It’s no secret that animators often borrow the appearance and mannerisms of on-screen characters from real people. Most often, these are the actors who subsequently voice the characters, and the creators initially give them the characteristics of the voice bearer.
But in the process of drawing and creating images, sometimes a collective image emerges, especially if the “cartoon” is born from an already existing book image.
Edna Mode from The Incredibles
The wizards of the Pixar studio, when creating the stylist Edna Mode, who was engaged in sewing superhero costumes, inspired their heroine from the famous Hollywood costume designer. Edith Head is a 35-time Oscar nominee and eight-time winner, a record for a woman.
Robbers from “The Town Musicians of Bremen”
Soyuzmultfilm found its bright and unforgettable bandits for the cartoon musical based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm by accident. Studio editor Natalya Abramova brought to work a photo calendar depicting dancing swindlers from “Prisoner of the Caucasus” performed by Yuri Nikulin, Georgy Vitsin and Evgeny Morgunov. Of course, this did not mean the actors themselves, but their iconic characters from the comedies of Leonid Gaidai. By the way, the dancing Atamansha was copied from Tamara Vishneva, the wife of the director of “Well, Just Wait!” Vyacheslav Kotenochkin, and was voiced by Oleg Anofriev “under Ranevskaya”.
Characters of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” Ariel and Ursula
The main character of the cartoon, the little mermaid Ariel, is an example of the symbiosis of different prototypes. In early sketches, the character was based on the appearance of animator Glen Keane’s wife. It was then customized to fit 16-year-old actress Alyssa Milano. But the gestures, facial expressions and movements of this character were presented by model Sherry Stoner, who was then invited by the animators as a role model to create another masterpiece of the studio “Beauty and the Beasts”.
But the image of the witch Ursula is due to Harris Glen Milstead, known under his shocking pseudonym Divine. It was he who shocked the audience in his travesty role in John Waters’ films “Pink Flamingos”, “Hairspray” and “Women’s Trouble”.
Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty
After the renovation of its classic cartoons by the Disney studio, it is difficult to imagine anyone other than Angelina Jolie in the image of Maleficent, who is no different in appearance from the drawn character. But the prototype for the cartoon was radio actress Eleanor Audley, who also voiced her character. In addition, she was the prototype of the evil stepmother in Disney’s animated Cinderella.
Heroes of “Aladdin”
They say that the authors of the cartoon from the very beginning saw actor Robin Williams in the image of the Genie. It is not surprising that the character is so similar to him, and the actor voiced this character.
But Aladdin himself could have had the external features of the star of the film “Back to the Future” Michael Jay Fox, but the collective appearance with the features of a young Tom Cruise “won”, which studio officials considered more sexy. The hero’s famous trousers were copied from the famous rapper MC Hammer.