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30 Surprising Influences Behind Beloved Movies and TV Shows

By:: Cracked Writers; Timon DJ Spajic

October 30, 2023

30 Surprising Influences Behind Beloved Movies and TV Shows

While there are many factors that go into making a great film or TV show, there are undoubtedly certain individuals or groups who have exerted more influence than not on these projects. Whether it’s through their creative vision or merely by virtue of being involved with them, these people have helped shape the mediums of cinema and television as we know them today.

30

THeRe WAS A REAL SHREK. Maurice Tillet was a French wrestler known as the freak ogre of the ring in the '40s. Tillet suffered from acromegaly, a thickening of the bones. CRACKED.COM — 15 Mind-Blowing Old-Timey Photos You Won't Believe Are Real

29

Mario was only created because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye. When Shigeru Miyamoto was making Donkey Kong, Nintendo tried to license the Popeye characters, but that fell through, so he came up with new ones - including Mario, the player character. CRACKED.COM — New Yorker

28

THE HILLS HAVE EYES is a sci-fi take on a 16-century Scottish legend. Creator Wes Craven said the idea came after he heard about the legend of Sawney Bean, a seemingly mythical leader of a cannibalistic clan of Scottish rebels. The story goes that Bean met a witch named Agnes Douglas and together they lived in a cave, raised a large and incestuous family, and survived on laying traps and eating their prey (that were sometimes human). CRACKED COM — Oxygen

27

DAVID - Michael Fassbender based his acting in Prometheus on an Olympic diver. Не remembered the image of U.S. Olympic diver Greg Louganis walking on a diving board in a measured way, his arms stiff, and partly based his performance as David on that. CRACKED.COM — 7 Insane Ways Actors Got The Ideas For Famous Performances

26

THE SENSATIONAL NATIONAL BESTSELLER Anne Rice АСТНОКО THE QUKEN OF THE DAMNED The Uampire Lesiat a Dar - wd Anne Rice's work led to Groundhog Day. Her book The Vampire Lestat made screenwriter Danny Rubin start to wonder about how someone would act if they lived forever. Не thought it'd make a good film, but it'd be too hard to make. Then he remembered an old idea he'd about a guy who repeats the same day over and over, and combined the two concepts. CRACKED.COM — Den of Geek

25

Janice's laugh in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. was inspired by an actor, a dolphin, and a cartoon character. Actress Maggie Wheeler revealed that Ronald Palillo influenced her with his character's laugh in a '70s show called Welcome Back, Kotter. She also took some inspiration from watching Flipper the dolphin, and Woody Woodpecker. CRACKED.COM — 15 Iconic Characters' Inspirations

24

Arlen, Texas KING OF THE HILL CRACKED c COM Co-creator Mike Judge has said the setting was based on the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, even though he used to live in Garland, Texas. — New York Times

23

Fight Club grew out of an awkward time at Chuck Palahniuk's workplace. Не showed up to work one day after getting totally beaten up on a camping trip, and he was surprised that nobody asked him where the bruises were from. I realised that if you looked bad enough, people would not want to know what you did in your spare time, he said, which became the seed of Fight Club. CRACKED.COM — The Guardian

22

King Kong was inspired by a movie about komodo dragons. A 1926 expedition left the U.S. to capture komodo dragons, and they did - they filmed the whole thing, too. The movie was a big hit at the time (as were the dragons), and Merian Cooper lifted parts of the story for King Kong. CRACKED.COM — 15 Strange Inspirations For Iconic Pop Culture

21

CRACKED.COM Doctor Who URS The iconic look of the Fourth Doctor was aristide inspired by an ad for cabaret singer and BRUANT comedian Aristide dans Bruant, created by Henri Las free soncabace de Toulouse-Lautrec. — BBC & Warped Factor

20

FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPERS WERE INSPIRED BY THE INUIT. Designer Michael Kaplan based the headwear for the new flametroopers and snowtroopers on traditional Inuit snow goggles he had seen in a museum. CRACKED.COM — 12 Bizarre Inspirations Behind Star Wars Movie Characters

19

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

18

The Seinfeld episode The Revenge was based on Larry David almost-quitting SNL. One Saturday night, he screamed I'm done! I quit! Fuck you! at the producer and stormed off. Later, he realized how much money he had cost himself by doing that, so he just showed up at work on Monday like nothing happened, hoping for the best - and it worked. CRACKED.COM — Vanity Fair

17

Peter Pan was inspired by the writer's brother's death. David Barrie died in a skating accident just before he turned 19, and that gave his kid brother James the seed of an idea about a character who'd remain a boy forever -- and 33 years later, he wrote Peter Pan. CRACKED.COM — New York Times

16

Pixar's Luca is kind of based on the director's own childhood in Italy. PESCHERIA Enrico Casarosa says that he was inspired by how he'd spent his childhood in Cinque Terre with a friend, Alberto, who was a troublemaker. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

THE REASON ANDREW W.K. HAS SUCH A PASSION FOR PARTYING IS BECAUSE НЕ HATES RULES. When he was growing up, there was a lot of pressure to drink, but there was also a lot of pressure to stay straight edge. Не had no interest in being told what to do, which is why his definition of partying is so open to interpretation. CRACKED COM — 22 Eyebrow-Arching Ways Creators' Lives Influenced Their Work

14

CRACKED.COM When SHIGERU MIYAMOTO was a child, a neighbor's dog rushed at him, and only its chain stopped it. Не remembered that frightening episode when he created the Chain Chomps for Super Mario 3. — The Guardian & Wikimedia Commons

13

A Saturday Night Live performance ended up shaping an Inside Out character. They took inspiration from Debbie Downer from SNL for Sadness (and also Wednesday Addams). And their first idea for her? A teardrop. CRACKED.COM — The Hollywood Reporter

12

GRACKED.COM 9-1-1 immediately shocked viewers in its pilot episode when the rescuers had to save a baby that was flushed down the toilet. But you probably would have never guessed the incident was based on a true story in China. A young, single mom panicked after birthing her kid in the toilet. She then called emergency services, who rescued the baby. It survived and the girl's parents agreed to care for the newborn. — 22 Real-Life Inspirations For Your Favorite Movie & TV Moments

11

Movie: The Grand Budapest Hotel Inspiration: Austro-Hungarian and Prussian photochrom pictures. Director Wes Anderson used photochrom pictures (black-and-white photographs that have been colorized) to create the fictitious Republic of Zubrowska. The Library of Congress's photochrom collection includes all these commercially produced pictures showing views of Europe around the turn of the century. Zubrowska is also the name of a Polish Bison Grass vodka. CRACKED.COM — 12 Bizarre Influences Behind Famous Movies And Shows

10

CRACKED.COM SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING takes cues from Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa's High and Low served as a model for the Vulture as a ground-level villain and his relationship to Tony Stark - as producer Amy Pascal put it, somebody who looks up at a wealthy person almost in a tower ... and feels the need to respond to that in a villainous way. — SlashFilm

9

The lab and quantum tunnel set in Ant-Man and the Wasp was heavily inspired by the campy 1966 sci-fi show The Time Tunnel. The show, which lasted one season, was about a government project to build a time machine, called Project Tic-Toc. When the government threatens to defund the project, the people running it try to use the time machine to save it. James Damen Robert Colbert THE TIME TUNNER Hh CRACKED.COM — Film School Rejects & MEtv

8

Judge Gen in The Good Place was modelled on none other than The Notorious RBG. Her robe was based on that on Ruth Bader Ginsberg - her actress, Maya Rudolph, said it was an homage to an iconic human being. CRACKED.COM — ScreenRant

7

The Godfather's Johnny Fontane was based on Sinatra (who hated that). Sinatra hated it so much that, when he was introduced to Godfather writer Mario Puzo, he just said I don't think so. I don't want to meet him. CRACKED.COM — The Hollywood Reporter

6

As in The Crown, Princess Diana roller-skated through Kensington Palace. In real life, she probably kept to the palace's less glamorous parts, where it might have been easier to skate-but that wouldn't have made for good TV. CRACKED.COM — Vanity Fair

5

30 Rock Liz Lemon is just Tina Fey. Start with the fact that Fey's first name is Elizabeth, and then consider that the show draws heavily from her stint as SNL's head writer. I try to share as many of Liz's habits as possible SO it feels truthful. CRACKED.COM — Tina-Fey.org (via archive.org) & Vogue

4

The iconic main character from 35 Br eaking 56 Bad was inspired by a real notorious dealer called Walter Eddie White. CRACKED.COM Не was known in Alabama for having the best meth available. — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

3

URSULA IS LITERALLY DIVIne. The Little Mermaid sea witch is based on drag queen Divine, who made a splash in the '70s with Pink Flamingoes and Mondo Trasho. CRACKED.COM — 5 Famous Characters You Didn't Know Are Based On Real People

2

CRACKED.COM STRINGER BELL was inspired by KENNETH JACKSON. Kenny Bird Jackson was involved in drug dealing and other illegal stuff in Baltimore before breaking into legitimate business, much like Idris Elba's character in The Wire. — BaltimoreBrew

1

Tropic Thunder's Les Grossman was Tom Cruise's creation. The character wasn't in the script, but Cruise said I think you need another villain other than just the 12-year-old drug king, and suggested somebody who embodies the sleaziest, seamiest side of Hollywood. CRACKED.COM — Grantland

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