33 Random Tidbits About the Most Memorable Props, Gadgets and Set Pieces in Movie and TV History

If actors could physically touch it, we’ve probably got a fact about it
33 Random Tidbits About the Most Memorable Props, Gadgets and Set Pieces in Movie and TV History
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This one goes out to all the hard-working freaks in the Art Department. If you’re not familiar with said department, it encompasses the production designer’s team, especially when it comes to physical things like set dressings and props. In that world, they bounce around to all kinds of antique and prop shops, looking for random trinkets to help make the director’s dreams come true. For example, did you know that Qui-Gon Jinn’s comlink in The Phantom Menace was a slightly altered Gillette razor?

That little tidbit isn’t even on this list, so you just got a freebie, you lucky devils. Not that these other ones cost anything. 

Anywho, here’s some props to props! See what I did there?

Rogue One

ROGUE ONE A STAR WARS STORY After the filming wrapped, director Gareth Edwards wanted to take the Death Star plans home, but was told that it was supposed to be archived. So he stole it. CRACKED.COM

Thor

ONE OF THOR'S HAMMERS WEIGHED 80 POUNDS. Prop master Russell Bobbitt said having one that was too heavy for the actors to lift added authenticity and realism when someone wasn't worthy to wield Mjölnir. CRACKED.COM

Mad Max: Fury Road

THE FLAMETHROWER GUITAR THAT DOOF WARRIOR PLAYS IN MAD MAX: FURY ROAD WAS MADE FROM BEDPANS. Director George Miller explained, everything had to be found objects, repurposed in the post- apocalyptic world. CRACKED COM

Star Wars

Many Star Wars props are repainted WWII airplane parts. Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engine cutaway IG-88's head and the cantina drink containers are jet engine components. CRACKED.COM

The Hateful Eight

33 Random Tidbits About the Most Memorable Props, Gadgets and Set Pieces in Movie and TV History

The X-Men Trilogy

Hugh Jackman kept stabbing other actors (and himself) with the Wolverine claws. The filming of the X-Men Trilogy needed to use actual metal claws for some of the scenes and accidents happen. One of the accidents involved a stunt double who (fortunately) responded gleefully and actually relished being stabbed by Wolverine. Jackman also has scars on his thigh where he stabbed himself with the claws. CRACKED.COM

Lord of War

The director of Lord of War, Andrew Niccol, borrowed 50 real tanks from a real arms dealer to use during the arms bazaar scene. Prior to filming, Niccol had to contact NATO before their satellites saw what looked like a small army and assumed an actual war was about to start. CRACKED.COM

Star Wars (Again)

The original Death Star was abandoned in a storage unit. STAR WARS CRACKED.COM A storage employee salvaged it and displayed it in his mother's antique store, where it was bought for a country western bar, who used it as a trash can.

The Goonies

The Goonies map was probably thrown away by... Patty Duke? CRACKED.COM Sean Astin made off with a bunch of props from the movie and then just left it all behind when he turned 18, at which point he thinks the map was accidentally thrown out by his mom, who is Patty Duke for some reason.

Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins's snow globe was found on a janitor's shelf. CRACKED.COM The orb in which Julie Andrews kept her tiny live birds trapped wasn't recognized until it was noticed by a Disney archivist -- the janitor found it in the garbage and just thought it was neat.

Jame Bond

James Bond's submarine car was sold for $100. CRACKED.COM It happened to be in a storage container that some dude bought with no idea what was inside. Apparently, the original owners had stopped paying their rent in 1987.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Space Odyssey's star child wasn't found until Kubrick died. CRACKED.COM It went missing after filming wrapped but it was found in the director's house four whole years after his death, which is arguably both the most and least normal place for it.

The Graham Norton Show

Recurring at Late Night granam norton show Graham Norton's Red Chair On The Graham Norton Show, a segment called That's All We've Got Time For has an audience member sit in a red chair and tell an interesting story. If they bore Graham for even a moment, he pulls the lever and the chair flops them away. CRACKED

Conan’s ‘Walker Texas Ranger’ Lever

Recurring at Late Night Conan's Walker Texas Ranger Lever When NBC acquired the rights to Walker Texas Ranger, Conan pounced. Out of nowhere, he'd pull a lever which showed a Walker clip out of context. The pinnacle was a clip of Haley Joel Osment saying, Walker told me I have A.I.D.S. CRACKED

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

CRACKED COM LEONARDO FROM TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III DIDN'T AGE VERY WELL. 16 years after the movie came out, a Leonardo costume was discovered on an auction site. The costume has rotted away throughout the years, and surprisingly, nobody was willing to pay $6000 for the nightmare fuel that one of the turtles became.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

CRACKED.COM GLENN HOWERTON WAS REPLACED BY HIS SEX DOLL AT AN ALWAYS SUNNY EVENT. IT'S ALWAYS FXP SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA SEP 25 : IT'S VC IN PH When Howerton couldn't attend the season 14 premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, his castmembers decided to bring his sex doll replica from the show as a replacement.

Lost

CRACKED.COM DAMON LINDELOF FOUND A PRACTICAL USE FOR THE HATCH FROM LOST. LOST The brilliant mind behind Lost planking on the hatch The show's co-creator transformed the miniature of the hatch into a coffee table for his office. We're not sure if it still leads into a DHARMA research station.

Fargo

CRACKED COM THE WOOD CHIPPER FROM FARGO IS A TOURIST ATTRACTION. HEAR THERE THAN THE ALL - FARG - thriller by - . - VISITORS CENT TV strime - EXTREN H ZV From the official Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center website If you ever visit Fargo, North Dakota, make sure to check out the Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center. It houses the actual wood chipper from Fargo, and you can recreate the gruesome murder from the movie in photo ops.

Alien

CRACKED.COM THE NOSTROMO SPENT TWO DECADES IN A GUY'S DRIVEWAY. After Alien came out, prop collector Bob Burns asked 20th Century Fox for permission to host an Alien-themed Halloween party. To his surprise, not only did they give permission, but they also sent him the actual Nostromo model. Since he didn't have room for it indoors, he displayed the spaceship in his driveway - where it stayed for about 20 years.

Mary Poppins (Again)

CRACKED.COM MARY POPPINS' BAG SPENT YEARS AS REGULAR LUGGAGE. factor Files TOW 10/9c Sufface Reality TV show Hollywood Treasure found the bag with a family who had no idea it was from Mary Poppins. The family's grandfather got the bag when the movie came out, but the newer generations mainly used it as vacation luggage and a toy for the kids to play dress-up with.

Full House

CRACKED.COM JOHN STAMOS KEPT THE COUCH FROM FULL HOUSE. johnstamos Baby safety gate or one of the most iconic couches in pop TV history? You, make the call - These days, he mainly uses it as a baby safety gate.

Jaws

CRACKED.COM THE SHARK FROM JAWS BECAME A JUNKYARD SIGN. After the animatronic shark used in the movie started to deteriorate in the 90s, Universal sold it to a junkyard owner. The shark then served as the world's greatest yard sign for 25 years before being transferred to a museum.

Superbad

MCLOVIN'S FAKE ID FROM SUPERBAD Christopher Mintz-Plasse also would have needed a fake ID to buy booze for the party -- the actor was only 17 years old when he filmed Superbad. That meant he had to have his mom on set at all times, including during his love scene. Eww! HAWAII DRIVER LICENSE NUMBER 01-47-87441 محمر 06/03/1981 w 06/03/2003 EYES SEX CTY MO EN - ISSUE DATE CLASS ENDORSE 06101000 McL OVIN 092 MOMONA ST CRACKED.COM MONOLULU. HI 96820

The Hot Tub Time Machine

CRACKED.COM THE HOT TUB FROM HOT TUB TIME MACHINE Co-writer Josh Heald was in a producer's office who suggested a remake of Hot Dog ... The Movie. Heald misheard the suggestion as hot tub, which is why John Cusack doesn't travel back in time with the help of a giant weiner.

Step Brothers

CRACKED.COM HAN EVER Y AND NAT and THE BUNK BEDS FROM STEP BROTHERS At first it was Reilly, Ferrell, and | just laughing, says director Adam McKay. We sat around for three or four days and just wrote scene ideas, images, attitudes, locations (like) 'I would love to see a movie where bunk beds collapse.

The Office

A DUNDIE FROM THE OFFICE The most coveted prize in Scranton was inspired by creator Greg Daniels' stint on King of the Hill. Daniels gave out annual staff awards known as the Swampies, named for costumer designer Jeff Swampy Marsh. Those little plastic salesman trophies are not too hard to find. GRACKED.COM

Team America: World Police

THE MATT DAMON PUPPET FROM TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE Something happened in the oven when the puppet makers were baking Damon's head -- it came out looking ... less than intelligent. With no time to make a new one, Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to give Damon an idiot personality instead. MATT DAMON! GRACKED.COM

Back to the Future Part II

33 Random Tidbits About the Most Memorable Props, Gadgets and Set Pieces in Movie and TV History

Predator

Predator (1987) The Predator's blood is a mixture of K-Y Jelly and glow stick fluid. The same effect is still used in the sequels. CRACKED.COM

Evil Dead II

33 Random Tidbits About the Most Memorable Props, Gadgets and Set Pieces in Movie and TV History

Escape From New York

Escape From New York showed a wireframe view of the city. NOSE VIEW And it was done with tape and a black light. The filmmakers wanted to create a high-tech computer readout but didn't have the budget. So they grabbed the model they'd been using for high angle shots and striped it with green tape. When they hit it with a black light, it glowed. CRACKED.COM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Escape_From_New_York_Wireframe.jpg

Tron

The information discs that programs wear on their backs in Tron are really Frisbees. Frisbee coach Sam Schatz was hired to train the actors how to use them. CRACKED.COM

The Thing

A garbage bag was used for the titles in The Thing. THE IN The lettering was on the back of a fish tank filled with smoke, behind part of a plastic garbage bag that was stretched on a frame, all behind a bright light. They put a lit match to the piece of the bag, which burned a hole in the plastic and let the light through. CRACKED.COM

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