Mr. Robot: 9 Obvious and Not-So-Obvious Movie Influences
Esmail says the Mr. Robot title card was influenced by A Clockwork Orange, a steady shot on a camera's red light as an Evil Corp exec commits suicide lifts from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Evil Corp CEO Philip Price's (Michael Cristofer) addressing of his company looks like something out of a secret orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut.
The campy mid-'90s film about underground computer hackers was one of the entertainment industry's first looks at this niche group, and it was utterly stupid.
Hackers was almost an anti-influence for Esmail, in that its over-stylized look at computer hacking was to be avoided at all costs in Mr. Robot, which led to the series' phenomenally accurate portrayal of how a hack actually goes down.
Music is a huge part of Mr. Robot, and Tangerine Dream's mesmerizing "Love on a Real Train," originally featured on the Risky Business soundtrack, dominates the fantastic end of "Exploits" and it's impossible not to think of the star-making vehicle for Tom Cruise.
On Mr. Robot, it's played while Elliot and Darlene are on a train (sans lovemaking because GROSS), but also when Angela (Portia Doubleday) goes on one of those angry runs to release some frustration after finding out her dad is in deep debt.
Angela comes upon a fork in the road while the song plays, and it's a pivotal moment for her and one that may have led her to joining Evil Corp. Thematically, Risky Business was all about making big decisions at a critical point in your life, and that's what happened here in Mr. Robot.
Leave it to the internet to pick up on the slightest of references! A Reddit user correctly identified a familiar image -- that of an extended middle finger -- from the pirate-radio film Pump Up the Volume and Mr. Robot, and another film reference was born.
The British noir drama The Third Man shot one of its most famous scenes in a Ferris wheel, with dialogue that harkened back to some of Mr. Robot's biggest themes of r