INNISFIL -- Roadshow Antiques North can add an Academy Award to its resume.
The local business worked closely with the production design team on the American film The Shape of Water, providing period props for the movie, which garnered numerous Academy Awards at the 90th annual gala.
The Shape of Water, set in 1962 Baltimore, took home the Oscars for not only production design, but also best picture, director and original score.
The production team sent a thank-you letter to Roadshow Antiques for their help on the movie, which started very early in the production process.
“They gave the proper thanks to everybody,” said Dave Downie, the manager at Roadshow Antiques, where he has worked for the last 16 years.
It’s not the first time Roadshow Antiques, located at Highway 400 and Innisfil Beach Road, has helped out with movies and television series.
It has provided props for movies such as Hairspray, It, Suicide Squad and Lives of the Saints, as well as television series A Handmaid’s Tale, Anne of Green Gables, Murdoch Mysteries, Reign, Alias Grace and Deals from the Dark Side.
The “true-to-period” items used on set could be anything from furniture, jewelry and wall art to lighting fixtures, typewriters, ink wells and clothing.
For the folks who work at Roadshow Antiques, it’s almost become a game of Where’s Waldo? as they try to spot items they’ve helped production designers acquire for movies and television shows.
“We always look for these items, because of course we remember,” Downie said with a laugh.
It’s a wide array of items production crews could be looking for.
“It could be something very trivial to something extremely lavish,” Downie said. “But that’s what makes the movie.”
In the past, production teams had traditionally rented various items to be used on films, but many companies now purchase the items because they gain value having been used in movies.
Roadshow Antiques advertises in film magazines and has worked closely with several production teams over the years. That could be set designers coming to the Innisfil location and spending the day perusing the floor for items to a frantic last-minute phone call or email in search of something very specific.
And if the Innisfil outlet doesn’t have a specific item, they can call up their sister location in Pickering.
The good news surrounding the Academy Award is also a welcomed change of pace from recent high-profile incidents at Roadshow Antiques, including a sleight-of-hand theft caught on video and a brazen, after-hours smash-and-grab.
“The negative stories are awful, so we thought this is definitely nice for the store,” Downie said.
