MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Office Space fans forced Swingline to start making red staplers.

Office Space was a 1999 workplace comedy written and directed by Mike Judge. The film follows a group of low level office workers at a tech company and their passive-aggressive boss, who makes his employee's lives a misery. One of the workers has a bit of a mental break, and he just decides not to follow the rules anymore. This leads to some hilarious bits, like when the friends take out their revenge on the constantly faulty office printer.

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Milton's Conception and Characterization

Milton sitting at his office desk with his iconic red stapler

The most famous character in the film is likely Stephen Root's Milton, who is actually the character that Office Space was based on (Mike Judge previously made a series of animated shorts starring the Milton character that aired in a few places, including Saturday Night Live)...

Milton just wants to be left alone and he wants people to keep away from "his" bright red Swingline stapler...

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How Office Space's Red Stapler Went From Fiction to Reality

A promotional image of a black swingline stapler

The thing is, when Office Space was made, there was no such thing as a red Swingline stapler. The filmmakers just spraypainted a classic black Swingline stapler like the one pictured above...

Swingline made red MINI-staplers for years...

An official image of a mini red swingline stapler

Though not regular staplers. Office Space was not a big hit when it was first released in theaters, but became a cult classic when it was on home video. Fans began to demand red staplers and finally, in April 2002, Swingline debuted their red classic stapler...

An official image of a red swingline stapler

They've been making the red stapler ever since.

The legend is...

STATUS: True

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