Once the legendary French filmmaker, Jean-Luc Godard said, “Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the whole world,” and well, we couldn’t agree more.
Films are the medium that take us to surreal worlds, which are different, yet similar to ours. They expose us to the different kinds of realities, possibilities and fantasies, making us yearn to be a part of them. From lofty medieval castles to futuristic tech labs, the world of cinema has shown us things that were probably beyond human imagination.
But what if we told you that at times the grandeur that we see on screen, is not all that mighty in reality? What if we told you that the Hogwarts building, which used to give you the feels every time you saw it, was just a model and not the actual building? What if we told you that the Gotham city shown in Batman (1989) was not even an actual city, but just a miniature model with tiny buildings, which were definitely not skyscrapers?
Feeling betrayed? Well, don’t, because these miniature movie sets are as fascinating as their onscreen life-sized counterparts.
Here are 12 models that were used to depict iconic scenes in movies, and are as real as real gets:
1. Gotham City, Batman (1989)
Don’t all the troubles at Gotham look tiny AF now?
2. Hogwarts, The Harry Potter Movies
And this is why you can never enter Hogwarts.
Source: Daily Mail UK/ Tigerdroppings
3. The Hotel, The Grand Budapest Hotel
We know where Barbie is heading to for her fall break this year.
Source: Snarglr/thescruffynerfherder
4. Barad-dûr, The Lord of the Rings
Wait, that’s definitely dark. But, scary!? I’m not too sure.
5. The mine-cart sequence, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Can you believe that they were toy carts that got our hearts racing?
Source: Screenprism/Medium.com
6. The Batmobile sequence, The Dark Knight (2008)
This must have been the time when Batman went like “I’m Batman, with the remote control.”
Source: Blogspot/Moviepilot
7. Snow Fortress, Inception
Looks like they messed with our minds even when it came to the movie set.
8. Metropolis, Superman Returns
And this is how Lex Luthor’s tiny world was bombed.
9. Ship splitting into half, Titanic
Remember how the ship split into two halves and when the water gushed through the classy corridors of the Titanic? Turns out, they were all miniature sets. *sigh*
10. Marshmallow Man through the streets of New York, Ghostbusters
No, seriously, how can a creature made out of marshmallow ever be scary? And this mini set makes him look all the more cuter.
Source: Time/Greektyrant
11. Miniatures of King Kong and NYC, King Kong (1933)
Here’s one that was way ahead of its times. The makers of the movie made a number of King Kong miniature statues in different positions, and that’s how he managed to climb up the not-so-gigantic hill.
Source: oldhollywoodincolour/rsvlts.com
12. White House scene, Independence Day
President Obama can chill, because there ain’t no UFOs coming his way now.
Source: Tedium/Hollywood Reporter