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28 Bonkers Sources of Inspiration for Iconic Movies

Turns out, Joker’s uncontrolled laughter is a real condition

28 Bonkers Sources of Inspiration for Iconic Movies

September 08, 2023

There’s no doubt that some of the most iconic movies of all time have been inspired by some seriously bonkers things. For example, Jaws was famously inspired by a real-life incident in which a great white shark attacked and killed several people off the coast of New England. Another example is The Exorcist, which was based on an actual case of possession that occurred in the 1940s. And let's not forget The Shining, which was inspired by a hotel that was said to be haunted. So next time you’re watching one of your favorite movies, just remember that it might have been inspired by something totally bizarre. Just like the films below….

28

Joker's laughing in the 2019 movie was inspired by an actual disorder. In the movie, he can't control when he erupts into laughter, so he carries a card that explains his condition. That's based on a real condition, pseudobulbar aggression, which makes sufferers laugh or cry uncontrollably. CRACKED.COM — People.com

27

Bridgerton The portrait of the Bridgerton brothers is a copy of a 1760 painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, depicting British politician Henry Fane and a couple of his friends. CRACKED.COM — The Conversation

26

ELLO ASTY IS A BEASTIE BOYS TRIBUTE. PUIL beastie boys: hello nasty REMASTERED EDITION INCLUDES: Bonus disc of b-sides unreleased tracks PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPURIT CONTENT Beastie Boys fanboy J.J. Abrams decided to name one of the Resistance pilots in tribute to them. Не did so by removing the first letters from their 1998 album Hello Nasty. CRACKED.COM — 12 Bizarre Inspirations Behind Star Wars Movie Characters

25

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

24

Reservoir Dogs' title came from a video store customer mangling a movie's name. When Tarantino worked as a video store clerk, someone asked for Au Revoir les Enfants but pronounced it like Reservoir Dogs --apparently, the memory of that stuck with Tarantino for years. CRACKED.COM — Variety

23

Nazi Germany led to the creation of Superman. Co-creator Jerry Siegel says he came up with Superman in the early '30s after hearing and reading of the oppression and slaughter of helpless, oppressed Jews in Nazi Germany... seeing movies depicting the horrors of privation suffered by the downtrodden. CRACKED.COM — The Independent

22

George Miller's time in a Sydney emergency room inspired Mad Max. He's a medical doctor who spent time in a hospital emergency room in the '70s - there, he says, he saw a lot of real road trauma. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

A MIKE NEWELL four Weddings and funeral Richard Curtis started writing Four Weddings and a Funeral when he realized he went to 65 weddings in 11 years. CRACKED COM — 22 Eyebrow-Arching Ways Creators' Lives Influenced Their Work

20

TOM SIX has a fear of hospitals and surgery (people are just cutting you while you're asleep!). Yeah, this doesn't fully explain The Human Centipede, but it helps understand why he made a movie with an evil surgeon. CRACKED.COM — The Daily Beast & Nigeldehond (via Wikimedia Commons)

19

A Korean movie called Save the Green Planet! inspired Midsommar. The movie is about a rich pharma exec who gets kidnapped by a deranged guy who thinks the exec is actually a hostile alien, and that's just the start. CRACKED.COM — IndieWire

18

CRACKED.COM FAMiLY GUY Peter Griffin's accent, look, and mannerisms came from a security guard named Paul Timmins who worked at the Rhode Island School of Design. The show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, had been a student there and would smoke cigarettes and chat with Timmins a couple times a day. — 22 Real-Life Inspirations For Your Favorite Movie & TV Moments

17

CRACKED COM Movie: Kong: Skull Island Inspiration: Shadow Of The Colossus While Pokémon and Predator also served as inspiration, it was SotC that hit home for director Jordan Vogt-Roberts: It's such a beautiful thing to have a boss fight where you feel sad after you've killed the boss. The colossi in those games have such a slow, melancholy, morose quality to them. I think and I hope that Kong has a similar vibe in the film. That, and finding out what would happen if you add colossi-like monsters to Apocalypse Now. — 12 Bizarre Influences Behind Famous Movies And Shows

16

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.) — A Christmas Story House & Museum & The A.V. Club

15

The Deadpool opening scene was inspired by a Philips commercial. Carousel was a 2009 ad for Philips Cinema 21:9 LCD televisions. CE GRACKED.COM — Film School Rejects

14

Melissa McCarthy modelled her Bridesmaids character on Guy Fieri. акнис She even asked the higher-ups if she could wear spiky hair like Fieri's, to really drive the point home, but they told her You can't actually be Guy Fieri. CRACKED.COM — Vulture

13

The NBC musical production of Dr Seuss' The Grinch was inspired by Joker. Matthew Morrison, the Grinch actor, said he took a lot from Joaquin Phoenix's performance in Joker, especially Joker's walk down the steps. CRACKED.COM — Vulture

12

Princess Diana

Princess Diana actually performed Uptown Girl at the Royal Opera House. It was a total surprise and shock for Prince Charles on The Crown - and it was something the show didn't have to make up at all. CRACKED.COM — Vanity Fair

11

Das Boot Lt. Werner is a stand-in for Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Herbert Grönemeyer's young lieutenant is a war correspondent aboard the German submarine U-96-exactly like Buchheim was. CRACKED.COM — The Washington Post

10

CRACKED.COM The King Dinoco, from Cars... DINOS YEAR 43 43 43 ...is based on and voiced by Richard Petty, and designed to look like Richard Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superbird. - S.C.I. WIX 43 — Characters Based On Celebs, Really

9

HA-HAW! YOU DIDN'T know THAT nelson IS JOHN BenDeR! Not only is the Simpsons tough guy based on the Breakfast Club tough guy, but he shares a name with the actor who played him, Judd Nelson. CRACKED.COM — 4 Cartoon Characters (Surprisingly) Based On Real People

8

ELI GOLD takes his ruthlessness from RAHM EMANUEL. Alan Cumming closely studied Emanuel to play Gold, in the process turning what was intended to be an ancillary character into one of the best things about The Good Wife. CRACKED.COM — The Washington Post

7

Pac-Man was literally inspired by a pizza. OV When Toru Iwatani took a slice from a pizza, he noted that the rest of the pizza now looked like a face with an open mouth, seen from the side. From that, an iconic video game character was born. CRACKED.COM — 6 Shockingly Dumb Reasons People Invented Famous Characters

6

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET was inspired by Cambodia's Killing Fields and an unexplained death. Wes Craven said he'd read an article in the L.A. Times about a family who escaped the Killing Fields and fled to the U.S. Their youngest son then started having terrible nightmares. He told his parents he was afraid that if he slept, the thing chasing him would get him, so he tried to stay awake for days at a time. When he finally fell asleep, his parents thought this crisis was over. Then they heard screams in the middle of the night. By the — Syfy

5

A John Wick: Chapter 2 scene is there because of a random restaurant encounter. While eating at a kosher steakhouse, the filmmakers started talking with some of the Hasidic Jews who were there, and decided to put them in the movie. They were OK with it as long as we're bankers -- and so the secret bank scene was born. CRACKED.COM — Film School Rejects

4

A Nightmare on Elm Street was kind of based on a real story. Wes Craven had read a series of articles about Southeast Asian men who died from their nightmares. They'd have a dream so bad, they'd try not to sleep for days. After they finally fell asleep, they'd let out a horrific scream and die. CRACKED.COM — The 7 Most WTF Origins of Iconic Pop Culture Franchises

3

The inspiration for Nicolas Cage's character in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance? His pet cobras. Cage explained how his cobras would try to hypnotize him by moving from side to side. His character does the same thing before he attacks. CRACKED.COM — 15 Iconic Characters' Inspirations

2

Stars Hollow GILMORE GIRLS CRACKED.COM Amy Sherman-Palladino was inspired by a stay in Washington, Connecticut. — DesertNews

1

The Sims

The Sims couldn't have happened without Will Wright losing his home. After it burned down, he had to rebuild it from scratch, which also meant he'd have to learn the fundamentals of architecture and to figure out what he could and couldn't buy later on. So he got the idea for a game in which players build a household from scratch. CRACKED.COM — GamesRadar

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