I’ve only just discovered my hero is made up of all the best parts of Clive Owen and Simon Baker. The blue flame gaze is all Paul Newman, while the sense of humour belongs to Jim Emmert, a guy I haven’t seen for over 25 years. Jim’s hair gets a mention too (See how old boyfriends come in handy?), but it belongs to a secondary character.

In the Truman Show, Jim Carey spend a great deal of time cutting photos of lips, eyes and noses, from magazines. He’s trying to recreate the image of a girl he loved in high school.  So, that Frankensteinian method of borrowed body parts came into play when I created a hero.

What to know what made me realise this? No. It wasn’t Peter Weir and The Truman Show. The other night I watched Weird Science. Yes indeedy, I watched Anthony Michael Hall and Kelly LeBrock in a very sad John Hughes feature (JH’s WS is cold, mouldy battery while Sixteen Candles is classic three-layered teen angst baked to perfection).

Why did I watch?

Well, purely because I love Oingo Boingo.  Danny Elfman (who, in case you didn’t know, is married to Bridget Fonda) is a musical genius.His film scores are wonderful, the Simpsons theme, memorable. I miss his unusual voice enough to want to buy the sountrack to Charlie & the Chocolate Factory…but I digress. We’re talking about how Weird Science opened my eyes to the precious little monster known as Dominic Brennan came into being. 

In the movie, Gary and Wyatt feed images of their ideal chick body parts into a computer. Out comes Lisa and cue the Bride of Frankenstein soundbite, She’s Alive, Alive!  I did the same thing on paper, but it took Danny Elfman singing My creation is it real?  It’s my creation….my creation…for it to ping I have a Weird Science all my own. 

My creation has Clive’s bone structure, his jaw and Simon’s crinkly crows feet. Clive’s voice is married to Russell Crowe’s sleepy tone. Paul Newman’s eyes meets Jim’s ability to find everything funny. Those guys are all there. I can pick apart the image I have of Dominic and see them.