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36 Surprising Inspirations for Classic TV Shows and Movies

November 05, 2023

Not that we know firsthand, but we once heard that creativity can come from anywhere. It can be plucked out of the unfathomable cosmos and made comprehensible to us mere mortals. Or, like you’ll see here, it can have some wacky, unexpected influences. It might be hard to see the link between Loki and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but keep reading if you don’t believe us. (Then maybe get those trust issues in check.)

36

Aquaman 2 takes its inspiration from a campy '60s Italian horror flick. The movie is Planet of the Vampires, and director James Wan said, You can take the boy out of horror, but you can never take the horror out the boy. CRACKED.COM — Source

35

Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad took many, many style cues straight from The Godfather. In particular, Breaking Bad's use of color filters and different lighting schemes for different scenes, to give each one its own look and feel, is based on The Godfather. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Mad Men was partly inspired by a particular old-school French movie. The movie is Les Bonnes Femmes, and it was shot in Paris, in the era in which Mad Men takes place - and it influenced the show's production design. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

Will Smith got the idea for AFTER EARTH from the TV show I Shouldn't Be Alive. Discovery SHOULDN'T CHANNEL BE ALIVE It was originally intended to be about a father and son who have to survive after a car crash. It was then turned into a sci-fi story. CRACKED COM — Source

32

Ben Stiller got the idea for Tropic Thunder while he was working on Empire of the Sun. A number of his castmates were getting roles in war movies, and they'd compare the work to boot camp. It inspired Stiller to wonder what would actually happen to actors in a war zone. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

The first season finale of the show Mr Robot was inspired by Fight Club. Fight Club was one of my big inspirations for the show, said creator Sam Esmail, and The Pixies' Where Is My Mind in S1E9 was a nod to that. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of ABC Entertainment, got the idea for the show Lost after he watched the movie Cast Away. 0 ST CAST AWAY CRACKED.COM — Source

29

CRACKED.COM The Ents in THE LORD OF THE RINGS were inspired by Shakespeare. No, there aren't talking, walking trees in Macbeth - and that pissed off a young J. R. R. Tolkien, who expected that the prophecy about the woods coming against Macbeth's castle became literally true. So years later, he wrote that into his own book. — Source

28

CRACKED.COM WITH THE PURGE was inspired by road rage. Director James DeMonaco and his wife were almost killed by a drunk driver once. She was so blindingly mad at the guy, she said, Wouldn't it be great if we could have one free one a year? — Source

27

ANTHONY HOPKINS BE 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. — Source

26

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. — Source

25

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. — Source

24

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 — Source

23

Family Guy

SETH MACFARLANE QUAGMIRE GRACKED.COM My father used to buy me old radio dramas, and commercials from the '40s and '50s had this high-pitched voice. So Quagmire's a 50's radio jockey on coke combined with a sex-crazed pervert. Giggity. — Source

22

CRACKED.COM The leg lamp in A CHRISTMAS STORY was inspired by soda. DRINK NEHI Author Jean Shepherd got the idea for the wonderfully tacky lamp NEW RIVER from an ad for Nehi Soda that featured female legs. (Nehi still QUALITY BEVERAGES exists today - it's called RC Cola.) — Source

21

The DUCKTALES reboot was influenced by X-MEN. Showrunners Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones have said they took cues from Chris Claremont's X-Men comics, with their self- contained stories that feed an ongoing narrative. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

James Bond's 007 came - from a bus. After author lan Fleming moved to Kent in the 1950s, he would often travel back to London by bus - specifically, the 007 bus. It still runs today, and is very popular with Bond fans. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

CRACKED.COM THE OFFICE was heavily influenced by THE SOPRANOS. The Sopranos was actually the biggest influence on The Office, actor and producer B. J. Novak has said. The way Michael Scott will say something very serious but mispronounce a word I feel is a direct descendant of the Tony Soprano sense of humor. — Source

18

CRACKED.COM THE GOLDEN GIRLS was inspired by MIAMI VICE. In 1984, NBC shot a humorous skit titled Miami Nice, starring two older actresses, for a special advertising their new shows (like Miami Vice). Execs liked it, and the idea was developed into a full series about old ladies living in Miami. — Source

17

Denis Villeneuve was specifically inspired by Star Wars Tatooine scenes for Dune. As he put it, When I saw the very first 'Star Wars' in 1977 my favorite scenes were the ones that felt the most natural. The one when we see the droids at the beginning - there was something about the strength of nature. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

A bunch of particular 1980s movies inspired The Ant-Man & The Wasp. Director Peyton Reed said that the ticking clock plot came directly from After Hours and Midnight Run. CRACKED. COM — Source

15

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War was partly based on 1990s heist movies, it turns out. Co-director Joe Russo said that Structurally, with this first film, Avengers 3, we've been using the smash-n-grab '90s heist films, so there's a real urgency to the film. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Dunkirk

Historical war drama Dunkirk was partly based on a sci-fi horror movie. ALLEN In space no one can have you scream Director Christopher Nolan says Ridley Scott's Alien inspired him-it might be from a different genre, but it's an established classic of tension. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind partly inspired, of all things, Disney's Loki. LOKI That movie (like, say, Scott Pilgrim), had a lot of elaborate practical sets that look like CGI - and Loki did too, to make its world feel like a real environment. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Good Will Hunting inspired Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. MARVEL STUDIOS Shang-Chi is a lot like Will Hunting - they both have a big secret, and there's a lot of baggage they need to take care of to fully realize their potential. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

The Sulzbergers were part of the inspiration for Succession's Roy family. The Sulzbergers control The New York Times, but they weren't the only inspiration -- the biggest one was probably media mogul Rupert Murdoch. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

A scene in Good Will Hunting was based on Matt Damon's brother's life. all m Dem vill When he was visiting MIT, his brother Kyle wrote an elaborate, fake equation on a blackboard in the hall I and it stayed there for months. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Bee Movie was inspired by a random joke Jerry Seinfeld once told at dinner. At a dinner with Spielberg, to fill the silence, Seinfeld said that a movie about bees called B-movie would be funny - that got Spielberg really excited. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Yoda was partly based on Stuart Freeborn, the guy that brought him to life. Freeborn was a Hollywood makeup artist who had worked on the Star Wars franchise and had helped design Yoda, basing him on himself and Einstein. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Pop culture inspirations Coyote Ugly Elizabeth Gilbert wrote A PIECE FOR GQ in 1997 about a dive bar in New York owned by a woman and staffed by women, which was later adapted into the PG-13 movie Coyote Ugly in 2000. CRACKED — Source

6

Pop culture inspirations Е.Т. the Extra-Terrestrial Steven Spielberg's childhood experiences and filming the climactic scene of Close Encounters of the Third Kind inspired him to incorporate a divorce theme into Е.Т., which explores a family trying to fill a big void after a divorce. CRACKED — Source

5

Pop culture inspirations Everything Everywhere All at Once Stephanie Hsu drew inspiration ة A from JIM CARREY and JOAQUIN i s PHOENIX's performances as ? ? The Riddler and The Joker for فة C her role in the sci-fi epic. ? م د. 6 CRACKED is — Source

4

The Exorcist

Pop culture inspirations The Exorcist René Magritte's series THE EMPIRE OF LIGHTS explores mind-bending oxymorons, and William Friedkin recreated this work for the movie, capturing the disharmonious spiritual aura that surrounds the home. CRACKED — Source

3

Pop culture inspirations The Shining Stanley Kubrick was inspired by A DIANE ARBUS PHOTOGRAPH to cast the Grady sisters as twins. The original book by Stephen King does not feature twins. CRACKED — Source

2

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 — Source

1

House of the Dragon

Pop culture inspirations House of the Dragon Director Greg Yaitanes watched HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON to prepare for the dragon fight inthe Season 1 finale. Не took inspiration from the film's cinematography for the scene. CRACKED — Source

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