If you've never heard of Babylon, then let me be the first to introduce you to this wild ride of a movie.
Directed by Damien Chazelle (the brain behind La La Land and Whiplash), the film boasts an ensemble cast which includes the likes of Margot Robbie, Tobey Maguire, Brad Pitt and Jean Smart, to name a few, as well as newcomer Diego Calva.
While I'm not someone to spoil movies, I have to say that Babylon features some of the most intense scenes I've ever seen. From the drugs to a scene featuring Margot Robbie's character projectile vomiting on a man (don't worry, he deserved it), the main thing running through my mind was, "I know it's not real, but how do they make it look so lifelike?"
Well, who better to ask than the leads of the movie, right? And that's exactly what I did when I got the chance to interview both Margot — who plays Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring actress — and Diego, who plays Manny Torres, a film assistant who has big dreams.
According to Margot, when we see "cocaine" being snorted in TV shows and movies, it's actually vitamin B powder or powdered baby laxatives.
Or, if it's not being ingested, the film crew will sometimes use icing sugar.
Either way, it still hurts to snort the fake drugs, with Margot saying, "Yeah, it's not nice."
Another prop that's commonly used in Babylon, as well as many other productions, is cigarettes. Margot explained that while she's never smoked a real cigarette, she was chain-smoking fake ones because she needed to have a raspy voice for her character.
"On set, you have cigarettes that don't have nicotine. They're herbal cigarettes, but they're terrible and they taste awful."
Diego agreed, saying "The cigarettes did smell weird."
Well, there you have it! It's so interesting to learn about the magic that's happening behind-the-scenes in order to bring these movie productions to life. Do you know any other prop secrets from films and TV shows? If so, share them in the comments.
I'm still wondering how they make fake vomit look so chunky, icky and real.
And if you want to see the entire interview that BuzzFeed Australia did with Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, you can watch that here. We discuss Spanish swear words, fangirling over other actors and more behind-the-scenes secrets about Babylon.
