Screen used prop Humpback Whale carcass from The Shallows (2016). ***Please note: The following may contain film spoilers!***
A prop Humpback whale of six metres and weighing three tonnes is hard to miss! It’s a key production piece from “The Shallows” (2016), a horror survival thriller starring Blake Lively.
I tracked down the monster production made model at a business where it has sat for the last few years.
Shooting finished in 2015 at Village Roadshow studios on the Gold Coast, Queensland. The prop whale carcass was given to Tangalooma Island Resort, which operated whale watching tours.
The “life-size whale” was expected to fit right in. However, the downside of the exchange was the amount of fake blood and movie gore still on the whale.
Too much gore!
“When we got it delivered to bring it over to the island, it had too many shark marks all over it,” the resort manager said. “Since it was from a thriller movie, there was just too much blood hanging from it”.
He’s right! There are “many shark marks all over it”!
Standing beside the massive prop, the level of detail is remarkable. The “rubber on foam” over a fibreglass shell gives it such a real feel! The “bite marks” and wounds are genuinely unsettling.
The work that goes into making props of this magnitude is truly inspiring!
Not only a beautifully crafted prop, the whale carcass was central to the film’s storyline. It’s been widely speculated that the whole reason for the shark’s hostile behaviour was due to the dead carcass. Thus triggering the great white’s territorial protection of its feeding ground.
The carcass is key in saving Nancy’s life and provides her brief respite following the initial attack from the massive predator.
Towards the climax of the film, the carcass provides our heroine with a means of attacking the Great White. She ignites the whale oil from the dead Humpback.
Making memorable pieces
So, the lifeless Humpback whale carcass prop which causes peril for the heroic lone surfer was badly in need of re-housing. Size and weight of a prop this size is problematic when looking for a new home. Preservation of such wonderful pieces of cinema history is best left to private collectors.
A welcome decision was made by the owner to allow movie prop collectors a chance to own their own screen used piece. Offering a limited number of sections of this one-of-a-kind piece should make for some amazing displays.
It is currently in the process of being dismantled and shared in limited numbers with movie memorabilia prop collectors. This is brilliant news for those who are keen to own a display size piece of this key prop from a film that consistently ranks as one of the scariest shark movies of all time!
Please check out my ebay store for a chance to pick up your own display size piece of this remarkable film that’s destined to become a classic of the horror survival genre!
If you haven’t seen the film yet, pick it up here on Blu-ray at Amazon
To see these “The Shallows – Screen Used Prop Whale Carcass pieces”, and many more items that form part of my collection, please check out my “YourProps” page.
If you would like some hints and tips on collecting film memorabilia, I have several free guides I’ve written here. I am constantly updating and adding to the content. I hope you find them helpful.
Enjoy!