Daft Punk’s Masks Were Inspired By A Winnipeg Cult Favourite

The music…not so much.

A look back on Daft Punk’s 20-year career has revealed a minor tie-in to Winnipeg.

Exclusive for Creative Boom: Daft Punk's Discovery at 20 – collaborators on crafting the iconic robot look and revolution https://t.co/rrJ2gppQDM pic.twitter.com/cfXUbWqyWu

— Creative Boom (@creativeboom) February 5, 2021

A little history lesson: Since the 70’s, Winnipeg has been enamored with the cult movie, “Phantom of the Paradise”.

There’s even a documentary about it:

Loved Phantom of Winnipeg – a doc re: Phantom of the Paradise’s strong fan base in #Winnipeg. Wonderful to see familiar faces on screen & fascinating to learn about it’s unique ‘rainbow connection’ to our city! So grateful for their support of our March fundraiser in same theme. pic.twitter.com/qosUjcgEwa

— Shakespeare in the Ruins (@SIR_Winnipeg) August 18, 2019

According to an article at Creative Boom…the guys in Daft Punk kinda dug it, too.

Early concepts of the bots by Alex Courtes and Martin Fougerol were inspired by cult movies like The Man Who Fell to Earth and Phantom of the Paradise. These designs originally envisioned a red visor for Thomas and a golden NASA-style one for Guy-Manuel, until it hit that the latter was impossible for photographers like Luis of The Face to shoot.

In fact…Daft Punk has even teamed UP with Paul Williams from the movie: