Try to act surprised: Al Pacino didn't really snort cocaine in Scarface. Just as shootouts
in movies are all staged, the countless drugs consumed on-screen over the years aren't real.
Prop masters have come up with all kinds of crazy concoctions to make cinematic contraband
look as close as possible to the real thing. We're about to narc on all the fake drugs
you see on the silver screen.
Oh, and just so we're clear? Don't take any drugs—authentic or otherwise.
"Don't smoke crack"
Marijuana
Let's start things off with weed. Veteran Hollywood prop master Jeff Butcher revealed
to Upvoted that he's ordered fake marijuana—also known hilariously as "wizard weed"—from
a company called International Oddities so he could stuff bags of movie weed. How kind
is their fake bud? They provided the prop marijuana in Pineapple Express on James Franco's
personal recommendation.
For scenes featuring joints, most movies use either wizard weed or herbal cigarettes. While
we're on the subject, remember that awesome scene in Zombieland, where the characters
get high and do...well...this?
"See you on the other side Pete"
"It's so disgusting!"
"Don't cross the streams!"
Sorry to disappoint you, but that smoke was produced by the insides of plain ol' herbal
cigarettes, dumped into a hookah. The fake stuff might not leave you craving Funyuns,
but it certainly looks the part.
Cocaine
The Hollywood version of coke is pretty harmless—to an extent. During a Q&A session hosted by
Bryan Cranston, Jonah Hill revealed just what happened to him on the set of The Wolf of
Wall Street after he snorted too much of the fake stuff:
"I got bronchitis for a month and a half horribly, because the cocaine that we snorted was vitamin
B, and I had snorted so much vitamin B that my lungs had gotten infected with bronchitis
and I was sick for a month and a half."
And while Jeff Butcher says that vitamin B is one of the most commonly used cocaine substitutes
for movies, prop masters have turned to all kinds of other alternatives when making on-set
powder. Other films have used mixtures of baking soda, powdered sugar, and powdered
milk to get things just right. But Scarface co-star Steven Bauer once revealed just what
it was that covered Tony Montana's desk: baby laxative.
That explains a lot. If you had to snort that much baby laxative, you'd probably react this
way too:
"Say hello to my little friend!"
Heroin
Just like Hollywood's fake cocaine, common household items and cooking ingredients are
often mixed and put into baggies to simulate heroin. Of course, things get a little trickier
when movies show people taking close-up injections of the junk.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, propmaster Gordon Fitzgerald explained how they filmed
the heroin injection scenes in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting from 1996. Fitzgerald recalled
taking a slightly-dyed liquid and injecting it into an artificial arm. Of course, these
prosthetics have make-up and small amounts of hair applied—and even fake blood—to
make you forget you're watching make-believe.
Cigarettes
For decades, cigarettes featured on film were the real thing—until the government and
tobacco companies clashed over product placement rules for potentially harmful substances.
Studies found that, for younger viewers, watching characters smoke in movies often increased
the likelihood of picking up the habit in real life.
Faking cigarette smoking is a lot tougher than you might realize. Just as they're used
to simulate pot, herbal cigarettes have become the go-to choice, especially for shows like
Mad Men. But sometimes other alternatives are necessary. Jeff Butcher explained that
the prop department on 2014's Non-Stop made hand-rolled cigarettes filled with chamomile
tea for former-smoker Liam Neeson.
Alcohol
While alcohol is perfectly legal, you don't want your actors getting sloshed after the
twelfth take. Various teas are served at room temperature to simulate the darker forms of
the hard stuff.
To replace beer, films usually just rely on non-alcoholic brews, like O'Douls.
Clear drinks like vodka tend to be just water, but off-color shots usually have to be a mix
of different liquids, like apple juice and Pellegrino.
Then again, rumor has it that John Belushi's whiskey chug in Animal House was real, and
we can't help loving him even more for it.
"Ah, thanks, I needed that."
Meth
The Hollywood version of crank, ice, meth—or whatever the kids call it nowadays—isn't
real either. A behind-the-scenes AMC video reveals that the meth featured on Breaking
Bad is actually... homemade rock candy.
And as actor Bryan Cranston explains in this Entertainment Weekly video, the sweet stuff
can be just as addictive:
"But on nights when it's labor intensive and 16th hour we start taking a little sugar."
Of course, getting people hooked on rock candy makes perfect sense for the guy who used to
play a TV dentist.
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