 The movie is packed with characters based on real people and events  from the life of Burroughs. Like Bill Lee,  William S. Burroughs (qv) was an exterminator and drug addict who  accidentally shot his wife during a drunken game of "William Tell."  Joan Lee is based on Joan Vollmer, Burroughs wife. Hank and Martin,  Bills fellow writers, are Jack Kerouac (qv) and  Allen Ginsberg (qv). Burroughs moved to a section of Tangier,  Morocco, known as the "International Zone," hence "Interzone." Tom  Frost is clearly based on Paul Bowles (qv), and Kiki was in fact  the name of a young man Burroughs had an affair with in Tangier,  while writing "Naked Lunch."