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Weird Inspirations Behind 28 Famous Movies And Shows

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Weird Inspirations Behind 28 Famous Movies And Shows

December 01, 2021

Movies and TV shows are a big part of our culture. We watch them escape from reality, learn about new cultures, see people in love, and see the world in a different way. They can take us to new places, introduce us to amazing people, and make us feel things we never thought possible. The best ones do all of this while keeping us entertained for hours on end. So, it's no wonder that so many famous people got their start in the entertainment industry. Some movies and TV shows have become so popular that they've been turned into brands that we can't help but love.

You know that one movie or show that you can't help but love, no matter how many times you watch it? Oddly enough, even the strangest inspirations can lead to some pretty great things. Here are a few famous movies and TV shows with surprisingly weird origins. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something new to love after reading this article!

28

Dan O'Bannon's disease inspired him to write the chestburster scene in Alien. O'Bannon suffered from Crohn's disease, a painful bowel inflammation that felt kind of like something trying to tear its way out of his belly. CRACKED.COM — 5 Bizarre Inspirations Behind Famous Movie Scenes

27

A Song of Ice and Fire

CRACKED.COM A Song of Ice and Fire Sam Tarly is a pacific nerd like George R. R. Martin. Martin has said that he resembles Sam way more than any other character in his saga. Tyrion might be who I want to be, but Sam is probably closer to who | actually am. The fat kid who likes to read books and doesn't like to go up a lot of stairs. — Polygon

26

CRACKED.COM Artist Charlie Adlard based Negan from The Walking Dead on Henry Rollins. Rollins even auditioned for the part but didn't get it. — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

25

Lakeview Terrace

THe oBsessive COP in LAKEVIEW TERRACE WAS A REAL GUY. In 2002, Officer Irsie Henry terrorized his Altadena, CA neighbors for being a mixed-race couple. But instead of being shot, Henry was fired. CRACKED.COM — Pasadena Weekly

24

Hawkeye

Turns out, Hawkeye is inspired by, uh... Hallmark Christmas movies. I couldn't say they did not inform the Christmas of the show, a little bit. In the same way that those movies are comforting, I was reading those comics so many times, said head writer Jonathan Igla. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

The Matrix

The Matrix grew out of Lilly Wachowski's rage. It was a rage at capitalism and corporatized structure and forms of oppression, and it was about my own oppression, that I myself to remain in the closet. CRACKED.COM — The Hollywood Reporter

22

GameBoy

The Nintendo GameBoy inspired props from The Rise of Skywalker. - Nintendo GAME BOY... START SELECT The computer terminals in Babu Frik's workshop are basically slightly futuristic versions of the GameBoy. CRACKED.COM — CinemaBlend

21

Wonder Woman was inspired by the creator's poly marriage. Не lived with two wives for decades, and had two children with each of them - and he also partly based Wonder Woman on each of them. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Mark Millar's KICK-ASS is partially autobiographical. As a teenager, Millar and his friends tried to become vigilante super heroes. The story of Kick-Ass is, in his words, what would have happened if we hadn't come to our senses and actually gone out and done this. GRACKED.COM — 22 Eyebrow-Arching Ways Creators' Lives Influenced Their Work

19

Alfred Hitchcock

CRACKED.COM The distrust of the police in ALFRED HITCHCOCK 's films isn't some political point - Hitchcock literally had a phobia of cops. When he was a child, his father had him locked up in a police cell to punish him. Не was afraid of the police ever since. — Talk Film Society & Newsweek

18

CRACKED.COM The Star Wars cantina music is a distorted 1930s swing band tune. — 22 Real-Life Inspirations For Your Favorite Movie & TV Moments

17

Speed Racer

CRACKED.COM In the original Japanese version of Speed Racer, Speed's name is... Go Mifune. His name was an homage to veteran actor Toshiro Mifune. The 'M' on his car and helmet even stand for the fictional company, Mifune Motors. — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

16

Seinfeld

THe REAL SOUP NAZI HATeD SEINFELD. His name is AI Yeganeh, and he claimed the show ruined his business. Not that the character was inaccurate. When Jerry Seinfeld apologized, he kicked him out of his shop. H HOT & OUP 3 Despite being ruined by the Seinfeld character, he now has franchises in seven states. CRACKED.COM — 5 Villains That Were Thinly-Veiled Versions of Real People

15

Inigo Montoya's triumphant speech in The Princess Bride is captivating due to Mandy Patinkin's memory of his father. The actor got into character by imagining he just killed the personification of the cancer that took his father. CRACKED COM — 22 Eyebrow-Arching Ways Creators' Lives Influenced Their Work

14

Star Trek

CRACKED.COM Star Trek VI's explosion of Praxis, a key Klingon Empire power source, is based on the Chernobyl disaster. — 22 Real-Life Inspirations For Your Favorite Movie & TV Moments

13

Rugrats

Rugrats Chuckie Finster's look and characteristics are inspired by Devo keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh, who also composed the show's opening theme. GRAGKED.COM — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

12

KRATOS IS EDWARD NORTON. Specifically, Norton's character in American History X. According to God of War director David Jaffe, his design team based Kratos' power, intensity, and aggression on Norton's muscled, rage-filled neo-Nazi. CRACKED.COM — 5 Characters Amazingly Based on Real People

11

The tone of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom was influenced by Steven Spielberg's break-up and George Lucas's divorce. We were not in a good mood, so we decided on something a little more edgy. It ended up darker than we thought it would be. CRACKED.COM — 22 Eyebrow-Arching Ways Creators' Lives Influenced Their Work

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10

Snoke's look from The Last Jedi was based on Hugh Hefner. The decision to dress a space dictator as a playboy came from Andy Serkis and Rian Johnson, who after contemplating other dictators to base his look on, eventually settled on Hefner. CRACKED.COM — 22 Real-Life Inspirations For Your Favorite Movie & TV Moments

9

Prometheus' Engineers are partly based on Elvis Presley. Ridley Scott asked the character designer to draw on Presley, Michelangelo's David, and the Statue of Liberty. Не wanted them to look like Greco-Roman gods and, apparently, he thought Elvis was pretty close. CRACKED.COM — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

8

Helen Kane

BeTTY BOOP STOLE HeR everything FROM Helen KAne. Kane was a popular actress and singer from the '20s who pretty much invented the whole I'm a sexy baby thing. She not only looked and sounded exactly like Betty, but her catchphrase was Boop-oop-a-doop. She actually sued Max Fleischer in 1936, but lost. CRACKED COM — 5 Famous Characters You Didn't Know Are Based On Real People

7

Veep

JONAH RYAN FROM VEEP IS BASICALLY TED CRUZ. JO - THE Actor Timothy Simons says that once Jonah started running for Congress, he was basing the character on Cruz. Не described how Cruz got into a position of power despite being charmless, graceless and universally disliked --an arc Jonah could fit perfectly. CRACKED.COM — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

6

THE REAL DIRTY HARRY WAS nAmeD DAVE. Dave Toschi was a San Francisco cop who focused on hunting down the Zodiac killer. Не was also the inspiration for Bullitt, and the subject of a biopic called Zodiac. In Zodiac, the Toschi character actually goes to see Dirty Harry. CRACKED.COM — 5 Badass Movie Characters You Didn't Know Were Real People

5

TOM HARDY'S VENOM IS A COMBINATION OF WOODY ALLEN, CONOR MCGREGOR AND REDMAN. VENOM The character has all of McGregor's violence and Redman's freewheeling lifestyle, while being as neurotic as Allen. CRACKED.COM — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

4

Archie Bunker

Archie Bunker was the main character in a '70s sitcom called All in the Family. Не was bigoted, childish, spiteful, and chubby. Не was an objectively terrible person, yet is one of the most beloved TV characters in history. Oh, and Norman Lear says he was the inspiration for ERIC CARTMAN. CRACKED.COM — 4 Cartoon Characters (Surprisingly) Based On Real People

3

Han Solo was partly inspired by a young, smooth-talking Francis Ford Coppola. George Lucas, Coppola's old friend, was impressed by how he talked his way into CRACKED.COM getting Apocalypse Now funded, and gave a lot of his personality to the smuggler character he was working on. — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

2

50 First Dates

50 FIRST DATeS IS BASED on A REAL PeRson. In the movie, Lucy suffers from anterograde amnesia, where she can't remember anything that happens after the date of her accident, and wackiness ensues. In real life, Michelle Philpots has to look at her wedding album every morning, and uses sticky notes and a GPS to get through her day, because her brain keeps resetting to 1994. CRACKED.COM — 6 Movies You Won't Believe Are Based on Insane True Stories

1

Eric Stough is one of the producers on South Park. The other producers like to tease him for his nice-guy attitude about the show's often brutal, targeted satire. They started calling him Buddy, then Little Buddy, and eventually BUTTERS. Nailed the hair. CRACKED.COM — 5 Plotlines Where The Creators Secretly Trolled People

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