A Nightmare on Elm Street was inspired by actual cases of teens dying in their sleep
A Nightmare on Elm Street is so outlandish most assume it could never have been inspired by real events. Horrifically enough, it was. Real teenagers across America weren’t being preyed on by the burnt remains of Freddy Krueger but they were being found dead in their sleep from bad nightmares, and that was more than enough for Wes Craven to work with.
Wonder Woman was created by a radical psychologist in a throuple
The most popular female comic book hero ever was not inspired by just one woman, but two, and they were both romantically involved with creator William Moulton Marston. He fathered children with both his wife and mistress, who also lived with him in Rye, New York. Marston, who was a prominent psychologist and inventor of an early lie detector, conceived Wonder Woman in 1941 and based her off both of his partners, like a gentleman. The character eventually hit the screen in the 1970s portrayed by Lynda Carter, before Gal Gadot took the role on the big screen in the 2010s.
The director of Texas Chain Saw Massacre got the idea for the film while Christmas shopping
Christmas shopping isn’t fun for anyone, let alone late horror legend Tobe Hooper. In the early 1970s, the filmmaker found himself caught in the chaos of a heaving department store when he locked eyes on a rack of chainsaws. “If I start the saw,” he reflected, “those people would just part. They would get out of my way.” Thankfully, Hooper opted against committing mass murder, and instead started work on the seminal 1974 horror flick we all know and love.
Mad Max was inspired by the director’s medical experience with car crash victims
1979’s Mad Max was inspired by various childhood favourites of director George Miller, but its violence had a very dark inspiration. Miller had been a medical student back in the early 70s, and during his time in the ER he was exposed to dozens of car accident victims in a time when the mainstream rollout of airbags was in its infancy. It was this disturbing imagery that influenced the deranged automobile action of Mad Max and its sequels.
Mars Attacks was inspired by a trading card franchise
This cult Tim Burton flick was inspired way back in 1962 by trading cards, believe it or not. Topps had released a highly controversial series that showed the brutal annihilation of “much of Earth’s population” by Martian forces. It was called, unsurprisingly, Mars Attacks, and parents were not happy. They were probably even less happy with this 1996 homage.
The Purge was inspired by the director’s near-miss with a drunk driver
James DeMonaco, the director of The Purge, has his wife to thank for the idea. “We were driving in Brooklyn,” he explained, “and there was a road rage incident, where I was driving with her and we got cut off by this drunk driver. I got out, there were fists thrown, chaos and cops. And she said to me… ‘Aw, I wish we all got one free one a year!'” DeMonaco drew on the idea of people legally being allowed to kill once a year to create The Purge series.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial drew on Steven Spielberg’s childhood imaginary friend
After the divorce of his parents in 1966, Steven Spielberg invented an imaginary friend for him to vent his feelings to. This character would eventually serve as the inspiration for his 1982 smash E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. “A divorce creates great responsibility, especially if you have siblings,” he said at a 40th anniversary screening in 2022. “We all take care of each other. What if Elliott, or the kid - I hadn’t dreamt up his name yet - needed to, for the first time in his life, become responsible for a life form to fill the gap in his heart?”
Alien was inspired by the writer’s struggles with Crohn’s Disease
Alien certainly borrowed from decades of science fiction that preceded it, but the body horror it became infamous for was straight out of writer Dan O’Bannon’s personal life. He was inspired to take the Hollywood alien from cartoonish to hellish after bouts of debilitation with Crohn’s disease, which left him with severe chest pain. “The idea of making a movie where the alien felt like a real creature planted the seed for Alien,” he said. That’s right, the chest-bursting scene had personal origins.
The Fast and the Furious was based on a magazine article
The Fast and the Furious might seem like the kind of film that was conceived, pitched and green-lit in the space of five minutes but it was actually adapted from a respected long-read in Vibe magazine. Writer Ken Li’s article Racer X (which was at one point considered as a title for the film) appeared in a May 1998 issue and concerned a New York street racer named Rafael Estevez who made the jump from illegal races to legal, sponsored ones.
Pirates of the Caribbean was based on a theme park attraction
The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney Land opened in 1967 and immediately sparked interest in Walt Disney as a potential movie opportunity. But it ended up taking over 35 years for anything to actually materialise. Although Walt never lived to see the adaptation come to life, he would’ve been thrilled by how much it paid off. It remains the only major theme-park-ride-to-film success story, although Disney have tried again with The Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland and Jungle Cruise.
