Badasses that inspired your favourite movie characters – True originality is hard to come by. If you do something creative for a living, you know that inspiration has to come from somewhere. Whether it’s a person, experience, or downright ripoff of successful models, the best art is a reflection of human nature in all its glories and miseries. As Quentin Tarantino once said, “I steal from every movie ever made.” And that’s the reason he’s considered a genius filmmaker.
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But this isn’t about stealing, nor is it about homages. The following heroes and villains are real people, and they influenced some of the most memorable characters in Hollywood history. It’s always compelling to discover who’s behind the fiction, and in some cases, it’s even better than the celluloid portrayal. Truth is stranger than fiction after all. And you might agree that these stories trump the dramas themselves. From mob bosses to adventurists, “idiot” savants to legendary bandits, without these people, there would be less dynamism to their epic adaptations on the silver screen.
The next time you’re watching one of these movies with your friends and family, impress them by regaling them with the real tales. Who knows, it could be your next bar trick.
10. Frank Costello & James “Whitey” Bulger
“I don’t want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.”
So says the opening quote in Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Best Picture-winner The Departed. Although notorious Boston mafioso James “Whitey” Bulger didn’t utter it, he could’ve, because his life was a direct reflection of that sentiment. For decades he terrorized the neighborhood of South Boston, seizing a handle on virtually every money-making scheme and mob-inflicted crime.
Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson, wasn’t a precise mirror image of Bulger himself, but Scorsese said in an interview that they “felt comfortable in the character, in the situation, because we knew it to be true.” Other characters, such as Matt Damon’s performance of agent Colin Sullivan, were seemingly plucked from the real story. FBI agent John Connelly, who was active in many of Bulger’s exploits, even warned of his impending indictment before it happened, causing Bulger to flee. In 2011 he was finally captured and imprisoned (he wasn’t shot in a police raid like Costello was in the movie—his $1 million reward on the FBI’s Most Wanted List was too valuable).
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