Stephenie Meyer Admitted a Will Ferrell Movie Inspired ‘Twilight’
Will Ferrell’s movies are very different from Twilight, however, Stephenie Meyer cited one of Ferrell’s films as an influence on her vampire saga. In fact, Meyer had a dream about Edward Cullen which was similar to a scene from the aforementioned movie. Here’s a look at the unusual movie that impacted Meyer.
The movies that inspired Stephenie Meyer while writing ‘Twilight’
Authors — almost by necessity — take influence from other authors. However, Meyer is interesting because she cites movies as influences on Twilight almost as often as books. According to Entertainment Weekly, she said the first Iron Man movie, Somewhere in Time, Baby Mama were all inspirations for Twilight. Oddly enough, none of those films have vampires and only Somewhere in Time is a romance.
She also cites one of Ferrell’s movies as an inspiration for Twilight: Stranger than Fiction. Ferrell is most known for starring in vulgar comedies, however, he also starred in Stranger than Fiction, an unusual metafictional film. The film is about an IRS agent named Harold Crick who realizes he is a fictional character created by Karen Eiffel, a novelist played by Emma Thompson.
The Stephenie Meyer had that reminded her of Will Ferrell’s character in ‘Stranger than Fiction’
”There’s a scene where Emma Thompson’s character created…tracks her down and walks into her living room and he goes, ‘Hey, I’m Harold Crick,’” Meyer said. “And she collapses to the floor and says, ‘I know.’ That moment makes me cry. Imagine what that would be like! I actually did have a dream after Twilight was finished of Edward coming to visit me — only I had gotten it wrong and he did drink blood like every other vampire and you couldn’t live on animals the way I’d written it. We had this conversation and he was terrifying.”
Although Meyer said Stranger than Fiction inspired Twilight, she did not specifically say how. It’s worth noting that Stranger than Fiction was released in November 2006. By that time, Meyer had released the first two Twilight novels — Twilight and New Moon. With that in mind, Stranger than Fiction simply could not have influenced those two Twilight books. However, several Twilight books came out after Stranger than Fiction — although none of them has a plot like the film.
Did Will Ferrell’s movie ‘Stranger than Fiction’ do well with audiences?
Stranger than Fiction certainly resonated with Meyer to the point where she was having dreams inspired by Ferrell’s character. This raises an interesting question: Did Stranger than Fiction do well with the public? According to Box Office Mojo, Stranger than Fiction earned over $53 million. Even in 2006, this was not a particularly impressive haul. It becomes less impressive in light of the fact that Stranger than Fiction had a budget of $30 million. Perhaps the film’s box office explains why Ferrell never made a similar movie. Stranger than Fiction wasn’t a huge hit, however, it clearly meant something to Meyer.
