Sonny

Sonny's basic character bio is as follows.

Sonny is Ellis and Kane’s target. He is an average young man who, under dire circumstances, did something he regrets. He killed someone. Now he is a shell of his former self. He is riddled with guilt to the point where he doesn’t feel he can go on. He has hit a point where he literally cannot see a way forward for himself. So he hides himself away, confining himself to nothing but his own thoughts.

There have been many characters who inspired Sonny, but here are just a few.

Colin Farrell's performance in Martin McDonagh's In Bruges is amazing and it was a huge influence on the character of Sonny. He is wracked with guilt to the point of almost committing suicide and spends the whole film on the very edge. Ray questions reality, mortality and morality. He regrets what he did but that doesn't change the fact that he did it. I found it fascinating how the film expected the audience to feel pity for a murderer and it worked.

In Midnight Express, Billy Hayes commits a crime and goes to prison because of it. However, his very humanity is stripped away from him. I really liked how the film didn't try to make it out like Billy was wrongly accused or something; Billy definitely committed the crime. But his regret is so plainly obvious. He is broken down to a wreck, yet he is still unable to escape his situation.

Finally, Jim Cummings' Thunder Road is a great film. The character in it faces his entire life falling apart and he literally doesn't know what to do. He can't see a way forward. Everything has gone horribly wrong. Obviously the context of this character is entirely different, but there was something about the desperation in the performance that I think bled into the character of Sonny.