In a new interview that’s sure to go over well with a certain former The View host, Amber Tamblyn revealed the surprising inspiration for her Y: The Last Man character Kimberly Campbell Cunningham. In the FX series based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, Kimberly is a conservative author and daughter of the president, who along with every man on the planet (save one), died in a mysterious event.
As Tamblyn explains it, the trauma from losing her father, husband, and three sons causes Kimberly to double down on her right-wing politics. So Tamblyn modeled her character after the closest real-world approximation she could find to a fire-brand daughter of a conservative dynasty: Meghan McCain.
Oh, and also the Joker. Gotta have the Joker in there. Via Entertainment Tonight:
Viewing Kimberly’s late father, President Ted Campbell, as a John McCain type, it only makes sense that Tamblyn drew inspiration from his daughter. “I pulled from Meghan [and] I pulled elements from a lot of different kinds of women for this character,” the actress explains, before revealing that she even turned to the Joker for inspiration. “Even though he’s not a woman, I pulled from the Joker for some of her looks.”
In a particularly damning quote, Tamblyn also said, “Kimberly’s entire identity has been built on her relationship to her three sons, to her husband, certainly to her father and his access to power,” which, yeah, sounds a whole lot like Meghan McCain. So far the Daily Mail‘s newest columnist has yet to react to being Tamblyn’s muse, but we wouldn’t put money on McCain being quiet about it. That’s not exactly her style.
New episodes of Y: The Last Man stream Monday on FX on Hulu.
(Via Entertainment Tonight)