10 Movie Props You Won't Believe Were Re-Used In Other Films

5. Hollywood's Recurring Newspaper Prop

Every so often film buffs will stumble across a prop that isn't simply recycled in one or two movies, but is in fact a stock prop used across a wide gamut of productions.

One such prop is a newspaper, distinguished by a picture of a woman smiling on the inside spread. The prop is the creation of The Earl Hays Press, a Californian outfit which specialises in making bespoke props for films and TV.

This particular newspaper is basically Hollywood's go-to whenever they "need" or want to show a character reading one, because as a fabricated prop full of "fake news", it means that the film's prop department doesn't need to go through the tedious legal clearances necessary to feature a real news rag.

The paper and the distinctive smiling woman are visible in countless films including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and No Country for Old Men (as both pictured above), not to mention Back to the Future, Casper, 10 Things I Hate About You and literally dozens of TV series.

The newspaper picked up mainstream media coverage in 2010 when fans started to notice its ubiquity across Hollywood, so it's perhaps no coincidence that we've seen a lot less of the common prop in recent years. Hopefully The Earl Hays Press aren't feeling the pinch too much.