Wesley
It seems to us that “Boardwalk Empire” producers watched one too many cartoons with their kids before creating their characters. Buscemi plays Wesley in Disney’s 2004, “Home on the Range,” and Nucky Thompson on “Boardwalk Empire,” and the resemblance between them is uncanny.
When you compare Thompson and the evil cattle wrangler Buscemi portray’s costume, it almost feels like you’re seeing double.
Wreck-It Ralph
We admit, when you compare John C. Reilly to Wreck-It Ralph, the similarities between them are rather subtle. We could say perhaps they have the same ears? That being said, the animators on the film took building this character very seriously.
They recorded countless sessions of Reilly in motion-capture suits to incorporate his mannerisms into the finished result. Once it was time to build the character himself, they had all they needed. Even Reilly recognized many of his own gestures in Ralph.
Genie
Aladdin animators made it very clear that the Genie was designed to look a lot like the man who voiced him, Robin Williams! They were so intent on Williams playing the part; they animated some of his old stand-up to be performed by the Genie. With a gesture like that, how could Williams say no?
The actor got so into the part, he improvised 16 hours of material for the Genie, and we're so glad that he did. The Genie is one of everyone's fondest childhood memories, a character that has stuck with us for years!
Peter Pan
Though it isn't unusual to have voice actors pose as models for the characters they are playing in animated features, the "Peter Pan" team went above and beyond. The filmmakers shot a live-action reference of Bobby Driscoll in the film to help make sure they got every single detail right.
If you watch the film now, you'll notice the fine attention to detail. Perhaps that's what makes this animated film so timeless; the fact that under the animation lies a real boy!
Carl Fredricksen
Carl Fredricksen's creators depict him as a "grouchy old man," while Ed Asner always has a smile on his face. The two older men look like they could be related, that is, if one of them wasn't actually a drawing.
"Up" animators physically modeled Carl's character, at least partially, on the actor Ed Asner, who provides the voice of the grumpy old man. To get a well-rounded grandfather figure, producers also used Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau as inspiration for Carl's character.