The Purge Election Year: 10 Things You Didn’t Know

Elizabeth Mitchell (Universal)

2. Senator Charlie Roan was inspired by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign

I feel like this is something most people probably surmised when watching the film, but Senator Roan was somewhat based on Hillary Clinton. While the Republican side of American politics hadn’t yet had a frontrunner when Election Year was being written, Clinton’s bid for the White House was already well-known. And that real-life story seems to have bled its way into the script.

Writer and director James DeMonaco has confirmed in an interview that when writing the first draft, “Hillary was definitely” in his head. The concept of a woman identifying as liberal running for President is the obvious comparison, although Roan definitely became her own character as the writing progressed. Still, DeMonaco recognizes the parallel between the two women.

” I think Hillary would do what the candidate in my film would do, which is lock down. She would not engage in the evening,” DeMonaco explained. The filmmaker also suggested that Donald Trump would be much more likely to support or engage in the Purge, if such an event were actually real.

But while Trump’s acquisition of the Republican party nomination wasn’t apparent while the script was being written, the controversial figure still found a way to affect the film…

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