# How do they film marijuana plants in movies? Are they real plants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073 "2008-08-15T06:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/1 "2008-08-15T06:10:35Z")
In the movie _Pineapple Express,_ and in various other films, there are scenes with giant grow rooms filled with huge marijuana plants. When they do this, are they filming actual pot plants? Is there some kind of legal hoop they have to jump through in order to do this, if the answer is yes? What are the plants actually, if the answer is no? They usually look pretty damn real. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/2 "2008-08-15T06:17:36Z")
I haven’t seen \*Pineapple Express \*yet, but whenever I’ve specifically noticed, they’ve always been fake. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/3 "2008-08-15T06:23:12Z")
They’ve got a budget, how hard would it be for them to film on location in BC or Amsterdam? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/4 "2008-08-15T06:26:38Z")
My guess is that they use some other plant in the family _cannabus_ as a stand-in. Here’s a picture of an [industrial hemp](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Industrialhemp.jpg) field in France. As a passing shot, it looks enough like pot to move the story along. But botanists in the audience may note the difference. Tangent: Hitchcock used chocolate syrup as a stand-in for blood, since it had the viscousness he wanted. Only problem, it was dark brown instead of red. Hence, his bloody movies were in black-and-white, so color didn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/5 "2008-08-15T08:14:58Z")
I was once involved in [a feature film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189981/) where [marijuana plants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarfies) were a big plot point. They made them all by hand, all entirely fake. They probably could’ve gotten away with similar-looking plants for distant shots, but I think there was some obstacle which prevented them from doing that, and instead they made them all out of artificial materials. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/6 "2008-08-15T10:57:20Z")
how about false aurelia? They look cursorially like pot? I remember seeing them in a plant store a number of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/7 "2008-08-15T11:54:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Tangent: Hitchcock used chocolate syrup as a stand-in for blood, since it had the viscousness he wanted. Only problem, it was dark brown instead of red. Hence, his bloody movies were in black-and-white, so color didn’t matter. I think you have cause and effect reversed there – Hitchcock was already filming [BPsycho\*\* in black and white for various reasons (Saved monrey, got the chance to use the production crew from his TV show, B&W was still a standard format in 1960), so he chose to use chocolate syrup as blood because it would show up like blood in black and white. By the way, the use of chocolate syrup for blood LONG predates [B\Psycho\*\*. Willis O’Brien was using it for blood back in 1925’s **The Lost World**. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/8 "2008-08-15T13:12:12Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] I was once involved in [a feature film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189981/) where [marijuana plants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarfies) were a big plot point. They made them all by hand, all entirely fake. [/QUOTE] [Here is one source.](http://www.newimageplants.com/) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/9 "2008-08-15T13:31:39Z")
The fake pot plants are often made of silk. They are a bit pricey, too - you’ll note a 3-footer from the source listed above is $180. The movie “Homegrown” was partially shot in the Forest of Nisene Marks, outside Santa Cruz. They set up a bunch of fake pot plants for the movie, and somebody stole them. Perhaps smoked them, for all anybody knows. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/10 "2008-08-15T13:34:19Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] They’ve got a budget, how hard would it be for them to film on location in BC or Amsterdam? [/QUOTE] You’d run into pretty much the same problem up here, even you had the budget to get your cast and crew up. [QUOTE=vetbridge] [Here is one source.](http://www.newimageplants.com/) [/QUOTE] Oh, so _they’re_ to blame for the fakey looking pot plants on _Weeds_. (With the exception of some oddly placed outdoor plants, I’ve never seen a marijuana plant that was _strikingly_ asymmetrical.) ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/11 "2008-08-15T13:38:26Z")
So more than likely they’re fake plants… What about when they’re smoking joints and blunts? Are they just smoking tobacco (or perhaps it depends on the set/movie being filmed?)? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/12 "2008-08-15T13:54:14Z")
The Canadian TV show _Trailer Park Boys_ featured a large field of marijuana for most of one of their seasons. They used a real hemp field in Canada for the shots. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/13 "2008-08-15T14:03:02Z")
[QUOTE=BrandonR] So more than likely they’re fake plants… What about when they’re smoking joints and blunts? Are they just smoking tobacco (or perhaps it depends on the set/movie being filmed?)? [/QUOTE] These days people don’t even smoke tobacco in films. They use fake herbal cigarettes. The English movie [Saving Grace](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195234/) involves an entire hot house full of marijuana plants. Most of them are fake, but the movie got permission to borrow real plants from a research lab for the close-ups. > [@](#): > > Some of the marijuana plants used in the shooting were real. The British government gave permission to the filming crew the use of 150 marijuana plants, under supervision of the authorities. This meant that the plants had someone guarding them on the set, and watching over its transportation to a nearby storage facility for its safekeeping at night. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/14 "2008-08-15T18:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=BrandonR] So more than likely they’re fake plants… What about when they’re smoking joints and blunts? Are they just smoking tobacco (or perhaps it depends on the set/movie being filmed?)? [/QUOTE] > [@Mitch Hedberg](#): > > I had a small scene in a movie with Peter Frampton. And we had to smoke pot for our scene - but it was fake pot! Do not buy pot on a movie set. But I got to smoke fake pot with Peter Frampton, that’s a cool story. It’s as cool as smoking real pot with a guy who looks like Peter Frampton… I’ve done that way more. According to Mitch, it’s fake. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/15 "2008-08-15T19:30:27Z")
[QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3=] According to Mitch, it’s fake. [/QUOTE] It seems that real pot was smoked in Easy Rider. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/16 "2008-08-15T22:11:56Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] The fake pot plants are often made of silk. They are a bit pricey, too - you’ll note a 3-footer from the source listed above is $180. [/QUOTE] That’s cheaper than a real one. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-film-marijuana-plants-in-movies-are-they-real-plants/460073/17 "2008-08-16T01:02:38Z")
This is a tiny bit off topic, but I read somewhere that in the movie Platoon when they were in the “underworld” scene in that bunker, they were smoking actual Thai stick marijuana in that scene. Don’t know how true it is, I haven’t looked it up in a long time.