I saw this once again as I watched a completely incomprehensible version of ‘Boogie Night’s’ on T.V. last night. Incomprehensible because they edited the thing to the point of being silly. Now I can understand the television execs trepidation at showing a movie who’s plot revolves around porn production, but I seriously wonder why they’d want to air it in the first place.
But I digress.
What I came here to ask is what I saw once again last night and have always wondered. That is, when showing a scene where an actor snorts a line of cocaine, what do the producers use as the stand-in for the coke? Furthermore, what powder is so benign that it doesn’t hurt the actor’s lungs, or other organs, when snorted? If they don’t actually snort the substance, then how do they make it look so convincing?
I would guess that a secondary tube is next to the one that is going to the actor’s nostril, like a coffee stirer. Suction is applied to that second one with a remote hose that actually suck up the powder, whatever it is.
I doubt that they’d actually let an actor snort an inert powder. Heck, the insurance rates are so high for movies where the main actor does some or all of his own stunts. I doubt they’d chance ripping up an actor’s sinuses for authenticity.
Of course, if it was a movie made in the 1970’s, it was probably real cocaine and they really snorted it. :D:D
I would guess they use an inert substance and actually snort it. Maybe Manitol.
We’ve had actors snort “coke” twice in our films. Neither time did we have anything that’s safe to snort. The first time we used flour and we used angles so that it looked like the actor was snorting. The second time the actor had a stainless steel tube. He makes the motion, then there is a closeup of the tube as the “coke” is drawn in. That wasn’t a macro shot at all. We used a stainless steel vacuum cleaner hose and sucked up powdered sugar. Since we established the steel snorting tube, showed the actor laying out the lines and bending down, and then showed a steel tube sucking up white powder, the illusion worked.
Coke and speed dealers frequently cut their product with baby laxative, which is considered to be harmless. So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that’s what the filmmakers use.
An acquaintance of mine in high school carefully powdered a hard peppermint candy (removing the red bits) for the purpose of snorting some of the resultant powder just as the principal walked by. There was a bit of fuss, and after the joke was over his only comment was “That hurt!” I suspect that any powder containing mint oil would be a bad substitute.
hasn’t anyone here ever snorted pixy sticks? that was a great time-passer in my high school days. turned your mucus funny colors for a day or two, though.
On a more serious note, in a bar in Sullivan, Ind., I have seen guys of my acquaintance crush up some kind of non-prescription medication and snort it (for the life of me I cannot remember the medication’s name). They seemed to like it, and possibly the actors use this same substance.
Mannitol is a common cut. Here’s a US Dept. of Justice press release about some folks that went down for supplying mannitol for illegal purposes:
It is important to note that, while mannitol is often used as a gentle laxative, it is also used as a sweetener in a number of products. Extra Sugar-Free Gum contains mannitol, if I recall correctly.
It makes sense that movie folks would use mannitol, because it could be insufflated on it’s own and be much easier on the sinuses than cocaine. (As no doubt most of the folks involved in the decision would have some inkling of from personal experience…)
While those links are helpful, Amazing MGM, even those involved in those threads didn’t seem certain for sure.
Johnny L.A.-
A while back I thought they might have used a secondary tube to suck up the ‘stuff’, or a fancy cutaway, or somesuch technique, but what I saw in ‘Boogie Nights’, and in other movies, was the straightforward oneshot of a guy snorting a line with a dollar bill. Furthermore, after the actor snorted the line, he immediately leans back and does the ‘coke shudder’, revealing that the hand didn’t have a secondary tube.
At least that’s how it looked to me.
So, I guess what I’ve learned here is that isn’t a set standard or technique that producers use to simulate snorting cocaine. It seems that it’s a ‘Whatever works at the time’ thing.
*BTW- Baby laxative, from what I’ve heard from less than reliable sources, is what gives the… ummm… stuff that nasty sting, or whatever it is you call that ‘bite’ effect. Just a side-note on my part, but anything that painful can’t be good for you[sup]1[/sup].
Right. That’s why I mentioned the Manitol (baby laxative).
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*BTW- Baby laxative, from what I’ve heard from less than reliable sources, is what gives the… ummm… stuff that nasty sting, or whatever it is you call that ‘bite’ effect.