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The Previously-Unknown History of 34 Hit Movies and Shows

From ‘you oughta know’ to ‘now you know’ in 34 easy steps

The Previously-Unknown History of 34 Hit Movies and Shows

February 10, 2024

Inspiration can come from anywhere, and one day, we personally hope to find some of our own. What’s that even like? Anyway, these movies and TV shows easily snatched it out of thin air and put it to good use. You’d think that learning about their inspirations would help us fill our cobweb-littered domes, but nope. Cavernous skulls galore ‘round here. Hopefully, you’ll have better luck in the “sparking greatness” department.

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CRACKED.COM AD SOUTH PARK lost Chef when Isaac Hayes quit over an episode lambasting Scientology - or so was reported at the time. Hayes' son revealed years later that his father was incapacitated due to health issues, and someone in his Scientology circle quit South Park for him. — Source

33

Rocky

CRACKED.COM The skating date in ROCKY was supposed to take place in a crowded ice rink. But the production ran out of money, and couldn't afford all the extras. So the scene was shot in an empty rink, leading to one of the franchise's most memorable moments. — Source

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CRACKED.COM g(6) your purpose Fress, R N In ARRIVAL Dr. Banks explains to Col. Weber all ARMY the nuances of language that make communicating with the aliens a slow, painstaking process. The scene is based on a similar explanation screenwriter Eric Heisser gave to the movie's producers, who just went, all that needs to be in the script. — Source

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CRACKED.COM In Season 4 of ALLY McBEAL Ally was going to marry her boyfriend Larry, played by Robert Downey Jr. But just before the wedding episode was shot, RDJ went and got busted for drugs. Не was swiftly shown the door, and Ally remained unmarried. — Source

30

CRACKED.COM H Jaua M In Season 5 of THE OFFICE Ryan Howard spends some time in Thailand (well, Fort Lauderdale) - which happened because В. J. Novak needed time away from the show to shoot Inglourious Basterds. — Source

29

CRACKED.COM Raymond Cruz had to bow out early from BREAKING BAD due to other commitments. Deprived of Tuco Salamanca, Vince Gilligan decided to replace him with an antagonist who was Tuco's complete opposite - eerily calm instead of a raging maniac. So Gus Fring was born. — Source

28

Amy Poehler

CRACKED.COM Amy Poehler getting pregnant completely altered the shooting schedule of PARKS AND RECREATION. The first six episodes of Season 3 (the Harvest Festival arc) were rushed before Poehler's pregnancy became too apparent. The arc was quickly wrapped up once the show resumed production months later. — Source

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Mills' arm cast in SE7EN wasn't in the script - Brad Pitt got seriously injured for real while shooting a chase scene. Rather than shutting down production, Pitt's broken arm was written into the movie (and simply hidden for scenes happening before the accident). CRACKED.COM — Source

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Lord of the Rings

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

25

South Park's Kenny was based on a Kenny from Trey Parker's childhood, who also wore an orange coat and always mumbled. Не went missing all the time, and other kids would be like, What happened to Kenny? Is he dead? CRACKED.COM — Source

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The Good Place

The Good Place is heavily based on a 1944 existentialist play by Sartre. His No Exit is about three people who can't stand each other trapped in the afterlife together, with nothing to do but to talk to each other forever. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Cameron Crowe's Oscar-winning movie, Almost Famous, is heavily based on his escapades as a GRAGKED.COM teenage rock journalist in the '70s. Just like the film's William Miller, Crowe was hired by Rolling Stone to travel with bands like Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And, uh, he really did lose his virginity to a bunch of groupies. — Source

22

Us

Us came from a persistent fear that Jordan Peele had been having. He'd imagine seeing his own doppelganger on the subway, across the platform, and he would smile at Peele. That was the seed for the movie. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

BoJack Horseman

Raphael Bob-Waksberg based BoJack Horseman on how he felt after moving to Hollywood. Не felt isolated and alienated because he didn't go out too much, and that dichotomy of being simultaneously on top of the world, and also never more alone, was really the beginning of thinking about this character of BoJack. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Birds of Prey

Quentin Tarantino's movies kind of ended up inspiring Birds of Prey. I Director Cathy Yan said that the structure of the film was a bit like Pulp Fiction meets Rashomon. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Puzzled?! I was downright perplexed!

COMMANDER CODY, MEET COMMANDO CODY. You were probably puzzled by the fact that there's a random clone trooper called Cody in Revenge of the Sith. Не is a tribute to Commando Cody --a hero from 1950s science fiction serials. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

The iconic Robert De Niro shot in Heat was inspired by a 1967 painting. To director Michael Mann, the painting showed somebody who was involved in some life of aggression and action and yet contrast within the mental state because here was a moment of inner loneliness, so he basically made it a shot. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

101 Dalmatians was inspired by a real-life Cruella de Vil-type remark. Disney 101 DALMATIANS Writer Dodie Smith had nine Dalmatians, and a friend of hers once said Those dogs would make a lovely fur coat -- which ended up inspiring a novel (that later turned into a movie). CRACKED.COM — Source

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16

The Purge's budget went from $8 million to $2.5 million. THE IMPROVISATION: The producer realized the movie shouldn't be that expensive, as it's set in one house. Не even got Ethan Hawke to take no salary (but a profit percentage) and crash on his couch during filming. THE RESULT: A surprise hit that kicked off a hugely popular horror franchise. CRACKED.COM — Source

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The Previously-Unknown History of 34 Hit Movies and Shows — Source

14

The Incredible Hulk TV show was too cheap to spend money on shooting planes and trucks. Footage from Steven Spielberg's Duel, used in S1E9 of The Incredible Hulk THE IMPROVISATION: They just picked up that footage from other movies. These were well-known films from just a few years before. The network owned the rights, and they didn't care that it was obvious. THE RESULT: An action-packed first season that made the show a hit from the start. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

The Planet of the Apes

The original setting of Planet of the Apes was completely modern. THE IMPROVISATION: There were supposed to be monkeys watching movies, shopping, driving - everything. But the producers didn't want to pay for that, and they got a new writer, who created a new setting. THE RESULT: The barren wasteland with the iconic half-buried Statue of Liberty. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

There was absolutely no narrative reason for The Walking Dead to spend a season on a farm. THE IMPROVISATION: The network axed the Season 2 budget before even airing the pilot. So, to save money, the show was stuck with using Hershel's farm as much as possible. THE RESULT: A critically acclaimed season with a finale that was the network's most-watched episode ever at the time. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

James Cameron didn't have a filming permit for The Terminator, so the crew had to avoid cops. THE IMPROVISATION: They shot at night so they had less chance of running into police. And to save extra money, they used convenient clouds of pesticide as fog. THE RESULT: A dark neo-noir visual style that helped make the movie a classic. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

CBS

CRACKED COM In the early 1970s, CBS cancelled all its shows set in the country. Rural shows like Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies made up the bulk of CBS's programming - but their audience skewed old, and execs wanted their network to be young and hip. So they cancelled the lot of them-a move that went down in history as the Rural Purge. — Source

9

CRACKED.COM DC OLSEN AMNY 15c JIMMY SUPPORT - HERE: OLSEN EX-PASS NO Emay LAMMA! GUN HK posts HIM DOWNI ATRIDUCING - علام ERSBOY WICON - POTTA SEX LEGION P BELIEVE The New Gods first appeared in Jimmy Olsen's comic. Darkseid, Mister Miracle... The Fourth World cosmic beings that Jack Kirby created for DC Comics needed to be introduced to readers - and for some reason, that introduction happened on the pages of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. — Source

8

CRACKED.COM Gilligan's Island was almost rebooted in the '90s (with more cannibalism). According to James Gunn, Charlie Kaufman managed to get a Gilligan's Island reboot greenlit, with the starving castaways killing and eating each other. The project was nixed by Gilligan's creator Sherwood Schwartz. — Source

7

Star Wars

CRACKED.COM Characters losing their hands in the MCU is a nod to Star Wars. Kevin Feige has confirmed that people keep losing their hands on MCU movies as a sneaky shout-out to Star Wars, a franchise with a similar track record. It wasn't intentional at first, but that changed with Phase 2. — Source

6

Jerry Seinfeld has apologized for Bee Movie. According to Seinfeld, a bee having the hots for a human was not an intentional thing, and he has apologized for the uncomfortable subtle sexual aspect. Не has said, after it came out, I realized, 'This is really not appropriate for children. D'ya think, Jerry? CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Scrooge McDuck

Scrooge McDuck's first cartoon was capitalist propaganda. In the original comics, Scrooge was pretty much, well, a scrooge - but in his 1967 animated debut in Scrooge McDuck and Money, his villainish side disappears as he becomes a wise advisor, giving Huey, Dewey, and Louie valuable lessons about how capitalism works. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

CRACKED.COM Zootopia's popsicle fraud happened for real. An ice cream company in Istanbul, Turkey ran a promotion where you could get a free popsicle by turning in a popsicle stick with the word FREE printed on it. Then a couple of crooks started counterfeiting their own winning sticks, and trading them for popsicles (which they then sold). — Source

3

John Stamos kept the couch from Full House. The blue plaid couch at the center of the Tanner family's living room is property of Uncle Jesse himself. In 2020, Stamos shared a snap on Instagram of his toddler standing next to the iconic sitcom prop. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Blade Runner blew its budget on details you never see. Conceptual artist Syd Mead was hired for a few days, at $1,500 a day - but he ended up staying for weeks, filling the sets with stuff you never really notice (like fastidiously detailed, futuristic parking meters). That was one of the reasons for the movie's budget issues. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

CRACKED.COM George Clooney helped South Park become a thing. '90s Clooney was a big fan of the proto- South Park short film The Spirit of Christmas, reportedly making and circulating 300 VHS copies of the movie. Because of Clooney's pirating ways, Matt Parker and Trey Stone became well known in Hollywood, eventually landing their own show. — Source

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