Having truckloads of money doesn’t make it okay to burn them unnecessarily when you can use garbage items. You will be surprised to know that big-budget films often resort to mundane items instead of spending extra bucks on customized props, VFX, or expensive sets. Some of it may remind you of your school days when you used glitters on angels’ wand for Christmas play. This list comprises insane things used by directors in movies and series for special effects. The focus is not on how bizarre these items are, but on the brilliant creativity of the costume and design crew. Reducing costs and turning regular stuff into believable props require special skill-sets.
Game of Thrones
John Bradley may not feel the same way about fruit cake after filming “Game of Thrones”. During his time in Citadel to gather information on White Walkers, Samwell used to clean out poop from chamber pots. The human waste in those scenes was made of fruitcake soaked in water. The creative team used wet fruit cake to mould them into poop like structures.
The Shawshank Redemption
We are not here to spoil only fruit cake for you. Be prepared to add chocolate syrup to your wild imaginations. Watching Andy Dufresne crawl through the sewage of human waste kind of stank even from the screen. But the liquid sh** was chocolate syrup and sawdust in reality. This very scene also became a popular topic of discussion considering how clean and pristine Andy looked after crawling out of the filth.
Les Miserables
The making of “Les Miserables” took a toll on Anne Hathaway who went through extreme measures to get into the character. She barely got to eat anything in order to look like Fantine. On top of that, the production designer wanted to be as faithful as possible to the novel even behind the scenes. So, even though we couldn’t smell anything from the screen, they used real rotten fish around Anne’s Fantine during the song “I Dreamed A Dream”.
Alien
If we had to recall the grossest moments ever in cinemas, this stomach-churning scene from “Alien” will always top the list. The insides of Ash’s android were disgusting and unsettling for anyone to watch. But that’s exactly what the makers wanted to achieve. The milky fluid oozing out of the android was reportedly made of pasta, chicken chunks, and water dyed white. It also became a timeless joke among fans who noticed how abruptly the lifeless dummy switched into Ian Holm’s head.
The Wizard of Oz
Out of all the fantasy characters in the world, who knew that the Tin Man’s tears would taste the best? Since the real machine oil didn’t come out well on camera, the productions switched it with chocolate syrup for Tin Man’s tears.
Day of the Dead
Try to imagine how terrible minced raw-pork smells if you have never been to a butchery kitchen of a hotel. Now multiply that 10 times to an extent where you lose your appetite. The actors in “Day of the Dead” had to lie beside fake bodies filled with raw pig guts, that too rotten, for hours.
Tron
The last thing you would expect in a sci-fi is a 5-year old kid’s toy. Some of the props in this high-end robotic film are a far cry from tech-objects. The complicated information disks on programs in the virtual world were just Frisbees. No matter how hilarious it may sound in the world of SciFi, the Frisbee idea was in fact quite brilliant.
Dr. No
It’s true that you can’t trust anything that you see in movies. Who would have thought that even aquariums had to be faked? In “Dr. No”, the villain’s aquarium that apparently had a magnifying effect was just a zoomed footage of small fish in reality.
Ghostbusters
The residue of Slimer in “Ghostbusters” was far from being fancy or a high-end prop. The creative team used Chinese food starch to create the slime residue on the drawers at the library.
Lord of The Rings
Andy Serkis blew everyone’s mind away as Gollum in “Lord of the Rings”. As you all remember, Gollum had a habit of spitting while talking in a euphoric state. In reality, it was Andy Serkis spitting in between scenes that the directors decided to record and use in the film. It did add more drama to the famous character.
