Brush Stroke- Character- Shannon

This is my inspiration and a description of the protagonist's best friend Shannon, as I mentioned in my other post she is something of an opposite to Michael. Shannon is an attractive, successful bank worker who is essentially a desirable woman for any man. My first inspiration for this character (and actually the face I see when I imagine the character) is Scarlett Johansson, in particular the role she plays in the movie Chef. (Photo taken from: https://www.pinterest.com/jessielo1109/hair/)

This character served as inspiration for me as she is a no nonsense, conscience type character that plays off of the protagonist to guide him somewhat and give an escape from mounting pressures that surround him, in Chef she helps the character cope with the stress of not being able to cook what he wants, in my story Shannon helps Michael with the stress of being bullied at work as well as his mounting money troubles. However, Shannon differs this character because this character isn't overly successful and she isn't someone that the protagonist wants to be in a relationship with.

From the top of my head I couldn't think of an existing character from something else that reflects the professional nature of Shannon so I did some research into this and found that Sandra Bullock's character in the proposal represented what I wanted to portray quite well. (Photo taken from: Amazon.com: The Proposal (Single-Disc Edition): Sandra Bullock ...)

Though I do not feel this film was very good, or that the character was anything special, I do think that she portrays the professional, almost robotic side of Shannon that is quite devoid of creativity and any artistic skill. This is of course the opposite of Michael who is a starving artist. However this character is a lot more cold than Shannon and therefore would not fit Shannon's role because she doesn't have that warmth and honesty that the example from Chef portrayed, but as the character is layered I believe a hybrid of these characters do marry together well.

Shannon will be something of a mix of these two characters and thus I think will be a very believable character that will play off of Michael very well because of that.