The Muppets’ larger-than-life Miss Piggy… Crazed cannibal Hannibal Lecter… Ariel of the seven seas… These are the names of characters you’d probably NEVER think to associate. But they all share one thread in common: they’re all inspired by REAL people!
Films are meant to be experiential events. Who doesn’t love being transported to another world where the on-screen performances make you laugh, cry, and perch at the edge of your seat with excitement?! But with those feelings, we ask this: has a faint feeling of familiarity ever washed over you? A performance that for some vague reason sounds an alarm somewhere in your mind? Perhaps because it reminds you of an IRL personality?
Well, you’re not crazy. Because SEVERAL of pop culture’s most beloved characters truly ARE inspired by real people! And after reading this list, you’ll never be able to watch some of your favorite films the same way again!!!
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Miranda Priestly
Miranda Priestly, the fearsome fashion boss brought to life by Meryl Streep in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, wasn’t conjured out of thin air… It’s famously known she was inspired by Vogue legend Anna Wintour! Fun fact: The Devil Wears Prada was first a book scribed in 2003 by Lauren Weisberger — who previously served as Anna’s assistant at Vogue! OMG, right?!
Last year, Anna even reflected on going into the movie blind. She told New Yorker editor David Remnick:
“I went to the premiere wearing Prada, completely having no idea what the film was going to be about. And I think that the fashion industry were very sweetly concerned for me about the film, that it was going to paint me in some kind of difficult light.”
She went on to agree with Remnick that Miranda was a “cartoonish” version of her — a “caricature.” But she still enjoyed the film nonetheless:
“I found it highly enjoyable. It was very funny. Miuccia [Prada] and I talk about it a lot, and I say to her: ‘Well, it was really good for you.’”
On the performances, she added:
“[The film] had a lot of humor to it. It had a lot of wit. It had Meryl Streep. I mean, it was Emily Blunt, [and] they were all amazing. In the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”
What a great sport! We wonder what she’ll think when The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theaters next year…
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy’s iconic glamour doesn’t come from nowhere! In fact, her designer had a whole career to look to for inspiration! According to Muppet designer Bonnie Erickson, she’s directly based on 1950s actress/jazz singer Peggy Lee — who never failed to dazzle!
In 2008, Erickson told the Smithsonian Magazine:
“My mother used to live in North Dakota where Peggy Lee sang on the local radio station before she became a famous jazz singer.”
She even revealed that when she first created the beloved Muppet character, her name was “Miss Piggy Lee” — “as both a joke and an homage.”
Rocky Balboa
Sylvester Stallone may have been inspired to create the first Rocky movie after the famous 1975 brawl between Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali, but the character of Rocky Balboa himself is 100 percent based on 1950s boxer Rocco Francis “Rocky Marciano” Marchegiano. During an appearance on The Rich Elsen Show in 2022, Sly admitted:
“Let me be totally transparent, as they say. Rocky Marciano was the basis for the film.”
However, when he went to pitch the idea to the studio in the ‘70s, no one knew of Marciano… so he used the “underdog” story of the Wepner-Ali fight, which had generated astronomical hype months before, to sell his idea! Listen to him talk about it (below):
Ron Burgundy
Everyone’s favorite Anchorman Ron Burgundy is a hilarious caricature of mid-70s reporters, but did you know he’s actually based on a very REAL anchorman? In 2013, Will Ferrell sat down with the New York Times and revealed the famous character’s origins are derived from Mort Crim. He had apparently watched a documentary about Jessica Savitch, one of the first female news anchors, and was taken off guard by Crim’s critical assessment of her:
“He literally said the line: ‘You have to remember, back then I was a real male chauvinist pig. I was not nice to her.’”
If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know it’s about the same thing… Veronica Corningstone (masterfully played by Christina Applegate) joins Ron’s news team, which he finds it difficult to adjust to.
Crim himself even opened up about it in a 2013 interview with ABC News!
Wild!
Ariel & Ursula the Sea Witch
The Little Mermaid is undoubtedly a Disney classic. Who can resist singing along to Part of Your World? While Jodi Benson may have lent her voice to the red-headed mermaid, did you know it was actually Alyssa Milano who served as inspiration for her character design? According to IMDb, Animator Glen Keane used photos of the Who’s the Boss actress to create a rendering that would be relatable to the “modern girl” of the late ‘80s. Additionally, the creative team also used actress/model Sherri Stoner as a reference for Ariel’s facial expressions and body movements!
But the Ariel wasn’t the only Little Mermaid character designed after an IRL icon. Ursula the Sea Witch is famously modeled after drag queen Divine! Animator Ruben Aquino has said in the past he used photos of the Baltimore-based drag queen for inspo, while Rob Minkoff told Vogue in 2023:
“Divine seemed like such a great, larger than life character, and it just seemed like a funny and quirky idea to take [Ursula] and treat her more like a drag queen.”
See the resemblance? Watch a short documentary on the character-making process (below):
Dr. Evil & Jack Donaghy
At face value, Austin Powers’ arch nemesis Dr. Evil and 30 Rock’s corporate executive Jack Donaghy might not seem like they share much in common. But when you really think about it, they’re both rich, power-hungry tycoons with a comical flair, and they both serve as caricatures of the type of businessmen who run our world today.
But there’s also another glaring similarity they share which you may not have known about: they’re BOTH loosely inspired by Lorne Michaels! Yup! You read that right! Both Dr. Evil and Jack Donaghy were conjured up with the Saturday Night Live creator in mind!
Last year, Mike Myers opened up about the long-standing rumor surrounding his Austin Powers character, revealing Dr. Evil was mainly based on Donald Pleasence’s portrayal of Blofeld in James Bond flick You Only Live Twice, but that some Lorne quirks made it into the mix as well. He told Vulture:
“The Lorne of it is just a little tiny overlay. I’m Canadian. He’s Canadian. He had an educated Canadian accent, and I have a Scarborough accent.”
As for Mr. Jack Donaghy, Alec Baldwin revealed in a 2012 interview on NPR that he based his portrayal on his longtime friend, the NBC executive:
“Professionally, he’s a prototype of several GE executives, but in his personal life, he’s Lorne Michaels. As I always say, ‘Lorne is someone who has a tuxedo in the glove compartment of his car.’ And Lorne is a friend, and I adore Lorne. But we do stick it to Lorne a lot.”
LOLz! Of his portrayal and finding the right balance between cutthroat executive and charming boss, he added:
“I never think, ‘Oh, how can I make this guy more arrogant or bombastic?’ I think to myself, ‘There’s something he wants, and he wants to get it done.’ You have to think, ‘What does he want? And how does he go about getting it?’”
We guess that’s how SNL has managed to stay on air for 51 seasons!
Lucious Lyon
If you’ve even been watching Empire and thought, “Lucious Lyon kind of gives JAY-Z,” you wouldn’t be far off! During a 2015 appearance on the Sway in the Morning show, creator Danny Strong addressed criticism surrounding some of the stereotypical aspects of the show — like Terrence Howard’s character being a music mogul with a criminal background:
“I’ve heard that, but there’s certainly some truth in that. The JAY-Z story, which very much inspired Lucious Lyon, certain elements of Lucious Lyon, was that story. So for me, I don’t think in terms of ‘Okay we have to be careful of certain things because of certain negative stereotypes.’ I view it as the entire cast is African-American [so] we’re gonna have all different types of characters and we’re gonna tell good stories. We’re not gonna sit here and play defense or think that our show is a representation as Black culture in its entirety. It’s not; it’s just this story.”
Prior to striking gold with his rap career, JAY-Z hustled the streets of Brooklyn. In several songs like U Don’t Know and Friend or Foe, Beyoncé’s husband has openly admitted to dealing drugs as a teen and even finding himself in terrifying shootouts.
Vincent Chase
Much like Lucious Lyon, the character of Vincent Chase, played by Adrian Grenier in HBO’s Entourage, is largely based on the life of a sometimes-controversial Hollywood figure: Mark Wahlberg! The Oscar nominee, who produced the show, crafted the character with his own early acting career in mind, then cast Adrian! In 2020, the actor reflected on landing the role while in conversation with news.com.au:
“Within moments of me getting the job, me and the guys got on a plane with Mark and his friends and we all went to Vegas together. So we all got a crash course into that celebrity lifestyle.”
He noted he was tasked with observing Mark’s day-to-day lifestyle to really get a grasp on how he should play the role:
“I didn’t have many conversations with him … It was more observing, like an animal in the wild. I took some binoculars and had a look at the way he operated, and I realized the main key is not to try and be Mark Wahlberg, but more just to get a sense of the power dynamic with him and the world and how people treat him.”
He added at the time:
“He sort of approaches every situation with confidence and ease, and a sense of authority. So I was more just observing his lifestyle and then borrowing that and adapting it for my character.”
Inneresting! If you watched the show, did YOU ever find yourself picking up on that Mark flair??
Hannibal Lecter
It’s time to take this list in a spooky direction! Those who have seen it know that The Silence of the Lambs is enough to make any viewer’s skin crawl — and those who haven’t… well, be prepared to be spooked. Anthony Hopkins did a terrifyingly brilliant job portraying psychiatrist-turned-criminal Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 film, which is based on a 1988 novel of the same name. But did you know that the blood-curdling creep, who has cannibalistic tendencies, is based on a REAL LIFE person?!
In 2013, author Thomas Harris told The Latin Times about a trip he went on to the Nuevo León State Prison in Monterrey, Mexico in the ‘60s. He intended to interview American inmate Dykes Askew Simmons, who had been accused of — and was later sentenced to death for — triple murder. While on his visit, Harris met an interesting prison doctor he dubbed “Dr. Salazar,” to protect his true identity. But what he didn’t initially know was that he had been talking to an INMATE! He told the outlet:
“Dr. Salazar was a small, lithe man with dark red hair. He stood very still and there was a certain elegance about him … [After talking to him for a while] the warden walked me out. I thanked him for his time … I asked how long Dr. Salazar had worked there. ‘Hombre! Don’t you know who that is?’ … The warden turned to me on the steps, ‘The doctor is a murderer. As a surgeon, he could package his victim in a surprisingly small box. He will never leave this place. He is insane.’”
OMG! Dr. Salazar was later revealed to be Dr. Alfredo Ballí, who went on to serve as inspiration for Hannibal Lecter. Harris noted that when he was writing his book, he needed to create a character with a “peculiar understanding of the criminal mind.” He told the outlet:
“It was not Dr. Salazar. But because of Dr. Salazar, I could recognize his colleague and fellow practitioner, Hannibal Lecter.”
Shivers!
Patrick Bateman
To conclude our list, we raise you one more crazed murderer: Patrick Bateman! While Christian Bale’s performance in the 2000 film American Psycho may have felt totally one-of-a-kind, did you know there’s actually another A-lister whose mannerisms served as loose inspiration? That would be Mr. Tom Cruise!
In an infamous 1999 interview on Late Night with David Letterman, Tom recalled a story about flying a plane with a couple buddies. You know, the type of adrenaline junkie activity he’s known for! But for the backseat passenger, it was a brush with death as Tom revealed he and his co-pilot made the executive decision to turn off their buddy’s oxygen supply so they could continue flying at their preferred altitude — and despite Letterman pointing out how dangerous that sounds, Tom could barely get through the story without hysterically laughing. Watch (below):
In a later interview celebrating the 20th anniversary of American Psycho, director Mary Harron revealed Christian Bale was enamored with Tom’s energy in the Letterman interview, which he described as “a very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes.”
Christian went on to use the interview as inspiration for his psychotic character, who is obsessed with convincing others of his perfect public persona despite being a crazed murderer behind closed doors. Tom Cruise is obviously not a murderer, but he definitely carries that leading man movie star energy that makes people fall in love with him everywhere he goes!
So, the you have it, Perezcious readers! Were YOU surprised by the names on this list? Be sure share your reactions in the comments down below!
[Images via 20th Century Fox/YouTube, ABC/YouTube, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution/Disney+, DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount+, Lions Gate Films/PLEX, MGM/UA Entertainment Co./YouTube, New Line Cinema/Pluto TV, & Orion Pictures/Tubi]
