10 Insane Things Movie Fans Did For Their Favourite Actors

6. John Hinckley Jr. Tried To Kill The President To Impress Jodie Foster

Panic Room Jodie Foster
Sony

They say that love is blind, but in the case of John Hinckley Jr, it definitely had its sight... it was just absolutely deranged.

His obsession with actress Jodie Foster began after he watched Scorsese's Taxi Driver, which features Foster in a supporting role. In the movie, protagonist Travis Bickle plans to shoot presidential candidate Charles Palantine; he ultimately fails, but that didn't stop Hinckley taking inspiration from this part of the film's story, combining it with his adoration of Foster and devising a truly madcap scheme.

After taking on many of Bickle's mannerisms and even wearing his clothes, Hinckley planned to "impress" Foster by committing some sort of violent act. The act he chose? Assassination. The target? Then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Hinckley followed Carter all over the country, but his efforts proved fruitless and he was arrested in Tennessee after being discovered with a gun. Hinckley was sent to a psychiatrist, but he wasn't done yet - he then set his sights on Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan.

In March 1981, Hinckley managed to fire six shots at Reagan just outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. One of these shots hit Reagan in the arm, leaving the president wounded, but alive. Hinckley was arrested, found not guilty by way of insanity, and sent to a psychiatric hospital. The things people do for love...

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!