Despicable Me has become one of the most popular animated movie franchises of all time, and proved that Universal Pictures’ Illumination was a worthy contender to Pixar, Dreamworks and the other powerful animation studios. While it would eventually be the Minions spinoff franchise that would ensure the series’ legacy, the genius of the first Despicable Me was the casting of Steve Carell as Gru, a supervillain who proves to have a heart of gold. Gru may claim to be mean-spirited, but he ended up becoming a loveable goof whose wacky sensibilities appealed to audiences of all ages. Surprisingly, Gru was actually inspired by Gert Fr?be’s performance in the classic James Bond film Goldfinger.

Gru Was Inspired by the James Bond Villain in ‘Goldfinger'

Despicable Me directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin had originally intended for Gru to look similar to Dracula, as he would have maintained a giant castle and wrangled an army of scary henchmen. Upon further consideration, the duo recognized that they could not make Gru too horrific, as he needed to be charismatic enough to appeal to younger viewers. Gru was intended to have the same mannered charm as Auric Goldfinger, who also wore a fancy suit, maintained ridiculous gadgets, and came up with multifaceted schemes of world domination. Goldfinger was certainly a worthy adversary to Bond, but he was never necessarily scary; like Gru, he just ended up looking ridiculous when his evil plans went awry. Despicable Me was able to lean heavier into comedy by looking at what a supervillain's life would be like when they are constantly defeated.

Despicable Me actually retains a lot of the humor that was present in Goldfinger, which is continuously cited as one of the most influential installments in the Bond franchise because of its cheeky humor. Goldfinger is deliberately hammy and, at times, a little bit ridiculous, but the film was able to acknowledge its inherent camp through self-referential jokes; even though Despicable Me is obviously aimed at younger viewers, it also contains many visual gags, puns, and snarky line deliveries that are reminiscent of Goldfinger. Despicable Me also succeeded in replicating the strange connection with reality that the Bond films attempted to maintain; while Goldfinger does not necessarily contain anything that could be considered supernatural, it does playfully introduce gadgets and technology that are obviously improbable. Most Bond villains, including Goldfinger, tend to have a lot of mindless henchmen that do their bidding, and Despicable Me made the clever decision to make Gru’s minions into strange creatures that were far more clumsy than they are imposing.

‘Despicable Me’ Is a Clever Satire of James Bond?????

The concept of centering a children’s animated film around a supposedly “evil” character who eventually becomes a hero is not necessarily a novel concept; Shrek infamously rewrote fairy tales from the perspective of an ogre, Megamind reversed the roles of a superhero movie, and Hotel Transylvania turned all the classic Universal monsters into a mismatched family. However, Despicable Me takes place in the exciting world of espionage, in which Gru is forced to face off with other villains that resemble different Bond antagonists. In fact, the villain Vector (Jason Segel) from the first film claims responsibility for a heist within Giza, the same location that serves as the setting of the classic Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.

Gru ironically has turned into a character that bears a closer resemblance to Bond, as he has steadily begun using his powers for the force of good within the film’s sequels. Despicable Me 2 featured Gru working for an enigmatic organization known as the Anti-Villain League, which bears a striking resemblance to the role that MI6 played in the Sean Connery era Bond films. Gru may have started out as a bad guy, but he eventually shows signs of Bond-esque charisma when he falls in love with Lucy (Kristen Wiig), who became the new mother of his three adopted daughters. The references to Goldfinger may not be picked up on by children, who are the primary audience for the film, but it is nice to know that the Despicable Me creators are aiming to replicate the best when crafting each chapter of their exciting franchise.

Despicable Me is streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

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