This is an update to yesterday’s article, “300: Did They Reuse Props/Designs from Other Films?“.
I opened a new discussion topic about this on the Movie Prop Forum yesterday to see if I could find out any additional information from the membership there – 300 Props, Swords – and received some interesting information – an answer to the question posed in the title of the article (Answer: “Yes”).
The following are comments from Stephen Lane of The Prop Store of London, printed here with his permission:
Jason,
Thought I would comment here rather than on your blog as your blog asks for responses from anybody who worked on the film…which of course I didn’t!
I can confirm that in order to keep costs down, WB loaned the 300 production, a number of weapons and shields from both Alexander and Troy. The majority of these came from the storage facility at Leavesden Studios here in the UK. They were shipped to the production on a temporary export basis for use in the film and then were returned to the same storage facility post production (as part of the temporary export license agreement).
There’s every possibility that other pieces were pulled in to the production from storage within the US too but the bulk came from the UK.
As far as I’m aware all of the pieces are still meant to be locked down and in secure storage but that isn’t to say that a few items didn’t make it out.
I would like to clarify that I cannot comment as to the authenticity of the pieces you question in your article as I have no first hand knowledge of them, only the circumstances surrounding the use of some of the assets on the film.
Stephen
I’d like to thank Stephen again for the insights. Given his information, that assets from Alexander and Troy were reused in 300, and the fact that a few of the 300 props as shown in the prior article looked remarkably similar to those marketed for sale as from both Alexander and Troy, it looks as though the answer is clear that some props featured in 300 were indeed reused from other films.
Of course, that leaves the final question in yesterday’s article still unanswered: “If props were reused, how would a collector be able to distinguish between, say, a sword used in 300 and a sword used in Troy?” Though that is probably a challenging question to answer, to be addressed on a case by case basis, which would have to come down to provenance and chain of ownership, I would imagine. Of course, there are obviously pieces that are unique to each production, so it is only those “shared” pieces that would be problematic, in determining actual use. Perhaps once 300 is available on DVD (07/31/07 in the U.S.), some resourceful hobbyists can put together a visual guide of precisely which pieces were shared between the productions.
In any event, this all is important information and insights for hobbyists that collect from any of the aforementioned films (Alexander, Troy, 300).
If anyone has any additional information to share, please feel free to comment.
Jason De Bord