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13 Major Movies With Left-Field Inspirations

Inspiration really strikes in the weirdest of ways.

13 Major Movies With Left-Field Inspirations

March 01, 2022

Not all types of inspiration are linear and predictable. For example --

13

Encanto

Lin-Manuel Miranda's big sister inspired a song in Encanto. I have a sister who's six years older, and she got a raw deal. That song is my love letter and apology to my sister for having it easier. I watched my sister deal with the pressure of being the oldest and carrying burdens I never had to carry, he said about Luisa's song.'ED.COM — Source

12

The Godfather Part II

Colin Farrell's version of the Penguin was inspired by The Godfather Part II. mentioned Fredo to me, because Fredo's crippled by the insignificance that he lives within, in a family that is full of very strong, very bright, very capable, very violent men, said Farrell. CRACKED COM — Source

11

Daredevil

The Sopranos kind of inspired Season 3 of Daredevil, it turns out. Showrunner Erik Oleson said I wanted to tell a thriller that is somewhere tonally between Season 1 of this show and The Sopranos. It is much darker, more character driven. CRACKED COM — Source

10

Inside Out

An old Disney park ride partially inspired Pixar's Inside Out. It was called Cranium Command, and it put visitors into a 12-year-old boy's mind. Inside Out director Pete Docter worked on it as a young animator, and after months of work on Inside Out, realized Hey, this is kind of close to Cranium Command. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

The Simpsons

A Simpsons Christmas episode, from Season 7, was inspired by real life. In the episode, Bart steals a video game, gets caught, and kind of gets more distant from his mom-and something similar happened to Simpsons writer Mike Scully when he was 12 (so he pitched the idea for the episode based on it). CRACKED COM — Source

8

Hannibal

7

Queen Amidala's look in Star Wars was closely based on a Mongolian queen. That was Queen Genepil, the last queen of Mongolia, who was executed in 1938. CRACKED COM — Source

6

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

The bassist from The Marvelous Mrs Maisel has a real-life inspiration. That inspiration is Carol Kaye, AKA First Lady of Bass, who played bass on songs for The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Ray Charles, and others. CRACKED COM — Source

5

Too Hot to Handle

The reality show Too Hot to Handle was inspired by a specific Seinfeld episode. The episode is The Contest, where the characters try to go as long as they can without masturbating. They all had to not masturbate for money, and they all cave. I said, there's gotta be a show in there, said show developer Laura Gibson. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Chucky

The TV show Chucky was actually inspired by another show-Hannibal. I realized if I did that with my own franchise, we could do something really amazing. Because Bryan had done it with Hannibal. That was the initial inspiration for bringing Chucky to TV, when I worked on Hannibal, said Child's Play creator Don Mancini. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Inventing Anna

The journalist from Inventing Anna, Vivian Kent, has a real-life inspiration. Anna Chlumsky's character was inspired by Jessica Presler, the journalist who wrote about Anna Delvey in New York Magazine (not Manhattan magazine, as in the show). CRACKED COM — Source

2

The Batman

The Riddler in Matt Reeves' The Batman was kinda inspired by Mindhunter. I read Mindhunter. It made me think of the Zodiac killer, and how he actually wore this primitive costume that really is a primitive superhero costume... a rogue's galley costume, said Reeves. CRACKED COM — Source

1

Us

Robert F Kennedy Jr inspired Lupita Nyong'o's voice in Us. In the script, Red had a scratchy voice, and Nyong'o went to a fashion event where RFK Jr was the speaker-his voice sounded a lot like what she thought Red's voice might be like, so she used it as an inspiration. CRACKED COM — Source

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