Movie Costume Mistakes Totally Ruined These Scenes
Making a movie isn’t easy. There’s so much that needs to be done, from writing the script and screenplay to casting the various roles, bringing in a director, organizing the lighting, music, effects, sets, and more, not to mention the costumes too! With all of those different elements, it’s only natural that many films are far from perfect, with little goofs and errors easily spotted by eagle-eyed views. This is especially true when it comes to costumes.
Movie costumes need to be carefully designed to match the look and feel of the theme. Costume designers need to be sure that the outfits are always consistent and that they don’t change in any unexpected way from one scene to the next, as well as ensuring that even the extras and background actors fit in with the overall aesthetic. Sometimes, they make mistakes, and here are a few of the funniest and most ridiculous examples of that happening.
The Shaven Women of Schindler’s List
Schindler’s List is rightly regarded as one of the most moving and impactful films ever to be made about the Second World War and the dreadful atrocities suffered by people in Nazi concentration camps. A lot of attention to detail can be seen in the way the film is shot and edited, but there was one serious oversight that many hardcore fans noticed upon rewatching the film: the women are all seen with shaved legs and armpits.
In reality, most people in concentration camps would not have been given razors and were barely even given the simplest essentials for general hygiene and well-being, so they wouldn’t have been able to shave themselves every day in this way. They would have had much more body hair.
Wrong Armor in the Last Samurai
The Last Samurai is a classic historical action film directed by Edward Zwick and starring Tom Cruise. It focuses on an American soldier who ends up in 19th century Japan and decides to fight alongside samurai warriors. The film received several Oscar nominations and was widely praised for its plot, visuals, and costumes too, but one of those costumes was just plain wrong.
After Cruise’s character joins up with the local samurai, we see him wearing a set of samurai armor. The film is set in 1870, but the armor Cruise’s character wears is from the 1600s and definitely wouldn’t have been worth wearing at that time period. It seems like the costume department either decided that more modern samurai armor wasn’t eye-catching enough or just didn’t do their research.
Kilts in Braveheart
Braveheart is widely regarded as one of the greatest historical war films ever made. Directed and starring Mel Gibson, it focuses on the story of William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish warrior who leads his people in the First War of Scottish Independence against the English. It was a smash success, making a huge amount of money at the box office and winning five Academy Awards.
Sadly, one major feature of the film was completely inaccurate, historically-speaking. We see plenty of people in the film, including William Wallace himself, wearing kilts. Kilts are often associated with Scotland, but they weren’t introduced until the 16th century. Given that the film takes place in the 13th century, it’s totally wrong to have kilts appearing.
A Cowboy Among Pirates
Pirates of the Caribbean is a classic Disney movie, introducing us to the amazing and kooky character of Captain Jack Sparrow and his many adventures on the Seven Seas. A lot of care and attention was put into the costumes for the film, especially those of the main characters like Captain Jack himself, but one of the extras seemed to turn up on the wrong set when he was spotted wearing a cowboy hat.
The extra can be seen in the final cut of the film, standing behind Captain Jack and wearing his hat, which definitely wouldn’t have been a common accessory among pirates back in those days. The man is also wearing a white T-shirt and just looks totally out of place, but this little goof wasn’t spotted during the editing process and accidentally stayed in the final film.