Typeface Error in The Boys in the Boat

John Savard

At the beginning of the recent movie "The Boys in the Boat", the protagonist Joe Rantz is shown stuffing part of a newspaper into his shoe.

The newspaper page has "Missing Girl Found" as the headline of one article, and another one has a headline in... Times Roman Italic. It looks like a newspaper from 1970, not a newspaper from 1936 or thereabouts.

Such carelessness is a pity, as the movie largely corresponds to the actual events which it deals with, and indeed the building where the boats were made and stored was meticulously recreated at great expense.

Vasil Stanev

Maybe they used all of the budget for historical accuracy on the boats...?

Craig Eliason

Of all the possible ahistorical type errors, it feels like newspapers jump out most often. Fonts but also layout are so often poorly executed in newspaper props. It must be because the storyline dictates the headline’s words, so the prop is being mocked up every time rather than relying on the vetted historical props in storage. 

John J. Blair

There's a Type Drawers post about newspapers in cinema here. (Scroll Down) https://typedrawers.com/discussion/4841/print-shop-to-the-stars-adam-savage-again#latest

Andreas Seidel

Well, historical accuracy is not usually desirable. The important thing is that the client or viewer can perceive the props as authentically historical and still understand the content.

In computer games set in fantasy and medieval times, there are always signs with village names everywhere. Actually, that didn't exist in the Middle Ages because people couldn't read. The fonts used are of course not historically correct either.

When it comes to "entertainment," don't take everything so seriously.

John J. Blair

I am knowledgeable about railroads. Hollywood gets it wrong about them EVERY TIME!

Mark Simonson

From 2001 to 2013, I did a whole series of articles on my website about this sort of thing—typographic anachronisms in movies and tv shows. I made the point right from the start that it's an occupational hazard as someone who is deep into typography, just as @John J. Blair says about railroads, or any other area of expertise—medicine, physics, hairdressing, etc.

There's a time and money limit to the authenticity filmmakers can put into a production. FWIW, the worst period for typographic anachronism corresponded with the demise of the traditional typesetting industry and the rise of desktop publishing. As the latter matured—especially in the last ten years—the accuracy and attention to detail has gotten better than ever.