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Think filmmakers create everything from scratch? Think again! This list reveals 10 famous movie props that were cleverly repurposed and reused in other productions, often hiding in plain sight.
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00:00As film viewers, it's easy to lose track of just how much time and effort goes into even the most
00:05mundane details on a movie production. But often Hollywood crafts folk are well aware of our
00:09blissful ignorance and won't put themselves above cutting some corners when the time calls for it.
00:14After all, who's going to notice? But thanks to eagle-eyed film buffs and occasionally the
00:19filmmakers themselves, we've become aware of countless film props from the mundane to the
00:24iconic, which have been unexpectedly reused in other movies. Now these recycled props are
00:29easily missed because of course they are, but once you know you'll never be able to unsee it.
00:35So with that in mind, I'm Ellie for WhatCulture, here with 10 movie props you won't believe were
00:41reused in other films. Number 10. True Lies Airplane The Avengers
00:46James Cameron's 1994 action comedy classic True Lies memorably concludes with Arnie saving the day in a
00:53US Marine AV-AB-2 Harrier jet, which he uses to rescue his daughter and literally fire the terrorist
01:01antagonist to his doom. The jet prop reportedly sat in a desert garage for almost 20 years before
01:07reappearing in 2012's The Avengers, briefly visible in the helicarrier when the Hulk is battling Thor.
01:14Thor ends up knocking the big green guy into it with his hammer, prompting him to rip one of the
01:19wings
01:19off and hurl it at the Asgardian. Joss Whedon confirmed on The Avengers Blu-ray release that
01:24the prop was the very same, albeit given a makeover by his production team and slapped with the shield
01:29insignia. And the story doesn't end there. A group of collectors then brought the smashed up
01:33remains of the Harrier and spent two years restoring it. Now it's a tourist attraction with one side
01:39restored to its True Lies glory and the others the Avengers.
01:42Number 9. 2001 Space Odyssey's EVA pod Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace
01:48If you've ever seen Stanley Kubrick's magnificent 2001 A Space Odyssey, you quite probably remember
01:54the distinctive design of the EVA pods used by the astronauts to perform scouting and repair
01:59activities outside of their spacecraft. Now, Kubrick being Kubrick, he was extremely strict
02:04about all the movie's props being destroyed at the end of production, to ensure that no future
02:08projects could repurpose the materials for their own means. But someone clearly didn't get that memo,
02:14or did and just ignored it, as the EVA pod makes a cameo appearance in the junkyard in Star Wars
02:20Episode
02:201 The Phantom Menace some 31 years later, mere months after Kubrick's death, coincidentally.
02:27Or was it? Well, quite what Stan would have made of this, or of the CGI slathered abomination that
02:32was The Phantom Menace, we'll sadly never know.
02:35Number 8. Seven's Severed Head Contagion
02:38And now we have a rather special case of prop recycling, because the prop itself didn't actually
02:43appear on screen in the film it was originally created for. For the climax of David Fincher's
02:47masterful 1995 thriller Seven, Detective Mills is gifted his pregnant wife's decapitated head
02:53in a box, and a lifelike replica of Gwyneth Paltrow's head was made for this scene.
02:59However, Brad Pitt ultimately convinced the producers not to show the prop to the audience,
03:04arguing that the implication was far more effective, and he was surely right.
03:09So, whatever happened to that fake severed head? Well, over 15 years later, Gwyneth's fake noggin
03:15was dusted off for Steven Soderbergh's outstanding 2011 thriller, Contagion.
03:20Paltrow's character dies in one of the film's very first scenes, and her replica head was put
03:25to use in an extremely graphic autopsy sequence where her character's scalp is peeled backwards.
03:31The thought of this prop just sitting around in a studio vault somewhere for so long is
03:34both hilarious, but also really, really terrifying.
03:38Number 7. Kill Bill's Samurai Swords, Sin City
03:41Kill Bill Vol. 1 features a whole heap of swordplay, with the bride and O-Ren Ishii and
03:46her Crazy 88 army all making liberal use of their bladed weapons. But two of the samurai swords used
03:52by the Crazy 88 actually found their way into Robert Rodriguez's Sin City just two years later,
03:57as wielded by the live yet lethal Miho. Quentin Tarantino, who is of course close friends
04:03with Rodriguez, had been keeping the swords in his garage, as you do, and offered them
04:07to Rodriguez to use in his film. Now, the story gets even cooler because on the Sin City DVD,
04:13Frank Miller stated that he personally retconned Miho's swords to have been created by Kill Bill's
04:18legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzo. How cool is that?
04:21Number 6. Predator's Minigun Terminator 2 Judgment Day
04:25Nobody who's seen 1987's testosterone-fueled action classic Predator can forget the comically macho
04:31deforestation sequence, where Mac panic-fires the team's gigantic minigun, nicknamed Old Painless,
04:37into the bushes in the hope of killing the Predator. To no avail, of course.
04:41Similarly, you probably fondly remember the iconic set piece in Terminator 2 Judgment Day,
04:45where Arnie disables an entire fleet of cops, but doesn't kill anyone, by firing a minigun at them.
04:50And because these scenes just aren't awesome enough on their own, they both in fact share the same
04:55minigun prop.
04:56Stenbridge Gun Rentals supplied the weapons for both movies, and confirmed that it was indeed the
05:01very same minigun in both films. For T2 though, they modified the minigun slightly, removing the
05:07foregrip, and just rearranging the carry handle.
05:10Number 5. Hollywood's Recurring Newspaper Prop
05:13Every so often, film buffs will stumble across a prop that isn't simply recycled in one or two movies,
05:18but is in fact a stock prop used across a whole gamut of productions.
05:22One such prop is a newspaper, distinguished by a picture of a woman smiling on the inside spread.
05:27The prop is actually the creation of the Earl Hayes Press, a Californian outfit which specialises
05:32in making bespoke props for films and TV. This particular newspaper is basically Hollywood's
05:37go-to whenever they need or want to show a character reading one, because as a fabricated
05:42prop full of fake news, it means that the film's prop department doesn't need to go through the
05:46tedious legal clearances necessary to feature a real news rag.
05:50You can find the paper in countless films, including the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake
05:54and No Country for Old Men. Not to mention Back to the Future, Casper, 10 Things I Hate About You,
05:59and literally dozens of TV series.
06:01The newspaper picked up a mainstream media coverage in 2010 when fans started to notice
06:05its ubiquity across Hollywood, so it's perhaps no coincidence that we've seen a lot less of
06:10the common prop in recent years. Hopefully the Earl Hayes Press aren't feeling the pinch too much,
06:14though.
06:15Number 4. Die Hard's Teddy Bear
06:17The Hunt for Red October Though it's far from the most memorable
06:20moment in John McTiernan's peerless 1988 action classic Die Hard, you might recall that John
06:25McClane starts out his day brandishing an adorable brown teddy bear with a distinctive red ribbon
06:30tied around its neck, which he intends to give to his kids. Well, the exact same teddy reappears in
06:35McTiernan's 1990 follow-up The Hunt for Red October. At the end of the movie, a triumphant Jack Ryan is
06:41seen
06:41sleeping on a plane next to a teddy bear he picks up for his daughter. And yes, it's even got
06:45the same red
06:46ribbon tied around its neck. If these films weren't from the same director, you'd be forgiven for
06:50thinking it was just a coincidence. But seeing as they are, there's no way this wasn't an intentional
06:54easter egg.
06:55Number 3. Aliens Repurposed Coffee Grinder Back to the Future
06:58This is absolutely a case where the subsequent use of a prop completely outshone its original
07:04cinematic utility. Now you probably remember that Back to the Future ends with the shameless sequel
07:08bait of Doc returning from the future to warn Marty and Jennifer about their troubled future kids.
07:13You might also remember that Doc has to insert some food scraps into a device called the Mr. Fusion
07:20Generator in order to power the new and improved DeLorean. However, you might not have noticed that
07:25this is not the first time we've seen this device, albeit under a different name and purpose. It first
07:31appeared in the original Alien film as a coffee grinder. Talk about stepping up your roles going from
07:36coffee grinder to fusion reactor. Number 2. Austin Powers Wig Ocean's Eleven
07:41There are many, many things that are distinctively garish about Austin Powers, from his prominent
07:45teeth to his coke bottle glasses, epic mound of chest hair, and yes, his rather naff-looking haircut.
07:52For reasons that still aren't quite clear, Myers wore an Austin Powers wig while rehearsing for the
07:57role, and that wig ended up having a most unexpected second life a few years later. Steven Soderbergh's
08:032001 Ocean's Eleven remake features a memorable beat where Rusty disguises himself as a doctor,
08:09and in an attempt to seem more doctor-y, he dons a pair of fake specs and covers his frosted
08:14hair with
08:14a boring-looking wig, and that is the very same wig that Myers rehearsed in for Austin Powers.
08:19Number 1. The 2GAT123 License Plate
08:22And now we come to another prop that's been a Hollywood mainstay for decades, much like the
08:27aforementioned newspaper. This time though, it's a California car license plate of 2GAT123, which has
08:34been featured in Beverly Hills Cop 2, Go, as well as Training Day, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Role Models,
08:39Pay It Forward, Traffic, Mulholland Drive, Be Cool, Harsh Times, and countless TV shows.
08:45And as for the reason for this license plate being so commonplace, well, the state of California no
08:50longer issues license plates with the GAT designation, which allows prop masters to use
08:55it without unwittingly identifying any vehicle or person driving around in the real world.
09:00Because the human brain isn't as drawn to strings of letters and numbers as it is a human face,
09:05it's safe to say that this recycled prop has flown under the radar a little more easily than that
09:09pesky newspaper has.
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