 Kevin Smith has said Walt Flanagan was the inspiration for the character.Brodie is named after the main character in "Jaws" (a favorite film of Smith's, and one the director frequently references in his work), while his surname, Bruce, was the nickname given to the animatronic shark in "Jaws".His girlfriend, Rene Mosier, to whom Brodie's mother has never been introduced (out of fear on the part of Brodie), breaks up with him at the beginning of "Mallrats" and gives him a letter listing the reasons for doing so.