Google

When we say that inspiration can come from anywhere, we really mean anywhere. Not that we know anything about the creative mind, but this list made us realize that creative folks can get inspiration from all kinds of random places. 

Check out those random places below while we try to derive some inspiration from the blank white wall in front of us.

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka (from the 2005 movie) is based on a U.S. president. I imagined what George Bush would be like incredibly stoned. And, thus was born my version of Willy Wonka, he explained once. CRACKED.COM

Melissa McCarthy

Melissa McCarthy modelled her Bridesmaids character on Guy Fieri. КИНА his EMICING She even asked the higher-ups if she could wear spiky hair like Fieri's, to really drive the point home, but they told her You can't actually be Guy Fieri. CRACKED.COM

Janosz Poha

Janosz Poha's accent in Ghostbusters 2 was based on how Meryl Streep talked in Sophie's Choice. Peter MacNicol came up with that on his own and auditioned in that voice, which got him the role. CRACKED.COM

Jason Momoa

JASON BE MOMOA CONAN THE BARBARIAN CRACKED.COM To get into character, Momoa became a total hardened dude by blasting heavy metal at all hours, and acting like a total frat boy.

Nyah Hall

Audrey Hepburn inspired a Mission: Impossible 2 character. Her character in How to Steal a Million inspired Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton). CRACKED.COM

Nic Cage

The inspiration for Nicolas Cage's character in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance? His pet cobras. Cage explained how his cobras would try to hypnotize him by moving from side to side. His character does the same thing before he attacks. CRACKED COM

Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper's character in A Star Is Born was inspired by a real musician. It was Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, and Cooper even went to Washington to shadow him in preparation for the role. CRACKED.COM

Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson based a character on a guy who lived in a hole in Queens. The hole was next to a family house, and the guy would sneak into the daughter's bedroom. R-Patz modeled his Good Time character on him. CRACKED.COM

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson based his Moana character on someone from his family. In a tweet, he explained that my character Maui was partly inspired by my late grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia of Samoa. CRACKED.COM

Meryl Streep

MERYL STREEP THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA CRACKED.COM Streep got aspects of Miranda Priestly from Clint Eastwood. She told Vogue, The voice I got from Clint Eastwood. Не never, ever raises his voice, and everyone has to lean in to listen, and he is automatically the most powerful person in the room.

Heath Ledger

HEATH LEDGER THE JOKER CRACKED.COM Some influences for Heath Ledger's Joker were A Clockwork Orange, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, and ventriloquist dummies. Не also said, I locked myself away in a hotel room in London for a month, and landed more in the realm of a psychopath

Anthony Hopkins

ANTHONY HOPKINS HANNIBAL LECTOR CRACKED.COM Hopkins says that his character has a deliberately feline quality. I got to move around a lot, and I sort of modeled my walk on a cat's. I like cats, and I love the way they pad around. I wanted to get that feel when Lecter is padding very quietly and stealthily in the shadows.

Christian Bale

CHRISTIAN BALE AMERICAN PSYCHO CRACKED.COM Director Mary Harron said, We talked about how Martian-like Patrick Bateman was, how he looked at the world like somebody from another planet. So after watching a Letterman interview with Tom Cruise, Bale told her, Cruise had this intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes. I was really taken with his energy.'

Ben Stiller

BEN STILLER TROPIC THUNDER CRACKED.COM After Stiller's bit part in Speilberg's Empire of the Sun he said, The actors were going to fake boot camp, and talking about these incredible experiences that really changed their lives. It was funny because people who actually went to war (or actual boot camp) would have actual transformative experiences.

Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy likes to think he played Christopher Nolan in Inception. CRACKED.COM Не tried to imitate the director's mannerisms for his character Eames.

Jack Black

Sergio Gutierrez Benitez was a Mexican priest who fought as mysterious masked wrestler Fray Tormenta, then used his winnings to buy food for orphans. When Jack Black played him, he was called NACHO LIBRE. CRACKED.COM

Adam Sandler

ZOHAN really exists, and his name is NEZI ARBIB. Arbib and his brothers (all of them former Israeli soldiers) run a hair salon in Los Angeles. Adam Sandler spent some time with them preparing for the movie. CRACKED.COM

Gal Gadot

GAL GADOT WONDER WOMAN CRACKED.COM Diana Prince has some Princess Diana in her. In an interview, she said her performance as Wonder Woman was inspired in part by the late Princess Diana. I remember a documentary about her. They say that she was full of compassion, and she cared for the people. I was like ding, ding, ding.

Tom Hanks

TOM HANKS FORREST GUMP CRACKED.COM Brotherly Inspiration. Just before Forrest Gump, Tom's brother Jim Hanks starred in the obscure B-movie Buford's Beach Bunnies. His similar hairstyle, politeness around women, and key mannerisms bear clear resemblance to Forrest's.

Johnny Depp (One Last Time)

JOHNNY DEPP CPT. JACK SPARROW CRACKED.COM In Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack's quirky mannerisms and voice were inspired by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. So much so that Richards was brought on to play Jack Sparrow's father in the 3rd installment.

Keith Richards is a pirate lord IRL.

Christian Bale (Yep, Him Again)

CHRISTIAN BALE VICE CRACKED COM Bale won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of former V.P. Dick Cheney in Vice. In his acceptance speech, he said, Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration on how to play this role.

Jonah Hill

JONAH HILL DON'T LOOK UP CRACKED.COM Jonah said the inspiration behind his character, Jason Orlean, in Don't Look Up was What if Fyre festival was a person, and that person had power in the White House? Maybe we should ask Ja-Rule.

James Caan

The inspiration for James Caan's character in The Godfather was Don Rickles. Speaking about it, Caan later said: I was thinking of my friend, Don Rickles. I told everybody, you know, and I started laughing like Don Rickles. CRACKED.COM

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry's Madea is basically a mashup of two people: his mom and his aunt. As he himself describes it: My mother is the wisdom of Madea, but my aunt Mayola, that's her wig, that's her voice, that's her gun in the purse. CRACKED.COM

Taika Waititi

Korg from Thor: Ragnarok is based on Polynesian bouncers in New Zealand. Director Taika Waititi met lots of nightclub bouncers who were big and burly, but had super-soft voices - that was the inspiration for Korg. CRACKED.COM

Jenna Ortega

Pop culture inspirations Wednesday Jenna Ortega choreographed the iconic dance scene taking inspiration from SIOUXSIE SIOUX, вов FOSSE, LISA LORING, LENE LOVICH, DENIS LAVANT, and archival footage of goths dancing in clubs in the '80s. CRACKED

Stephanie Hsu

Pop culture inspirations Everything Everywhere All at Once Stephanie Hsu drew inspiration ة P from JIM CARREY and JOAQUIN مة S PHOENIX's performances as ? مح The Riddler and The Joker for is her role in the sci-fi epic. ? م د. LA L 6 CRACKED ما

Tags:

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

VIRAL ON CRACKED

A WEEKLY
NEWSLETTER OF
JOKES + TRIVIA

Forgot Password?