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29 Inspirations Behind Famous Movies And Shows (We Didn’t Know About)

Satoshi Tajiri's bug collecting hobby lead to the creation of Pokemon.

29 Inspirations Behind Famous Movies And Shows (We Didn’t Know About)

November 01, 2021

Creator Satoshi Tajiri got the idea for Pokemon after realizing he was too old for his childhood hobby – bug collecting. More on that and 28 other fascinating inspirations behind famous movies, games, and shows:

29

Sofia Coppola got the idea for Lost in Translation when she saw a friend singing. The guy nicknamed Charlie Brown in the movie is a real-life friend of hers. When she saw him singing God Save the Queen at a karaoke bar, she said I have to put this in a movie. CRACKED.COM — IndieWire

28

Matthew Goode based his vampire character in A Discovery of Witches on Roger Federer. The actor says he took inspiration from the tennis legend because Federer sort of looks like a vampire in a weird way. I'm meant to be the most formidable assassin of all time, from the vampire world, and I thought he was quite a good person to base the performance on, physically, as he's an assassin on the court. CRACKED.COM — 15 Iconic Characters' Inspirations

27

Quahog, Rhode Island FAMILY GUY CRACKED.COM Seth MacFarlane has supposedly said the city was based on Cranston, Rhode Island, but Providence, Rhode Island's skyline can be seen in almost every episode. — Family Guy Fandom

26

Pokemon was inspired by Satoshi Tajiri's bug collecting hobby. As a kid, he loved collecting bugs, but by the time he grew up, bug collecting became pretty hard for kids because urbanization was happening so fast. So, once he became a game designer, he made a game based on bug collecting. CRACKED.COM — TIME

25

Knives Out's score was influenced by an old-school movie -- Lawrence of Arabia. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA Knives WHODUNNE NOSNHOF OFF Qut With that score, like a bunch of others, it feels like you can hear every instrument. It's not a blurry, washed-out sound. Every voice has its place, says composer Nathan Johnson. Which worked great for Knives Out. CRACKED.COM — FilmSchoolRejects

24

CRACKED.COM The Exorcist The lonely street lamp ominously shining on Father Merrin comes from René Magritte's series The Empire of Light, painted in 1953-54. — Rene Magritte Paintings, Prints & Artwork

23

Star Wars

J.J. ABRAMS' TEACHER INSPIRED MAZ KANATA. The character of Maz Kanata, who provided inspiration for Rey, was herself inspired by J.J. Abrams' English teacher, Rose Gilbert. Abrams calls her timeless and wise. CRACKED.COM — 12 Bizarre Inspirations Behind Star Wars Movie Characters

22

Midsommar is partly modelled on the 1981 breakup movie Modern Romance. Director Ari Aster was going through a bad breakup when they pitched Midsommar to him, and he wanted to make it partly a breakup movie. CRACKED. .COM — Source

21

Steven Spielberg's memories of his parents' divorce inspired E.T. Не started writing a story about his mom and dad getting divorced, and when he was shooting Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he thought about what might happen if the alien stayed behind and became friends with a child whose parents got divorced. CRACKED.COM — People

20

The look of Bambi was inspired by Song dynasty artwork. An early Bambi sketch Chinese-American Disney artist Tyrus Wong drew on 11th-century art from the Song dynasty to create the backgrounds for the movie. CRACKED.COM — VOA

19

Director Adam Wingard's cat apparently influenced Godzilla vs Kong. That's judging by an Instagram photo of his cat, which he captioned with There is a lot of her inspiration in my version of Godzilla and King Kong. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

John Romero decided that his company's next game, Doom, should be about a demonic invasion when he caused one in their D&D office campaign. CRACKED.COM — 22 Eyebrow-Arching Ways Creators' Lives Influenced Their Work

17

Tim Burton

Apes freak out TIM BURTON and he tried to capture what makes them so disturbing to him when he made Planet of the Apes. They scare me, I he said. They may smile at you and look cute but beneath the surface is a darker behavior. CRACKED.COM — Wired

16

The 1953 western Shane played a big role in shaping The Dark Knight. The reason? The evil, in particular, in that film was so evil. There had never been anything quite like it, explained Christopher Nolan. CRACKED.COM — The Hollywood Reporter

15

GRACKED.COM Mike Judge based the voice for the marble-mouthed character of Boomhauer on King Of The Hill off of a rambling and angry voice mail he got while making Beavis and Butt-head. — 22 Real-Life Inspirations For Your Favorite Movie & TV Moments

14

Movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Inspiration: Naruto Director Edgar Wright chose the manga look: In Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, there will be a 'killer move,' but in Naruto you've got that real manga style, so when somebody gets hit with a 'killer move,' the background will drop out and a huge graphic will be superimposed behind them. Killer, bro. CRACKED.COM — 12 Bizarre Influences Behind Famous Movies And Shows

13

CRACKED.COM WONDER WOMAN's theme was inspired by Led Zeppelin. LED-ZEPPELIN According to Hans Zimmer's collaborator Thomas Holkenborg (a.k.a Junkie XL), both he and Zimmer are fans of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, and Wonder Woman's powerful theme in the DCEU is their tribute to it. — Screen Rant

12

The Millennium Falcon was based on a hamburger. When they needed a new design at the last minute, Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie saw George Lucas noticed a hamburger with an olive sticking out of the bun on a toothpick. And he saw a spaceship. GRAGKED.COM — 5 Bizarre Inspirations Behind Famous Movie Scenes

11

Jared Leto's look in Blade Runner 2049 was partly based on his teacher. A guy named Chris, who is blind, taught him how to act as a blind man, and Jared Leto's eyes in the movie are directly modelled on Chris' real eyes. CRACKED.COM — IndieWire

10

A real-life person was the inspiration for Halloween's Michael Myers. John Carpenter visited a psychiatric institution in college, and he saw a 12- or 13-year-old boy with a real evil stare that he remembered later. CRACKED.COM — Esquire

9

Matthew McConaughey's character in Wolf of Wall Street wasn't fake. That's pretty much how that guy was in real life, including the advice that success was down to masturbation, cocaine and hookers. CRACKED.COM — Cinemablend

8

Misery

CRACKED.COM Misery Paul Sheldon clearly is Stephen King. Misery is about how obsessive King's fans can get-and also about his struggles with addiction. Annie was my drug problem, and she was my number-one fan. God, she never wanted to leave. — The Paris Review & The Stephen King Companion by George Beahm

7

THe DUDE IS A REAL DUDE. This is Jeff Dowd, friend of the Coen brothers. The Big Lebowsky Dude's personality, drink of choice, nickname, and even biography (some parts, anyway) are all borrowed from Dowd. AB CRACKED.COM — 8 Characters You Won't Believe Are Based on Real People

6

CRACKED.COM ROCKY BALBOA is based on CHUCK WEPNER. Nicknamed The Bayonne Bleeder, no one took Wepner seriously until he held his own against Muhammad Ali. Sylvester Stallone wrote Rocky shortly after the fight. — 9 Absurd Movie Premises That Actually Happened

5

Charles Schulz created Franklin because of a fan letter. In 1968, former teacher Harriet Glickman, wrote to Schulz and suggested he add a Black character to Peanuts as a small of way of helping change those conditions in our society which led to the assassination of MLK and which contribute to the vast sea of misunderstanding, fear, hate, and violence. After more correspondence, Schulz agreed, and came up with Franklin. CRACKED.COM — NYTimes

4

CLOVERFIELD was inspired by the Escape from New York movie poster. ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Director Matt Reeves explained: The poster had an image on it of the head of the Statue of Liberty and that image was nowhere in the movie! And it's an incredibly provocative image. And that was the source that inspired (producer) J.J. (Abrams) to say, 'Now this would be an interesting idea for a movie.' CRACKED COM — IGN

3

The Powerpuff Girls' Mojo Jojo is partly based on an obscure Japanese TV villain. The Japanese show The Kagestar featured a hero with a spiral pattern on his helmet, which inspired the design of Jojo's helmet. CRACKED.COM — 6 Mind-Blowing Easter Eggs Hidden in Famous Movie Costumes

2

Face/Off

VA Metrics IT 100% A Opt T T TT T fi o st A English: USA Face/Off was inspired by a hang-gliding accident. A friend of co-writer Mark Werb's was in a grisly hang-gliding accident that led to doctors having to take his face off, resculpt the underlying tissue, and then put it back. They wanted to make a movie where the bad guy and the good guy could become each other, and the hang-gliding accident pointed at how that could happen. CRACKED.COM — Writers SuperCenter

1

Theo Germaine drew inspiration from Harry Potter for their character in The Politician. - Germaine said that Draco Malfoy's cunning personality fit their character James to a T. They were also inspired by the Ravenclaw house. Draco is cunning, but James is a Ravenclaw. CRACKED.COM — 15 Iconic Characters' Inspirations

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