Expy/Film: Difference between revisions

 

* In a strange and rare example of the Expy not originally being an expy and then being one and being played by the person the character is an expy off, the live action Scooby-Doo movie has Daphne go though off screen character development that includes [[Took a Level In Badass|a shitton of levels in badass]] that makes her basically a bit more girly girl, non-superpowered version of Sarah Michelle Gellar's (who plays her) [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|most famous character]].

* Despite the use of many other characters from the comics, the Batman movies also have [[Expy|Expys]] for some characters. For instance, since, for some reason, [[Tim Burton]] didn't want to use Harvey Bullock (possibly because Bullock's character wasn't truly corrupt) in the 1989 ''[[Batman]]'' movie, he created the overweight, gruff, corrupt Lt. Eckhardt in the Batman movie. In the [[Dark Knight Trilogy]], you have Officers Stevens and Ramirez, who are essentially Expys for Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya, with the exception of, again, being that Ramirez is corrupt. Stevens on the other hand is Bullock right down to the toothpick chewing but his name was probably changed so the film wouldn't have two characters named Harvey.

** Another corrupt detective in the [[Dark Knight Trilogy]], Flass in ''Batman Begins'', is also somewhat Bullock-like. This is particularly interesting since he's named for a character in ''[[Batman: Year One]]'' who was a [[Corrupt Cop]], but wasn't in any way a [[Fat Slob]].

* Alex from ''[[Home Alone]] 3'' is the expy of Kevin from the previous two movies.

* ''[[Star Wars]]'', a lot of the characters from the Prequel Trilogy are Expies of characters from the Original Trilogy (Even if both characters are actually in the original trilogy)

** Anakin Skywalker in episodes II and III is basically an Expy of his own son, even though he was also [[The Dragon]] in episodes IV, V, VI and even the end of III.

** Qui-Gon Jin is [[The Obi-Wan]] TO Obi-Wan Kenobi, and is an expy of his own apprentice basically.

** This sort of thing is so common in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] that you may well assume the Star Wars galaxy is heavily based on reincarnation, maybe through the Force. Just look at Han Solo via Atton Rand, Carth Onasi, Kyle Katarn (before the lightsaber), Corran Horn...

*** Atton Rand is an obvious [[Deconstruction]].

* In ''[[Gremlins|Gremlins 2: The New Batch]]'', one Mogwai looks and acts very similarly to Stripe from ''[[Gremlins]]''. The music sting, the way the camera zooms in and Gizmo's reaction all make it abuldantly clear to everyone including Gizmo that, for all intents and purposes, Stripe has been reborn. (Technically, both characters are brothers, as they both popped out of Gizmo's back after he got wet, and the New Stripe has black and white fur rather than blue and white, and after he becomes a gremlin, he has a reptilian frill rather than a Mohawk. But still undeniably an expy of Stripe.)

* ''[[wikipedia:Terminator salvation|Terminator Salvation]]'' {{spoiler|Marcus, in several ways, is an Expy of Arnold/the T-800, especialy in ''Terminator 2'', and to a lesser extent, Kyle Reese in the first Terminator movie. Marcus is basically a Prototype for the T-800, as he actually has a metal endo skelton and his outsides are living tissue. Unlike the T-800, however, he still has a human brain and thinks he's human. There's numerous little bits of action that remind you of Arnold, he kind of looks like a younger, skinnier Arnold, at his execution you actually EXPECT him to say "I'll Be Back" as his last words because they were just talking about bring him back to life the the VERY PREVIOUS SCENE (Instead, he just shrugs when asked for any last words) and, amusingly, when the humans chain him up after discovering his metal skeleton, his wrists are chained to a barbell.}} But even WITHOUT {{spoiler|Marcus}}, the movie has numerous little homages to the previous movies.

*** That was one of the attractions of the series - villains who actually ''weren't'' copies of the Kurgan.

* In the [[Marx Brothers]] film each brother plays a character with a different name but the same personality as the character he played in the other films.

** As do some of the recurring supporting actors, most notably Margaret Dumont.

** There's also {{spoiler|Wheelie}}. He has some similarities to both Frenzy and Rattrap from Beast Wars.

** Jetfire, bit of an Expy of Kup.

* [[The Professional|Léon]] is Victor from ''Nikita''. Same actor, and they even share an euphemism for their job, "cleaner".

** Luc Besson has said that they're basically cousins.

* Al from ''[[Toy Story|Toy Story 2]]'' and Dennis Nedry from ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' are played by [[Wayne Knight]], and they have similar personalities. They are both fat, disgusting, immoral (Al stole a child's beloved toy, for God's sake!), nerdy slobs. Karma bites both of them in the ass eventually.

** Both are of course an Expy from the original evil himself, [[Seinfeld|Newman!]]

** Victor also looks like what [[The Nightmare Before Christmas|Jack Skellington]] would look like if the latter was alive, albeit with a tear-drop-shaped head rather than a round skull.

* The Filipino superhero Captain Barbell is quite similar to [[Captain Marvel]], except that he has no lightning power and that his wimpy alter ego has to lift a barbell over his head to transform.

* Sort of a type-casting example with Paul Bettany. He recently was in a biopic on [[Charles Darwin]], and some reviews noted his previous role as [[Master and Commander|Stephen Maturin]] in film ''Master and Commander'' who comes across as somewhat similar to Darwin in his time on the ''Beagle'' (intellectual naturalist on a ship, interacts with giant tortoises at one point).

** Not any giant tortoises. The giant tortoises ''of the Galpagos Islands'', just like Darwin!

**** Subverted with Eisenberg's role in [[The Social Network]], although he's still playing a college kid.

*** These men are Expies of Rick Moranis.

** Ditto for Seth Rogen, who plays a fat clumsy pothead in pretty much all of his movies, and Jonah Hill, who plays mini-Seth Rogen in pretty much all of his movies.

** These are also be examples of [[Typecasting]].

*** Subverted, hard, by Seth Rogen in ''[[Observeand Report]]'', so much so that many saw his character as a [[Complete Monster]]. However, this also demonstrated considerable range, as his character was so completely different from any of the other characters he played.

** The scene with the arks may also resemble the ferrys.

* George Sanders' The Falcon was a expy of George Sanders' The Saint. The Saint's author even brought suit against RKO over the issue.