Paul explains that Cameron, the African-American Hollywood executive played by Terrence Howard, was inspired by an interaction he'd witnessed. "I was in the studio lot and I was walking down towards two white producers who were talking to a black director. And as I got closer I realized they were telling him a joke, and it was a racist joke that the two white producers were telling to the black director to him as if to say, 'See, we're all the same now.' And before you get close enough to say, 'No, we aren't,' the punch line came. The director sort of half-smiled, slapped [the producer] on the shoulder and turned and walked away. And I said, 'What part of his soul did that man just eat to save his job?'