*This story contains spoilers for Woman of the Hour*

The star and director behind recent Netflix release Woman of the Hour has revealed the inspiration behind key scenes involving one character that represents one of Rodney Alcala's real life victims.

Viewers are introduced to the character of 'Amy' played by Autumn Best relatively early in the film, with the narrative returning to her journey throughout and her ultimate fate serving as the film's climax.

At first, she is seen sleeping rough, stealing change from a laundromat and it isn't long before she meets Daniel Zovatto's Rodney. While named Amy in the film, she is based on one of Alcala's victims named Monique Hoyt.

Hoyt was a teenage hitchhiker who was assaulted multiple times by Alcala before she managed to escape and alert the police.

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The final time Amy is seen in the film, a haunting image is served as she takes a sudden breath.

Speaking to Tudum, Kendrick, who also stars in the film has revealed this moment was inspired by legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, known for writing musicals such as West Side Story and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

She said: “As incongruous as it is, that’s Sondheim. That’s the chord resolving at the end of Into the Woods, and then one last ‘I wish’ ringing out.

"Because there isn’t a perfect resolution: That character has survived, but it’s not as simple as ‘She’s going to be fine now.’ It’s meant to evoke dissonance at the very least.”

The final scenes begin in a picturesque location and a similar spot to how the film opens. This was a deliberate choice by Kendrick, who wanted to serve a poignant moment in memory of Alcala's victims.

She added: “It felt important to me to connect these women to nature for several reasons, but one of which was, I kind of wanted to put them in places that spoke to the vastness of their life beyond this moment.

“It’s a 90-minute movie. There’s only so much screen time that everybody can have. And I wanted — in spite of the way that we’re meeting them — I wanted their environment to reflect the beauty and the fullness of their whole life before that and what they should have had after.”

Woman of the Hour is available to stream on Netflix now