Tony Swatton

Tony Swatton
Born Hammersmith, London, England
Occupation Blacksmith
Website www.swordandstone.com

Tony Swatton is a British-American blacksmith and gemcutter from Hammersmith, London, England. He is best known for creating props for films and television programmes. He was also the host of the popular webseries, Man at Arms.[1]

History

Swatton is a self-educated blacksmith and a trained jeweller.[2] When he was young, he used to cut gems and later expanded his skillset to include silversmithing. When he was 15, he met Jody Samson who had worked on the Conan the Barbarian film, and started to swap gems with Samson for knives. Unable to afford a knife, Swatton made one out of a file and showed it to Samson. Samson told him that it would break easily, as he hadn't used the right metal or type of treatment.[3]

When he was 17, Swatton attended a renaissance fair where he observed another blacksmith making armour. Swatton then made copies of the blacksmith's equipment and used them to make his own helmet. When he was 26, he opened his first shop in North Hollywood called Sword and Stone where he sold products to Euro Disney and Michael Jackson. In 1991, he was employed to do his first film work on Hook.[3][2] Between 1994 and 1998, Samson worked in Swatton's shop.[3]

Webseries

Swatton was involved in Man at Arms after he was approached by the director. The director was looking for a blacksmith who could create twelve particular weapons and approached Swatton. Swatton accepted as he had previously built prop versions of several of the weapons that had been listed to be created by the director.[3] In the webseries, Swatton created real versions of fictional weapons and armour. Some of his creations included the Zenith Blade from League of Legends[4] and Wolverine's claws from X-Men.[5] The last episode featuring the creations of Tony aired in June 2014.

Personal

Swatton has a fiancée.[2] In 2013, he obtained American citizenship.[6] Swatton was once a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism but left after other members wouldn't acknowledge hits on them from Swatton in mock battles, which led to him having to use force which caused Swatton to leave because he said he didn't want to be a bully.[7]

Film credits

Swatton has been credited and even gone uncredited in many films and TV shows for his contribution to the props departments, making weapons or armour for them, some of the credited performances that he has been given are as follows:

Year Title Credit
2012 The Hunger Games weapons: props - uncredited
2011 Thor props
2011 Sucker Punch weapons
2010 Alice in Wonderland sword maker - uncredited
2007 Beowulf weapons
2007 Epic Movie weapon fabricator
2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest sword maker
2005 Into the Blue sword maker
2005 The Legend of Zorro sword maker
2004 Hellboy sword maker
2004 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed armorer
2004 Spider-Man 2 knife maker
2004 Blade: Trinity armorer
2004 Van Helsing armorer
2003 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl sword maker
2003 The Last Samurai sword maker
2003 The Matrix Reloaded sword maker
2003 Jeepers Creepers 2 armourer
2003 Holes knife maker
2002 The Ring jeweller
2002 Spider-Man sword maker
2002 Men in Black 2 sword maker - uncredited
2001 Ocean's Eleven jeweller - uncredited
2001 Rush Hour 2 sword maker
2000 The Patriot sword maker
2000 Rules of Engagement knife maker
1999 Angel weapons
1998 Blade sword maker - uncredited
1997 Spawn armourer
1997 Buffy the Vampire Slayer weapons
1997 Face/Off knife maker
1996 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series) sword maker
1996 The Crow: City of Angels knife maker
1996 The Cable Guy armourer - uncredited
1995 Casper armourer
1993 Hot Shots! Part Deux sword maker
1991 Hook sword maker - uncredited

References

  1. ↑ Montgomery, Leland (2013-05-10). "Man At Arms: A Blacksmith goes viral". Paste. Retrieved 2013-11-20.
  2. 1 2 3 McLauchlin, James (2013-03-28). "When Hollywood Needs Shiny Instruments of Death, This Blacksmith Delivers". Wired. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Rothman, Lily (2013-03-18). "Forging His Way: Q&A with Hollywood Blacksmith Tony Swatton". Time. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  4. ↑ "Man at Arms forges the Zenith Blade". Na.leagueoflegends.com. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  5. ↑ "Tony Swatton Makes His Own Wolverine Claws". Huffington Post. 2013-07-16. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  6. ↑ "Captain America's Shield". YouTube. 2013-04-29. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  7. ↑ "Really Heavy Metal – Meet Man at Arms weapons master Tony Swatton". Geek exchange. 2013-04-07. Retrieved 2013-11-20.

External links

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