If “Horrible Bosses” might feel reminiscent of a few other movies you’ve seen before, that might be by design. In an interview, director Seth Gordon, writer Michael Markowitz, writer John Francis Daley, and producer Jay Stern shared some of the films that inspired them while developing “Horrible Bosses.”
For starters, the story borrowed a key aspect of 1951’s “Strangers on a Train,” in which two people agree to murder someone the other person wants killed. In terms of comedy style, the crew leaned into the techniques of 1959’s “Some Like It Hot” and 1963’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” The camaraderie among three friends facing off against their tyrannical workplaces found inspiration from 1980’s “Nine To Five.” Meanwhile, the title “Horrible Bosses” itself was a nod to 1986’s “Ruthless People.”
Gordon explained the crew’s vision for pooling together thematic ties from all of those movies to create something new. “I think the best comedies always have really high stakes and full commitment to the characters and the story,” Gordon said. “And it never undercuts itself; there’s never any attempt to excuse itself for what it’s doing. In our case, I think we really went for it. There was never a question of, ‘Oh, should we? Could we?’ Every day we just went for it and I think it shows.”
