Transcription
So you decide to verify that by unloading, what, 15 rounds in them? Insanity is very, very important. Demonstrating the fear, the drama, all that stuff. Yes. Also, lighting for the camera.
Oh. He must literally use his hand as a bounce. Yep. This podcast is rated PC for Pew Culture. Pew pew pew pew.
Welcome to the first episode of Pew Culture. I got my man Jake with me, and, of course, I'm calling on the new Wow. What? You fucking I don't walk around saying my name every day, so sometimes I don't say it. It's because it's not actually your name.
That that is actually kinda true, actually. I'm Jake James, and this is Colio Noir, and I'm a better host than he is. Here we go. Welcome to the first episode. Alright.
So, me and Jake have known each other for quite some time now. Long, long time. And one day, I think where we I was with Peter. We were driving back from, course, I was doing out in Teesdale, Utah. I was feeding horses at the time.
Sounds about Jake. And and we were we were just kinda talking about typical stuff that we normally talk about because you and I tend to have overlapping interests in the way of which the funny thing is we have overlapping interests, but we enjoy them kind of sort of differently. Yeah. You do it in a much more high end fashion way, and I do it bougie. You know that's what you just wanted to say.
Bougie way, and I do it in a normal white guy way. So there's that. There's that. We're just gonna get that straight out of the way. But there's enough overlap where where we can definitely see eye to eye on a lot of stuff in that.
Like Lamborghinis. I do. I like Dodge Vipers. Exactly. We both like big trucks that go fast.
Yes. And we all appreciate very expensive firearm from time. This is the absolute truth. Yeah. And we're both movie fanatics.
And even that, we enjoy like, you're you're like a new movie nerd. I'm like a movie connoisseur. Like, I'm a no. I wouldn't even say that. I'm like a movie consumer.
Okay. Because I'll Yeah. I can I can do that? I've I'll readily watch movies mindlessly. You can you have consumed all of the movies that I've worked on, and I, unfortunately, due to the, job that I do, know way too much about every movie that comes out, so I can't consume it.
Why? But I retain the call. Speaking in code. Just say what it is you do. Oh, yeah.
Well, so I own some companies. You may have heard of Leviathan Group. Okay. But on top of that, I work with, directly with production companies, armors, prop masters, and actors to build, develop, and design the weapons, and gear that go into action movies. That sounds like a very fun job.
It is. I actually really enjoy it. It's the favorite part of the thing that I do. But considering that, I've always known that, and I figured, you know, shit. I think we we were can we on the phone for a while, I think, for about for about two hours.
Yeah. No. I won't say two hours. Maybe a hour and thirty minutes or something like that. Yeah.
We were talking about things that we're not allowed to talk about. Yes. That was fun. And so we thought it would be a great idea to turn the things that we can't really talk about into a podcast. Absolutely.
Yes. So Break all the NDAs. Sorry, Sony. So welcome to Pew Culture, where movies, guns, and Jake and Noir collide. Man, that's a perfect way to put it.
That's why I get paid the big bucks. And you know what? Actually, we don't get paid it off in this right now. When we are talk SDI, Storm Desert Institute, coming at you. They are our sponsor for building guns.
Building guns. And then I got the cred. Oh, thank you. Oh, no. That's prime.
Not cred. Sorry, South Park. We're we're getting sued? Probably. Okay.
I I I say we make it about three episodes in. Okay. I'll I'll hold off before we, get in trouble from somebody. Yeah. That's that's probably gonna happen.
Alright. First episode, and we are talking about what is what's going to be one of the most iconic things that we can start with to kinda dip our toe in the water. Right? Okay. And in most episodes, you're yeah.
That we've talked about, we're gonna have some we're gonna have multiple guns to cover. Yes. But this gun right here is literally a movie character all by itself. Yep. And that's what makes movie guns real Yeah.
Movie guns the best is when they have their own personality, their own screen time, and their own story. Yep. And there wasn't much better than the Colt from Ironhide. Yeah. It it's weird to me because it I'm I've never hid from the fact that a large portion of the guns that I buy are because of the ones I've seen in movies.
I don't hide from it. I don't run from it. I love it. Right? I'm I have an an innate ability to suspend disbelief.
Right? So for me, I and the impact that I am Legend had on me, right, I inevitably, that transferred over into the firearm that he was carrying. Clearly, for obvious reasons. Right? Now, Colleone, why did I am Legend have such an impact on you?
Now I was gonna turn to a therapy session. Alright. So here's the thing. I like every other gun guy for the most part. Kind of we we we we kind of wax poetic about the idea of of the end of times or, you know, apocalyptic scenarios.
Right? Oh, yeah. So for me, I've always looked at it from a standpoint of, I'm a city boy. You like, you you like living in a country where no one's around. Just a lot of country shit.
Desolate wasteland. Yes. Where I'm like, I want I want, police sirens. I want random people screaming down the street. I want big buildings around me.
I like the metro metropolitan cities. Right? Yeah. No. I'm good on that.
Yeah. See, and that's the thing. But so for me, when I think apocalypse, that's what I like, to me, I am legend represented the closest thing I could possibly ever encounter as far as an apocalyptic situation. Well and so there are there there's so many good movies in that genre. Right?
You think, and one great film that actually inspired so much of what I am legend did was twenty eight days later. Which I love. Same style. Right? Yeah.
That that big desolate open wasteland, but zombies. Yep. And I am legend is much more intelligent, really. And if you go back to the book, I am legend, they're vampires, and they talk. And they it's way worse.
Like, it's so much creepier. It's so much more terrifying. Like, the book is on a whole another level of fucked up where I am legend dulled it down for the consumer, which is why it's still, you know, it's still dark. It still has the number one most heart wrenching scene in a film of all time, which we won't talk about, because it's awful. But that dulled it down just enough for the consumer to be a blockbuster.
And that is that was that is the biggest thing that action films, especially action films, things like World War z, things like twenty eight days later, they typically become this cult classic and this hit at home where you can really consume it, but it doesn't have the largest box office opening of a December in the history at that time in 02/2007. It doesn't have a $150,000,000 budget. Like, these films are typically made for, you know, a very specific set of consumers while I am legend did almost 600,000,000 globally. Like, it was made for everyone, and it was one of the very first action slash horror slash post apocalyptic films that was able to do it. And then movies like Mad Max Fury Road came in and they took it to the next level, but there's so much like, all of these things, were built to be replicated.
And now there's a format for those post apocalyptic films, which is why they're so popular now, now, and they do so much better than they used to. It's funny because I am Legend was actually supposed to be made multiple times and failed every time. Ridley Scott was the original director in the nineties, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was gonna be the main actor. Which I don't think would've worked. Worked.
It wouldn't. Now I have I have the hindsight of seeing the Will Smith version. Well, let's be honest. Arnie had some bad failed movies in the nineties, which is why they eventually canned this. But then it went on and Guillermo del Toro was supposed to be a director of this.
Imagine if Guillermo had gotten his hands on this film with his style. It would have been a much different kind of movie, not a bad one because what Pan's Labyrinth and and what movie has Guillermo failed at? He's none. But at the end of the day, like, this has been tabbed so many times, and it was so hard to make that you eventually got to the point where, actually, Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to be tabbed in this so bad. He was at one point, a producer and hired Will Smith to do this movie as the main actor.
Then he fell off. Will took it. Will went to Guillermo k. And asked him to direct. He said, I can't because I'm doing another film, but here's all my ideas for how the dark seekers should look.
So there's his impact on how the film is. Eventually, they got their main director. They got this going. It came out. It became a blockbuster hit.
We've tried to reboot it. We've tried to bring out sequels so many times because of how big it was, and it wasn't just until last year. And now we got Michael b Jordan on board. We got Will Smith back on board, which I'm not not talking about how that works or how we're gonna do that. But I mean, I don't see why we should I mean, I've it it'll be interesting to say the least.
Well and, I mean, it's one of those things where people like, that's part of the intrigue. Right? Yeah. How are we going back to this universe and the main actor who spoiler alert, FYI, this movie's been out since 02/2007. So we're gonna talk about whatever we want.
Like, if you've never seen it, don't watch this. But Will Smith blows himself up. Yep. He sacrifices himself Allegedly. Allegedly.
I mean, he was holding a grenade in a small room. Allegedly. Allegedly. And there is don't let's not forget either. There's two endings.
There is. Which is also controversy because no one knows which one is the real ending Yeah. In real life. So it is what it is, like, but we're moving into that into that universe, and you better guarantee they're gonna bring back one of their biggest actors. Right?
They can't. You gotta bring back one of the biggest keys to this, and that is the Colt sixty nine twenty law enforcement. So I'm gonna ask this question. Do you think we'd be doing a disservice if with the reboot, they came back with a more modernized version of this? Yeah.
Because the world stopped. How are you gonna have modernized versions of anything? We're not manufacturing firearms anymore. It's true. The gun guy part of me.
Right? I get it. The gun guy part of me would like to see because I love this gun. I love this gun not because I think it's just a good not because I think it's a good cut. No.
Like It's an okay gun. Yeah. It's it's the weird thing about it though is is I think with the modernization of ARs Yep. I think they've gotten heavier. In some cases, yes.
Yes. I mean, billet is always gonna be heavier than forged. Exactly. That's just part of the way that it's manufactured. But the the thing that always drew me to this the the coat pattern, this style, was how how light it was.
Yep. And just it's very simple, very light, and just does what it needs to do. There was something endearing about that. And I think that was part of the reason why it kinda spoke to me and called to me when I saw Will Smith running it. Well and Will Carey, that's that's a thing that you think about too when you get into, hey.
I'm designing something for a movie. There's a there's a whole bunch of things that you have to consider. Right? Time period. Mhmm.
I can't work on a World War two piece and bring something modern into it. That's true. What year did the world stop if it's post apocalyptic? We do this all the time. Right?
We did the terminal list. And on the flashbacks of those terminal list scenes, you have to think, oh, Ben Edwards, or, you know, any of the characters. What would he have been carrying in 02/2012 that was correct for that branch of the military or that branch of contractors? And you have to go rebuild that because it's canon, and you can't have a brand new firearm that like, we just did this. Right?
We're working on a film where they're like, hey. We need you to design us a spy computer from 02/2007. It's like, I don't even know what brand computer was available in 02/2007. They're like, it can't be. No.
No Apple. None of that has to be has to run, you know, DOS or whatever. And I'm like, okay. So that's half the job is research. Gotcha.
And so you go back and you say, okay. What would an army virologist in New York have access access to? And so that's why the Colt sixty nine twenty is picked. Not because it was the best available, you know, platform, but then you look at the other guns that show up throughout the film. Right?
The Beretta ninety two f s, which shows up in every movie ever made. We'll talk about it in Die Hard. We'll talk about it in, like, book of Eli. It's in everything. But there's a reason why it's in everything, and it's because he was an army virologist.
They carried Beretta's. Like, that's what their side arms were. Then you look at the, you know, the stainless steel Smith and Wesson nine millimeter. That was one of three firearms that was available be available to be carried by the New York Police Department at that time when the world ended. So if you're a single human being walking around New York collecting things, what are you probably gonna find?
You're gonna find all those police department firearms. You're gonna find the ammo that goes with it. But he was his sidearm was an HK 20 3. It was. And I don't know why.
Because it's So who so whose idea was that there? That would have been the the original, armor. So the way that it works when you're talking about, films like this is we're gonna have show and tells before we even get to it. Right? So you're gonna tab a prop master.
You're gonna tab the prop master is gonna tab an armor. Okay. And then the armor and the prop master and the director are gonna hire someone like me who is a technical adviser. So you're going to go through this list and the prop master and the armor and the director are going to come out to a range, and they're gonna do a show and tell. And you're gonna lay out everything that you have in your armory, and you're gonna sit down with a script.
We're gonna get an agency script, and we're gonna go, okay. It says right here, Robert Neville carries this AR platform rifle. Okay? He's got an AR platform rifle. I know that Robert Neville was in was in the army.
He was a virologist, so he wasn't a frontline fighter. He probably would have been more comfortable with what he went to basic with, like, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And you go down the line and you narrow it down to what these options are. And then from there, the armor and the prop master and the director are going to come up with what that look should be. Right?
And, unfortunately, there's some action movies that come out recently that just literally take a gun and have no optic on it. They and that is there's there's a couple reasons for that. One is actor safety. So, you know, we'll we'll talk about fast 10, fast nine. Like, we'll probably do one episode that just covers all of the later fast and the furious movies because There's, like, 9,000 of them.
There's so many of them. But you look at, like, the latest fast and the furious movie, and you have, Alan Richardson who is playing arguably one of the greatest characters on on any TV show right now with Reacher. Like, how good is that show? I I think that's a little too far, but it is very good. It's a good show.
I don't think one of the greatest characters. No. Out right now. Name another show right now that's been super successful like Reacher has been. The boys.
The boys is argue like, you can argue whether or not that's an actual action film or if that's a superhero film. Because they're two different things to me. He's splitting hairs at this point. Two different things. Because, again, you're looking at how many guns, how many knives, how many weapons are in this, or are we shooting lasers out of our eyeballs?
It's the same thing. Kinda. But I can't prop that. So from a so from a prop standpoint, I got no point. That's not true because you you propped.
What was the the alien gun that you propped? Tomorrow wars? Tomorrow wars. Yep. Yeah.
That's not a superhero film. Yeah. But then it's an alien gun. You're shooting aliens with that gun. Yeah.
%. Yeah. And everyone got mad that you could kill an alien with a five five six. We can travel through time, and we made we made time travel possible. You don't think I can't make a five five six more powerful than it actually is in real life?
I never assumed it was that we're getting a little bit off topic here because we just have to talk about this bad boy. But I never I never saw that and thought, oh, they're shooting five five six at aliens. I thought the gun didn't, but every other gun like, all of the gun guys, that's what we got out of that. So Well, there's always gonna be, though. There's I think it was split.
I think there was part of community that was split. I think one part was like me that was kind of like, I can suspend disbelief Yep. And say, okay. I get it. It looked different enough.
It didn't look like any other AR that we typically see. And then I think there was the other part where I think they they kind of kinda derive sexual pleasure from getting from being pedantic Yep. Where it's like, oh, that doesn't make any sense, and it doesn't. It is a good it is fun to talk about on the Internet Yes. Where you're not gonna get punched in the face for saying anything.
So but at the end of the day, you know, what you, you know, what you're what you said is really what the point of action movies and things like I am legend is. Right? We want to just forget reality for a little bit. Like, forget it. It's I will say for you, it is a it is a it's it's a it's a fine balance.
Because if you forget it too much, it pulls you out. Yep. Right? Because there is a part of our brain where they're suspending this belief, not necessarily eviscerating it. Yes.
Very true. But you're right. But then there's another part where it's like, no. I like, sometimes I don't want them to run out of ammo. Correct.
You know what I mean? Yeah. And and it those those are fine lines. And I will say, you know, 90% of the time when you when you have that scene where the ammo just keeps going and people are like, why isn't he reloading? Like, that's that's not a choice that I make.
I don't have a I don't have a say in Yeah. Those scenes that happens in editing, that happens whatever. And sometimes that's okay. Sometimes if you're talking about movies like this, if you're talking about movies like John Wick, it has to be done perfectly because that's part of the choreography of it as well. If you do it wrong once and then every other time you're right, you you have messed up the universe in which John Wick or Robert Neville lives.
Yeah. So movies like this are much more important to okay. He's running a 30 round mag. There's 30 rounds in that mag, and that's all there is. Yeah.
And where is he getting his ammo from? And how you know, is he is he maintaining his rifle? Is he do like, will it always work when he pulls the trigger? Like, those are things that are important, especially in a movie where you're being chased by vampires or zombies or whatever. Those things need to be thought about and embedded into the film.
And I am legend does it so beautifully Yeah. That people don't even realize it. Right? We had a conversation yesterday about how come they never found him. Right?
Yeah. And that the book, I am legend, and the movie offer two very different, you know, points. Because in the book, like, you told me, they actually knew where he lived. And then Yeah. And the creepy part was they would actually try to coax him Yeah.
To come out. And because because you've been alone for so long, you're you're actually thinking about it. Yeah. Like, you're getting to the point where they they are literally enticing you to come out that whole because in the book, they can talk. In the book, they can they can talk.
There are vampires in the book. Gotcha. So they are straight blood sucking vampires and they I never watched the book. I never read the book. It's it's good.
Sorry, man. I'm illiterate. Just understand. It it you know, get the audiobook. It's creepy.
It is. It's Yeah. I can imagine that being creepy. Than the movie. Yeah.
But in the movie, they didn't know where he was. Yeah. And that was because of his perfect routine. Right? He never ever ever was anywhere outside after dark.
So they never knew where to They had zero idea how to find him. He did a very good job of covering his tracks. You know? And one of the cool things was the movie did such a good job at researching what the human brain goes through in isolation. One of the biggest, pieces of research they they found was is if you're in this position where you are completely isolated for ever, you have no idea how long, routine is the main thing that will keep your sanity, which is why Robert Neville had this perfect routine that he never broke until Fred happened.
Yeah. Which I know is your favorite part of the whole movie. Yep. It was. And you know why?
Because I can relate to it. Because even with the way I live in the city, right, I live a relatively isolated city life. Generally move around by myself. But it is the being surrounded by so many people that gives me the enough of the interaction that I need. Whereas you move out into the middle of nowhere, I just practice solitude among many.
Yep. If that makes sense. Yeah. And so I could see myself in that situation. Like, I could so place myself in that situation where I know what I normally do.
And so I have the the connection, even though it may not be always direct, of the different various people living around me. Yep. And so when that routine was when that that changed for him. And it was kind of like it was weird because it's it maintained his sanity even though it looked insane. Yep.
You know what I mean? It was. It it was the perfect balance of, like, this dude's losing his mind, but he's doing it in a way to keep it as long as he can. Yes. Yes.
And that's that's a hard thing. But Fred, the mannequin. Right? He it's like, okay. That that mannequin, Fred, he was not supposed to be there.
Right? So he obviously got moved somehow. And if you just look at that scene just ever so closely for for one second, it looks like that mannequin moved his head. Now in the entirety of the film, all the mannequins were mannequins except for that one scene. So Fred in that scene was actually Fred.
He was a person. And so this was the one scene they brought an actor in, and they did the makeup so perfectly. And they shot it from such a perfect distance and angle that you couldn't tell. But if you go back and watch it, that head turns just quarter of an inch, and that is your perspective of what Robert Neville saw, not what actually happened. Yeah.
But what Robert Neville saw, and it made him snap. Right? That was the moment that he snapped. He starts firing, going crazy, and then he gets noosed by his own trap, which was not there. He swears it wasn't put there.
So he he still to this day doesn't believe the dark seekers are intelligent enough to set a trap, but he also swears he's not the one who put it there. And so that was the mystique of the film. It was. But do you think he acted the way he did in in in his anger was because he felt like the weird thing is is he felt like he was going crazy. He didn't wanna he didn't wanna believe he was going crazy considering he knew Fred wasn't real even though he talked to him like he was real to maintain his sanity that Fred represented the break in his insanity at that moment.
And he he was having a hard time confronting it. Oh, dude. All of those things are possible. Yeah. But that's the beauty of movies like this.
Right? It doesn't have to be explained. Yeah. I'm just mad that he thought he might be real and decided to just execute a human. Well, he was upset about the execution.
He felt remorse. He still did it. Well Look. Think about it. And I always had that thought when I saw that scene.
I'm like, wait. So you thought maybe Fred was real? The only other person on the planet with you. So you decided to verify that by unloading, what, 15 rounds in them? Insanity is very, very important.
Now back to the gun, though. Okay. So very interesting thing. Right? Colt this Colt semi auto only.
Yes. But he just shot at full auto. I thought he was shooting semi. In this film, he fires at both full auto and semi auto. Okay.
This is a semi auto only gun. Mhmm. It was modified by the film to shoot full auto. Okay. Then interesting enough, there's multiple versions of this, and you can actually find an archive of one of these guns being auctioned off, still blanked, so it still had the plug in, and reverted back from full auto to semi auto and then sold on the auction market to the highest bidder.
It is a law enforcement model. You you know, it wouldn't have been weird for it to been Mhmm. To been full auto, but the Technically speaking, I could even own a full auto version of this because You could. Yeah. So pre bed.
Yeah. You could. These are were definitely not pre bed. These are yeah. Yes.
Yeah. These ones were after the the you know, these were in the nineties and February. But there is ways to do it, and it's just really, really interesting the things that movies go through to be able to do the things that they do. Right? So make it full auto, revert it back.
Leave the barrel plugged on one. This one one. This one was the this one was the actual live fire model. So this is one that Will would have trained with. It does not have a plugged barrel.
This fires real ammo. We could take it to the range tomorrow, and you could fire it. And it would you can fire the exact gun that Will Smith got to fire. So from that standpoint, in that scene, he was firing blanks. Yes.
Okay. So then from a movie standpoint, from your just your base, your your background. How are they creating that scene? Because I'm seeing impact. Yes.
So those are called squids. Okay. So and what those are is they're, they're pockets of very, very small explosives that you place on the body and then VFX, or, you know, the the actual, the visual effects crew who carry an explosives license. So whenever we're doing anything, deck cord, squibs, you know, blowing up a house Mhmm. Those are Those are guys.
They're in the VFX department, and they're popping the squibs as you go. Okay. And so there's multiple different kinds. Right? There's impact.
So, that's gonna be it's gonna look like impact. It's gonna be burn marks like you would get from gunpowder, but you're shooting a mannequin that doesn't bleed. So then you have squibs that have blood impact, which are going to blow red fake blood out while you do it. Gotcha. And so that's that's just typical movie magic.
Right? Then you move on to nowadays, you can CGI this stuff. Yeah. Like, practical is almost always the way you're gonna go in a film like this. Even today, you're gonna almost always stay practical because it just looks better, and it's a lot less costly than adding after the after the fact with CGI.
So full auto and semi auto variant, the actual rifle itself was semi auto converted to be full auto. When you're talking about running a blank, which these do, you're gonna add a plug into the end of the barrel, which means you're either drilling down inside and you're plugging it. And what what has to happen now when you're making, like, a Western film Yeah. Like, we're doing, Yellowstone or something like that, you don't have to plug a lever action because you manually operate the lever. The whole reason for this is your bolt has to run off direct it's it's a direct impediment system.
So it's gotta trap that gas Oh, yeah. Which would typically be trapped behind the, bullet itself, run the gas back to operate the bolt, and continue cycling. Well, you're not firing a projectile that's blocking the gas out of the end of the barrel. How do you get that bolt to move? Yeah.
That's why they created blanks and and the plug for a blank. And so we put a plug in the barrel. Sometimes you put it in the flash hider. Sometimes you actually thread it right under the end. Uh-huh.
Then you cover it with a flash hider. Sometimes you drill down inside. It really depends on if you're gonna run suppressed or whatever. You add a plug, and then that plug has different openings for how much gas you want to release. So it's kinda like it's almost like its own little gas porting system.
It is. Okay. And we run different blanks then just like you would run with different grain weight bullets. So we have full flash, which is literally gonna push as much fire and gases and everything out the end as you can, I e, John Wick? So, you know, you're in a dark scene.
You wanna make the most blam as you can. You're John Wick. But then you have everything from quarter flash, half flash, three quarters flash, full flash, and, like, all the way in between. And, you know, when you're running suppressed and the whole idea is you're trying to be quiet and not give away, you're gonna run the lowest flash you possibly can, which is just less powder, less everything. It's push you're you're plugging that hole as, like, super tight too because you're running a lot less powder and you still need to have enough to run the the bolt.
So this is like all of science. Right? And it's been done over years and years and years. And, you know, people a lot of times say, well, blanks are still dangerous. People have died, you know, from running blanks.
Not the blank itself. It's usually based off the care of the firearm itself. Did you clear that barrel? Is there some type of shard that was left over inside of it? Projectile.
Yep. Okay. Did you did you check to make sure you didn't load actual rounds into your revolver? That didn't need to be blanked. That was subtle.
There are things that you should be doing to make sure it's always safe, and that's what an armor is. Not only does the armor build, maintain, do all that, the armor is the safety. And that's why when you are in a a major blockbuster like this, you can have hundreds of firearms on set. Tomorrow wars Yeah. Our buddy Gary Toews Oh, god.
I can imagine. Wars had hundreds and hundreds of firearms on set, but they are meticulously maintained, counted, and and controlled on set because you're working with actors who have no idea what they're doing. Even the ones that do, I e, like, the Chris Pratts of the world and stuff like that who actually take the time to learn the craft, they still aren't around it every day, manage it, you know, managing it every day. So that's where the armors come in. And when you're running a show like this or a terminal list or a John Wick, that's why you don't have accidents.
It's because these armors know exactly what they're doing, and it is a meticulous process. Wow. Sounds about right. Sounds about right. Now I will say going back to the rifle, I think the weird thing is it's not so much the rifle itself, but how it's outfitted that gives it the most character.
And that that is a key piece to creating a a weapon or a prop that you want to be a character. Right? And so whether it's a rifle or talking about Thor's hammer Yeah. Like, you sit down and look at Thor's hammer, and it's it's all those meticulous little details, all of the Nordic runes and the writing and the the perfect wrapping here and that, like, even the wrist guard or the the wrist strap. Right?
Like, without the wrist strap, he couldn't spin it. He couldn't create flight if he didn't have that strap. So it's the same here. Right? You go back and you look at when did the world end and what would both the military be using as well as as what is a practical application.
And so on this gun, obviously, most militaries still run the classic t a 31 Trijicon ACOG red, the red fiber and red tritium, combo sight. And so he carries that. It's actually one of the smartest optics that you could ever run before the end of the day. Really is. Doesn't take batteries.
Yeah. It will stay illuminated even if it's been dark out for days and days and days. The fiber soaks up the sun or whatever ambient light is around to increase the brightness of your reticle. It's a And it's bombproof. It's bombproof.
Just freaking literally seen these, from working with Trijicon. I've seen these go through, like, five alarm house fires. Come back, the outside will be completely bubbled up, but the inside's still running just fine. And it they truly are incredible. But that's why the military uses them.
That's why marines use them. Like, that this is why they had it, and it was the perfect, perfect solution. Like, I don't I don't like fixed powered stuff, typically. This would not be my go to. However, I agree with you a %.
From an end of the world standpoint, from an optic standpoint, that makes a lot of sense. Yep. Especially in that scenario. In that scenario, it really, really does. And then, I mean, obviously, as we've gone on, we've we've made we've done one to eight with with side mounted arms.
Everything's got heavy. Like, I mean, it it is. Everything's gotten heavier. Everything has but the other issue is that the more things you add, the more the more possibility of it going wrong. Yeah.
But they are definitely more capable now. Very true. Definitely more capable. I mean, you can reach out and touch, you know, as a vampire from a lot longer than than you used to be able to. That's for sure.
So and then we're running the Pentagon m d three, light combo here. Which I think is the most standout feature. It is. It is. Everyone knows it.
And did you notice in the movie that it moves side to side? He rotates it throughout the movie. I did not notice that. Yeah. He flips the side based on what he's doing.
Yep. It's very So is it quick detach? Yep. It is. It's just a it's just a twist.
Oh, okay. This is a twist mount. And when we get to the point where we, when we rebuild these Mhmm. We'll take it all apart and show, you know, show exactly where the where it gets mounted to. You know, one of the cool things that we wanted to do with Pew Culture, I think, is, while we're not building firearms, we're building props.
We wanted to show how you can put together these props, whether it be from the original pieces, or what you can find today to make the closest replica. And, unfortunately, most things that we are gonna cover from older films, like you look at heat, things like that. There's gonna be Either you can't buy it, you can't own it, or it's discontinued. Yep. So and, unfortunately, Pentagon light went they they've been discontinued for a really, really long time.
Apparently, his switch didn't work in the movie because he didn't use it. I don't understand. I I understood the look of why they added the switch, but I don't actually believe the switch was ever hooked up to anything. Okay. It was there as an aesthetic.
Gotcha. So I think personally, which is weird. So, like, you know, I rewatched it the other night. Yep. And I remember the scene where he was inside the bank, and he was, you know, he's looking for the dog.
And I remember he's in there, and he's using his hand to kinda cover the light. Yep. The gun guy in me goes, idiot. Just use pressure pad. Right?
Just get a pressure pad. But from a movie standpoint, in terms of demonstrating the the fear, the drama, it it it I think it added to it. So you got halfway there on that. Okay. So demonstrating the fear, the drama, all that stuff.
Yes. Also, lighting for the camera. Oh. Oh. He was literally using his hand as a bounce.
Yep. So happens in movies all the time. You go back. Not not not one of my favorite movies, but the newest Matrix. Right?
There is an entire scene in that film that's completely lit by enforced lights. There is not a single other light that was ever used in the filming of that scene, just tactical weapon lights. And so directors and cinematographers are really smart about this. Right? They know they're gonna throw illumination from a different source into a scene, whether that be a weapon light or we're using a flashlight, like in the last of us or something like that.
Yeah. And they go, okay. How can I use this to my benefit for the filming aspect of it? So not only is it That's crazy. I don't know about that.
Not only is it adding this, like, different layer of, like, suspense to it, but now it's contributing to the usage for the film itself. That's crazy. I never thought about that. Yep. Because, I mean, I was looking at it.
I was like, just use the switch dummy, and then the other part of my brain goes, well, no. I kinda like this. You know? Like, it creates a little more suspense and drama. But then realizing he's technically kinda using it as a bounce.
Yep. He's like To light his face up so himself up so you can see him. Yep. So and then there's, you know, there's other aspects of this that makes it not just a regular Colt. Mhmm.
One is obviously the the forend itself. Yeah. That's not a standard option. Ironically, this exact one was listed as a Seymour, Seymour forend. Now you hear Seymour, you typically think of Seymour optics.
Yeah. You'd think of the three gun, you know, but at one point, they had a model of of forearm. Now if you wanna get the absolute closest thing to what this four m is now, you can go and buy, there's a company called Samsung manufacturing. Uh-huh. And they make the closest model of it.
Oh, okay. And then on top of that, you can still buy the rail mounts, but they are getting harder and harder to find. These are Ergo mounts. Okay. These are the originals.
So if you actually take one of these off, you can see, you know, there's your You just gave me, like because I have I have an FN Yep. M four clone. And, guess, not really clone because they made them. But, it has the knight's armament panels. Yes.
And most movies most movies run the knight's armament panels. They are a pain in the ass to take off. Yeah. Oh my god. They look great.
Yep. But, man, they are has to take off. But Yep. You think of, like the movie Sicario. Right?
They're running they're running the night's armament, but, I am legend. They ran the, small ergo, rail covers for no other reason than just the look. Right? I mean, at the end of the day, it looked right. It was the, it was set up the way they wanted it to set up.
They had a front mount, iron sight, but no rear mount iron sight. Typically speaking, when you're running a Trijicon, you don't have to ever worry about it. Yeah. And you can't co witness anyways. Yeah.
So we never had to worry about finding any of that. Furniture, super easy. The standard mil spec spec buttstock. If you wanna get into the inner details, it is literally if you purchase a mil spec kit, everything inside is just a mil spec kit. So this gun, while it is one of the more iconic rifles ever used in a film It's so simple.
It's so simple. So simple. But I think it that's what made it work. Yep. Because it it became a character of on on its own because it blended so well with the character.
Yep. Right? I think if it was overly modernized or had too many trinkets and, I think it or too refined. I think it would have kind of almost pulled you out of it a little bit. Oh, and so that's super funny to say too.
Right? One of the original directors that was tab was for this Mhmm. At the very, like, the the beginning between the Ridley Scott and, like, right when Guillermo said no, Will was in, they tapped Michael Bay. I just wanna What woulda happened? Okay.
So I know this is not popular. I love Michael Bay. I like Michael Bay too. I love and I love the the I love the way he brags. I love the way they look.
I like everything about them. I like Michael Bay because the amount of guns he uses. There there's that too. Makes us a lot of money. But I can see why people feel some type of way about his moves.
They are overly glossy, which for someone like me, you know, I I like I like overly glossy sometimes. But I I don't know. I would like what I would like to happen in in a perfect world is in kind of in the same vein as, the the Snyder Snyder cut of Snyder cut? Yeah. Is to get a a big cut of I am Legend.
That'd be fun. That would be really fun. Lot more explosions. Yeah. So many more explosions.
But this is the thing. Right? So Michael Bay, it's not it's not like a hidden fact, but he was at one point, he was, a owner in salient arms. Like He's a he's in he's in his guns. What type of gun, though, would he have selected for this?
It it probably would have been it would have had that that tin coating in. Yeah. So you look at this and go, this movie could have been done so different. Yeah. But the reason why it was a blockbuster, the reason why it had success both critically and from the audience is because they kept it simple stupid.
They did. The plot was simple. The action was simple. Everything was simple, but in a very I don't know if refined is the right word, but in a very organic way. Hundred percent.
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I think that's that's that's her. That's that's the cult. And, I mean, at the at the end of the day, we'll get into tearing this apart, showing you everything that we can possibly show you so that way you can build your own or you can buy one from us.
I know. And, that's it. Yeah. Sounds like a plan to me. I think I'm gonna call her the legend.
The legend. Yeah. Because that's so creative. Well, create keep it simple, stupid. Yeah.
That's Like The legend. There you go. Yeah. Oh, this part was supposed to, like, just end it. I mean, I listen.
I am not an actor. You are. Oh, now I'm an actor. I treat you like one. That's fair enough.
You're not allowed to touch the guns.