Many of us have a favorite movie orshow—one that we could rewatch a hundred times without getting bored. And of course, we all have those favoritecharacterswho steal the spotlight and stay with us long after the credits roll. But sometimes, it’s not just the characters that make a lasting impression—certain movie props become so legendary that they take on a life of their own.Today, theBored Pandateam has scoured the internet to find exactly such props. From legendary weapons to unforgettable artifacts, these iconic objects have left a permanent mark on pop culture. Fans still remember them, quote them, and even dream of owning them. Keep scrolling to check out some of the coolest and most unforgettable movie props of all time!This post may includeaffiliate links.

Many of us have a favorite movie orshow—one that we could rewatch a hundred times without getting bored. And of course, we all have those favoritecharacterswho steal the spotlight and stay with us long after the credits roll. But sometimes, it’s not just the characters that make a lasting impression—certain movie props become so legendary that they take on a life of their own.

Today, theBored Pandateam has scoured the internet to find exactly such props. From legendary weapons to unforgettable artifacts, these iconic objects have left a permanent mark on pop culture. Fans still remember them, quote them, and even dream of owning them. Keep scrolling to check out some of the coolest and most unforgettable movie props of all time!

This post may includeaffiliate links.

A person holding a glowing lightsaber in a dimly lit room, related to famous movie props stories.

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Grant Major, production designer: “Tolkien’s idea of the ring, though highly descriptive in its origin and the terrible power it has over its wearer, was described physically as being a simple golden band. This band is able to expand and shrink to fit the hand that wears it and when heated reveals a phrase in Black Speech: ‘One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.’ “When first tasked with the design of this most important prop for The Fellowship of the Ring, I thought it would probably take forever to agree on its look with the director, producers, the studio, LOTR experts, and fans all weighing in.You can imagine the visual significance to the film, the marketing, and other spin-offs, and how this iconic object would have to endure all sorts of ongoing scrutiny and re-production. “It’s interesting to understand that, at this phase of development in late 1998, the film project was completely under the radar, with none of the hype that surrounds it now. And Peter Jackson had the last word in all these design decisions. As it transpired, the overall design concept was quick and easy, one of the producers, Rick Porras, was about to be married and the ring he had chosen was identified as a good starting point for ‘The One Ring.’ Its profile was perfectly bulbous and ‘weighty’ and had a significant ‘historic’ look, was well proportioned and simple enough to carry the phrase on its internal and external surfaces.Alan Lee produced some additional sketches of the ring but it didn’t change significantly from this first idea. A local jeweler from Nelson, New Zealand, Jens Hansen, was chosen to make these ring props. After various prototypes were produced, a final version was chosen and then multiples were made (around 40, I understand) for the actors and doubles in various units, many more were made latterly for publicity and gifts. “There were also versions made for specific moments in the story; an extra large one (way over scale) was used for a super close up when placed on a table (also over scale) in Bag End to achieve a forced perspective effect.Another version was made from a magnetic metal so that when dropped onto the floor inside the front door of Bag End it would appear heavy and not bounce. From memory, there was never a version with the glowing lettering — this became a visual effect. The lettering itself was a direct copy of that found in the book. But it was such a privilege help to bring this iconic prop to life and see how it has now become the definitive version for this movie phenomenon.”

A gold ring with engravings, held between fingers, from a famous movie prop.

A weathered volleyball with a handprint face from a famous movie prop story, lit warmly in a dark setting.

Some props are so legendary that even the actors can’t resist taking them home! Reese Witherspoon’s contract forLegally Blonde 2allowedher to keep Elle Woods’ stunning wardrobe. Daisy Ridley wasgifteda lightsaber fromStar Wars, while Zac Efron took home his signature board shorts fromBaywatch. But how exactly are these crucial props sourced and managed on set?

An adventurer wearing a brown hat and khaki shirt, related to famous movie props stories.

Bond’s original Aston Martin DB5 is not just a car; it’s also a spy gadget. It’s equipped with bulletproof windows, revolving license plates, machine gun front fenders, tire cutter wheels, and even an ejector seat. The world’s most famous spy car is estimated to be worth about $4 million. The only problem is that it’s been missing since 1997 after being stolen from an airport hangar in Boca Raton, FL.There was an extensive search for the famous Aston Martin, but it’s feared that the car may have disappeared forever.

Man leaning on classic silver car, famous movie prop, parked outdoors.

Iconic moment with famous movie prop mask in a thriller scene.

To understand the behind-the-scenes magic of movie props,Bored Pandaspoke to Rahil Patel, a seasoned prop coordinator from India with over three decades of experience in the industry. His insights into theworld of propswere nothing short of fascinating.“It might seem like an easy job, but let me tell you—it’s anything but that,” Rahil shared. “Sourcing the perfect prop isn’t just about finding an object. It’s about ensuring it fits the movie’s setting, matches the director’s vision, and serves its purpose seamlessly in the scene.”

To understand the behind-the-scenes magic of movie props,Bored Pandaspoke to Rahil Patel, a seasoned prop coordinator from India with over three decades of experience in the industry. His insights into theworld of propswere nothing short of fascinating.

“It might seem like an easy job, but let me tell you—it’s anything but that,” Rahil shared. “Sourcing the perfect prop isn’t just about finding an object. It’s about ensuring it fits the movie’s setting, matches the director’s vision, and serves its purpose seamlessly in the scene.”

Red sequin shoes from a famous movie scene, with a magical star wand touching them, embodying iconic movie props.

James Mazzola, property master: “I was Zoltar. I was inside that machine. I built it for the specs of my body. And I sat in the whole thing and designed it so I could fit in there and do all the little apparatuses. You know when the quarter goes down the chute? I had a screen in front and could look at Tom [Hanks] to see when he did his actions. We designed the thing and our fabricator on 23rd St – which is no longer there – built it. It’s all handmade. We actually just cut it up and painted it and taped it and I did the mechanics to it. So you know it was a lot of people involved in the thing, and it came out really well. The timing of that quarter sliding into his mouth was a challenge. Inside I had a whole board with all kinds of levers. I was in good shape and I just knew the systems, so it worked each time and we didn’t have to keep doing take after take. I knew exactly what they wanted, so why teach somebody to do it?”

A man faces a famous movie prop fortune teller machine with glowing eyes at night.

Stuart Craig, production designer: “Like so many things in the Potter world, the concept is really all in the original text, in J.K. Rowling’s description. She says the snitch is the size of a walnut. A golf ball is substituted in practice. It has fluttering silver wings, which must be completely hidden while at rest to achieve the small size. Gert Stevens was the concept artist who did the final illustration. Pierre Bohanna’s prop making team made it… a really delicate piece of mechanical engineering. The wings were stowed in deep narrow channels curving across the surface, apparently surface decoration but secretly hiding the wings.”

Gloved hands holding a famous movie prop Golden Snitch from a grassy field.

“There are different kinds of movies, and in some, props are just that—props. If a dinner scene needs a plate, we get a plate. But then, there are fight scenes or intricate dance numbers where the prop plays a much bigger role. For example, if a character uses a fake knife, we have to make sure it looks as close to a real one as possible while still being safe.”

Woman in classroom holding famous movie prop, a pink feather pen, surrounded by other students.

Joe Johnston, director (in a letter of provenance written for auction): “Cast foam carry board[s were] used in scenes where the actors (usually Robin Williams) had to walk outdoors or move around in the set with the closed Jumanji game. The hero boards that were used for close shots were made of wood and were quite heavy. To reduce the risk of a hero board being dropped and damaged, a mold was made from one of the hero boards and reduced-weight carry boards were produced. There were also molded rubber stunt boards that were only used when an actor had to run or fall with a closed game board, or interact with it in some potentially dangerous way. As far as I know, there were at least two hero boards constructed, one with a false back to allow the magnetized movement of the game pieces. There were at least three carry boards produced. To the best of my recollection, one of the carry boards was destroyed in the scene where the house splits in two. There were four or more rubber stunt boards.”

“Close-up of iconic Jumanji board game prop being held, featuring intricate carvings from the famous movie."

Robin L. Miller, property master: “Bob [Zemeckis, director] loves Americana. He loves a retrospective feel. A movie we’re doing now takes place in 2003 and still he wants the props to feel nostalgic – we’re not cutting edge 2003, but we’re in the ’90s. It’s that kind of comfort.“The box of chocolates had all the selections. Russell Stover Chocolates was an icon. There was the Whitman’s Sampler… and I’m not sure why we didn’t go with that. Maybe [Bob] didn’t like the box. But Russell Stover’s was emblematic. Everyone knew it. It didn’t stand out, which is actually the best prop in the world.“What’s funny is the studio was adamant of getting the box of chocolates. When you wrap a [movie], everything gets logged in case they have to do reshoots. You give them all the documentation so they can remake it. I gave it to them, and five others, but I told them, you can buy this. That’s so rare, actually. The box was the real thing, and hadn’t changed in a long time.”

Characters from a famous movie prop scene discussing on a park bench, with a suitcase beside them.

“For period films, the challenge is even bigger,” Rahil explained. “You can’t just pick any antique-looking object and place it in the scene. Every single detail needs to be historically accurate—right from the fabrics used in costumes to the kind of weapons, jewelry, or even furniture shown on screen.”

Gene Kelly, director-actor-choreographer (in Gene Kelly: A Biography, 1974): “I was running through the lyrics of the song to see if they suggested anything other than the obvious when, at the end of the first chorus, I suddenly added the word ‘dancing’ to the lyric – so that now it ran ‘I’m singin’ and dancin' in the rain.' Instead of just singing the number, I’d dance it as well. Suddenly the mist began to clear, because a dance tagged onto a song suggested a positive and joyous emotion… All that was left for me to do was to provide a routine that expressed the good mood I was in. And to help me with this I thought of the fun children have splashing about in rain puddles and decided to become a kid again during the number. Having decided that, the rest of the choreography was simple. What wasn’t so simple was coordinating my umbrella with the beats of the music, and not falling down in the water and breaking every bone in my body. I was also a bit concerned that I’d catch pneumonia with all that water pouring down on me, particularly as the day we began to shoot the number I had a very bad cold, and kept rushing out into the sun to keep warm whenever I could.”

Man in a suit joyfully swinging on a lamppost in the rain, holding an umbrella, related to famous movie props stories.

Reflections of a famous movie prop scene show a character holding red and blue pills.

Musician in a purple outfit plays an electric guitar on stage, embodying iconic Famous-Movie-Props-Stories vibes.

And it’s not just about getting theright proponce. “We don’t have just one piece of a prop,” Rahil revealed.

David Zucker the co-director/co-writer of Airplane! says the idea started just from sketching a cliche pilot in blow-up form. The art department then created the models that could be connected to an air machine and blown up/deflated as quickly or slowly as the directors wanted. The idea of the “winking” from the doll came from a grip on set, according to Zucker.

Woman in a cockpit scene with an inflatable co-pilot, highlighting famous movie props stories.

Golden ticket from famous movie, close-up view, with vintage paper texture and iconic design elements.

Roger Shiffman, founder of Zizzle L.L.C. and former President of Tiger Electronics: “I worked directly with John Hughes. He came to my office a few times. His original concept in the script was for Macaulay Culkin to have a gun. I said, ‘Look you can’t have a gun at the airport. It just doesn’t fly at O’Hare.’ So I told him to let me work on it. “We actually designed the Talkboy ourselves, which is why it has the design it has, with the grip where he could slide his hand into and the extending microphone so it looked more lifelike. We had not [done a recorder before that] and what was interesting is how big a deal it was for us and Fox. Fox made the introduction with John, but I made a deal with them for a modest royalty I’d continue to build the brand. We went on to do a tremendous amount of volume — there are videos of people fighting over them — but the big success only came when they sold the VHS tape. It was the largest distribution, I think 10 million tapes, and every one had a printed brochure for Talkboy, saying it was a real product you could get.”

Child holding a talkboy recorder, a famous movie prop, in a cozy bedroom setting.

“Continuity is key,” he continued. “Imagine a character holding a specific cup in a scene. If we lose that cup halfway through filming, we can’t suddenly replace it with a different one—it would break the audience’s immersion. That’s why having multiple identical props is crucial.”

The movie Jaws may have been released more than 35 years ago, but one of its most memorable props is still as popular as ever: a full-size mechanical shark head used in multiple scenes of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster. The 17-foot prop—nicknamed Bruce after Spielberg’s lawyer, Bruce Ramer—has become a fixture at theme parks and film exhibitions around the world.

A man on a boat battles a famous movie prop shark with a spear, showcasing dramatic action on the water.

Ray Harryhausen, producer/visual effects director: “Bubo was in the first version of the script that [screenwriter] Beverley Cross showed me around the time of the release of Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger [1977]. I had always wanted to do the story of Perseus and the Gorgon, but I could never work out a coherent continuity. Beverley Cross was a Greek scholar, and the owl was a familiar symbol, even used on the ancient coins, so he weaved it into the story as a guide to Perseus. I worked on the design for quite some time, trying to keep it simple and practical, but beautiful in its own way. As far as the noises he makes, what other sound would a mechanical owl make?” Steven Archer, first animation assistant: “Ray’s main instruction to me was to give the figures rounded movements. Occasionally he would tell me to do more of this or less of that, but overall he seemed pleased with my work. The first animation I did was the flying sequences with the tiny Bubo figure, shot against a blue screen. Most people just wouldn’t realize the sheer physical hard work of doing such scenes, with the figure on wires several feet above the stage. I would have to climb a ladder, move the model, climb down and take the ladder away, walk back to the camera and hit the exposure pedal. Then repeat the thing all over again and yet again later when working with the vulture. Doing that day after day was totally exhausting.“Ray spent a day going through the problems I might face using the rear-screen set-up, and then I also sat in the background for a couple of days just watching him animate. At least the Bubo figure was a lot easier to handle. I had a little trouble with relative size to the background plates and had to re-shoot a few sequences, but it was all part of the learning process. There are so many things you have to consider with the technical aspects, let alone concentrating on the animation movements. It just makes you realize just how brilliant Ray was as an animator.” Quotes courtesy of Mike Hankin, author of Ray Harryhausen: Master of the Majicks

Bubo, Clash Of The Titans (1981)

Woman in iconic dress and sunglasses holding breakfast, showcasing famous movie props stories.

When it comes tocostumes, the same rule applies. “For a dance scene where a character is sweating or moving a lot, we usually have at least three copies of the same outfit,” he explained. “One is worn, another is kept fresh for hygiene purposes, and the third is a backup in case of any wardrobe malfunctions.”

James Wan, director: “Billy was built in my apartment back in Melbourne when I made the [original short film]. I made it from clay, ping-pong balls for eyes, and newspaper wrapped together – all hidden underneath a cheap, kid’s suit. Who the fk makes suits for kids? Here’s a morbid thought: they’re either for weddings, events, or funerals.“When Leigh [Whannell, writer] and I were gearing up for the feature, we thought we would get the Hollywood version, and it would be remade with animatronic and state of the art st. But the movie was so low budget, the producers just said, ‘use that again’!”

“Tricycle-riding puppet from famous movie prop stories, casting a shadow on a dimly lit wall."

Dana Schneider, jewelry designer: “I could tell even before I was contacted [for the movie] that that design really struck home with a lot of the readers. That’s one of those things that you’re almost afraid to take on, because you just know how much people care. But I always like a good challenge. “There were a lot of technical things that had to be worked out, [like] getting the scale right. Because they were in the [book] illustration, I really needed to get the feathers just right. Getting the arrow to float free in the beak. [To carve the bird], I started with a very hard carving wax. By hand. No 3D modeling, no computer printing. The bird itself and ring are cast sterling silver. But for strength, the arrow ended up having to be made out of 14-karat gold. Silver’s just too soft. Then it all gets gold plated.“There’s something about birds in flight. They’ve always had a history of hope and free spirit. I think that’s why I originally starting carving birds in my own jewelry work. But a lot of it really just boils down to a sense of freedom. Then adding the arrow to it I think is interesting because you add that extra element of, I don’t want to say self-defense, but fighting back. Without the arrow, it would just be a really pretty bird and you can draw whatever conclusions you want. But having the arrow in the beak definitely really makes it a symbol for courage, strength, all those good things.”

Hands holding a Mockingjay pin, a famous movie prop, in soft lighting.

Roger Christian, art director: “The eggs were made with grips underneath where you could pull and open them up. Everything in H.R. Giger’s world is combined with female or male body parts, so the eggs had to look menacing and sensual at the same time. The membrane is a sheep’s stomach – I know, because I had to buy stuff from the abattoir all the time (or I’d get my buyers to go). To get that burst out, the only way to do it, Ridley [Scott] had to put on a rubber glove and put his hand up and chucked it out at the camera. That was the only way to get it to work. [The eggs] were heavy and there were only a few made practical. The rest were background ones, which they made a lot of.”

Astronaut in a dark space, surrounded by alien eggs, highlighting famous movie props stories.

“Beyond just sourcing and using props, storing and managing them is a whole other challenge,” Rahil added. “Props need to be maintained, cleaned, and sometimes even repaired daily. They can’t just be tossed aside once a scene is done.”

In the world of Men in Black, the neuralyzer stands out as a quintessential piece of technology that has left a huge impact on pop culture. This unassuming, pen-like device possesses the power to erase the short-term memory of any witness to extraterrestrial activity, ensuring that the secretive work of the MIB remains hidden from the public eye. The neuralyzer’s sleek, futuristic design perfectly encapsulates the film’s blend of science fiction and comedy, making it an instantly recognizable prop that has become synonymous with the franchise.The neuralyzer’s crucial role in the narrative elevates it from a mere gadget to a key plot device, showcasing its originality and narrative significance within the film’s universe. Its iconic status as a memory-wiping tool seamlessly integrates into the story, distinguishing it from more conventional weapons commonly seen in Hollywood blockbusters. This unique feature underscores its impact on the audience, contributing to its lasting impression.

Man in black suit holding a neuralyzer, a famous movie prop, in front of graffiti-covered wall.

Martial artist in a yellow jumpsuit holding nunchaku, showcasing iconic famous movie props stories.

Terry Ackland-Snow, art director: “We did a rough design sketch of what was required, and then it got handed over to the special effects supervisor, John Evans, who made all the gadgets. We were working on it all together at the same time, giving Tim Burton exactly what he wanted Batman to have. [The batarang] was based on trying to fit the symbol of Batman — the idea was to have everything Batmobile-looking, the wings, that sort of thing. All the gadgets echoed each other.” John Evans, special effects supervisor: “I think we made about a dozen. We made some with fiberglass and some with polished aluminum. Anton [Furst]’s team had done all the designs, so he gave us the designs, and we took it from there. It was a simple thing to do. We just had to get the balance right so it could fly through the air.”

Gloved hand holding a famous movie prop shaped like a bat against a brick wall background.

With so much effort going into props, it’s no wonder they become so iconic. Some end up in museums, some are auctioned off for staggering prices, and others? Well, they’re sitting in an actor’s home as a prized memento.

Character opens glowing briefcase in diner, a famous movie prop scene with a gun pointed at him.

Two people holding the iconic Burn Book from a famous movie.

The Proton Pack from “Ghostbusters” was a prop designed to look like a piece of advanced technology. Its fictional purpose to capture ghosts was made believable through its detailed, pseudo-scientific design, capturing audiences’ imaginations and becoming a symbol of the franchise.

Four actors in Ghostbusters uniforms using proton packs, a famous movie prop, with a cityscape backdrop.

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It’s fascinating how certain movie props transform from mere objects into cultural icons. Much like Terry Crews' face on a debit card serving as a humorous yet effective reminder of spending discipline, movie props remind us of their unique allure beyond their narrative function. They possess the power to connect emotionally with audiences, much like Crews' intervention on social media added a personal touch to an already amusing situation.For example, classic movie props have become cultural phenomena explored extensively, reflecting how fans engage with legendary itemssimilarly to how Terry Crews fought to support his fan.

It’s fascinating how certain movie props transform from mere objects into cultural icons. Much like Terry Crews' face on a debit card serving as a humorous yet effective reminder of spending discipline, movie props remind us of their unique allure beyond their narrative function. They possess the power to connect emotionally with audiences, much like Crews' intervention on social media added a personal touch to an already amusing situation.

For example, classic movie props have become cultural phenomena explored extensively, reflecting how fans engage with legendary itemssimilarly to how Terry Crews fought to support his fan.

Man holding a famous movie prop hoverboard, standing between two children outside futuristic buildings.

Children looking outside through a window with a famous movie prop, the leg lamp, glowing warmly beside them.

Peter Lamont, production designer: “I worked with a buyer, Ronald Quelch, and when we did On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, he knew John Asprey, who ran Asprey [& Garrard Limited]. On [Majesty’s] we wanted a vanity case, and we were allowed to borrow one, but if we marked it we bought it. No arguments. When we showed [director] Peter Hunt, there was a smaller box inside the case that he loved, and we mocked it up in the studio. It was awful. So John Asprey said, ‘Get me the imitation crocodile skin and we will make them for you,’ which we did. He fitted all the capsules inside. They did a beautiful job of them. Then in Octopussy we had the Faberge egg, and again, Ronald went to John, and he made them for us. So obviously when I was on Titanic, we wanted the ‘Heart of the Ocean,’ and I spoke to Ronnie and he spoke to John Asprey, and he made it. It was a one-off.“For Jim [Cameron, director], everything had to look as much like Titanic as possible. There were so few photographs of the real Titanic, and a lot was copied after Olympic, a sister ship. I remember the first set we did was the parlor suite. It was a real struggle to get it ready. We put the last screw in the wall to hang the bracket with the lamp that came from Mexico City that night. Jim breezed in and said, ‘Looks right. Smells right.'“The necklace wasn’t based on an old design, but it did need to be heart-shaped. The thing is, it was a rather deep stone. If you have a diamond, they’re always faceted, not cut off flat, because they won’t get any reflections. It was rather expensive and had to be made beautifully. We used a semi-precious stone and, when you looked at it, it had to have all the definition. Couldn’t be flat. Then behind the stone there’s a little cage that protects the stone from being damaged, and we had to have a jeweler remove it because the stone was quite big. Then a facsimile was made right at the very end so it could be thrown into the water.”

Old hand holding a famous movie prop, a heart-shaped blue diamond necklace.

Person in a jetpack gear against a cloudy sky, highlighting famous movie props.

Tobe Hooper, director: “I needed an old saw. A saw that had character from age. One of the investors in the movie happened to have an old saw in his garage. [We had] just that one. Of course production-wise, that’s almost unheard of. That thing could’ve been damaged, stolen, ruined.Leatherface fell with it a couple of times. We were a bit cavalier about being careful with it. So we got another chain for the saw and took all of the teeth off it. Then we took the clutch out of the saw itself to see what would happen. If you rev the engine, the chain without that piece would naturally vibrate around in a circle. So the film only reads that it’s spinning.That made it safe for running with it. “But when it came to a shot where we had to cut something with the saw, we had to put the clutch back in and the chain with teeth back on. It has to go through Leatherface’s pants when he falls at the end of the film. So the clutch goes back in and a piece of metal goes on his leg and underneath there’s meat wrapped in plastic with a lot of stage blood inside it. It ripped through the steak and down to the steel plate that heated to up to maybe 150 degrees because of the friction.His reaction of pain was real. It burnt him. Not real real bad, but enough to make him jump. I didn’t want [the actors] calm at all. It was a miserable shoot, and that misery brought out pure and real fear. I later heard from [Gunnar Hansen] giving interviews that doing that final shot was his last opportunity to k**l me, that he worked that dance up, swinging that saw close to me. It’s right up to the camera. So ending on that, just cutting to black at the peak of the hysteria was totally natural. You’re left breathless.”

Character holding a chainsaw, iconic movie prop, in an outdoor setting during sunset.

Mike Judge, director: “I wanted the stapler to stand out in the cubicle and the color scheme in the cubicles was sort of gray and blue-green, so I had them make it red. It was just a regular off-the-shelf Swingline stapler. They didn’t make them in red back then, so I had them paint it red and then put the Swingline logo on the side. “Since Swingline didn’t make one back then, people were calling them trying to order red staplers. Then people started making red Swinglines and selling them on Ebay and making lots of money, so Swingline finally decided to start making red staplers. “I have the burnt one from the last scene. Stephen Root has one that was in his cubicle. There were three total that we made. I don’t know where the third one is.”

Office worker with glasses at cluttered desk featuring famous movie props like a red stapler.

Man in a tuxedo presenting a jewelry box to a woman in a red dress and white gloves; iconic famous movie props moment.

A person holds a boombox over their head in a classic scene from a park, illustrating famous movie props stories.

Michael Lantieri, special effects designer (in the Jurassic Park feature Making Prehistory): “I was at work and Steven [Spielberg] calls into the office. He goes, ‘I’m in the car, I’m playing Earth, Wind & Fire, and my mirror is shaking. That’s what we need to do. I want to shake the mirror and I want to do something with the water.’ The mirror shaking was really very easy – put a little vibrating motor in it that shook it. The water was a another story. It was very difficult thing to do. You couldn’t do it. I had everyone working on it. Finally, messing around with a guitar one night, I set a glass and started playing notes on a guitar and got to a right frequency, a right note, and it did exactly what I wanted it to do.”

A famous movie prop, a plastic cup filled with water, reflecting light in a dimly lit scene.

Amie McCarthy-Winn, prop master: “It was the first [movie] that I ever prop mastered. I worked with really good people. I remember one thing that Harold [Ramis, director] said to me, and I’ll never forget it. I had a ‘show and tell’ set up, where I lay out props. I’m walking him through the room and the minutiae of props, and I said, ‘Is there anything I should know from you on what you’d like from my department?’ He laughed and smiled and said, ‘I just want the props to work.’ I’ve never forgotten that. There’s nothing else I want either.“At a production meeting, they decided they wanted a digital clock, but there were issues with the lighting of it. So they went to a little older fashioned: the flip. So I went out to prop houses in California and got samples to show to Harold and the producers. I think we found ‘the one’ at a fair in a town outside Illinois called Sandwich, a once-a-month thing where everyone sells stuff. They ultimately say, ‘I like this one,’ and that was well and good, but I didn’t have another in my back pocket. You need multiples. But we found one more – I only had two originals – and I deferred to another prop master for a referral for someone who could make multiples of the clock.“I think I had eight to 12 of the clocks. There were the originals, and then there were clocks that I made that were rigged to simply go from 5:58 to 5:59 to 6:00. That was another couple I had in my back pocket. A prop maker makes molds of the real clocks, of all the pieces, they measure the numbers – it’s a big megillah. There was a remote control off camera and they’d count down and you wouldn’t have to wait. I also had breakaway clocks that only said “6:00” and had junk inside.“The most annoying thing to me was, before the movie came out, there were billboards for the movie with Bill Murray on one side, Andie MacDowell on the other, and a clock in-between, and it’s a big clock with bells on the side. Who didn’t talk to who? That’s not the clock! But I had a great experience. We got the [continuity] in the town square down to a science.”

Flip clock displaying 5:59, related to famous movie props.

Handwritten note related to famous movie props, detailing a young actor’s role and preferences.

Golden idol movie prop on a mossy pedestal from a famous film.

Person in a dramatic scene with a glowing box, related to famous movie props stories.

Robert McGinnis, poster designer (in the book Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M., 2010): “The art director told me that all they wanted was a single figure, just this girl standing, but with a cat over her shoulder, and that she would be holding her long cigarette holder. They sent me a few movie stills to work with and I said, ‘Sure, why not?’…. [The art director] told me they wanted to establish that Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a movie about the city. They wanted a couple embracing with the skyline in the background, which they wanted to contrast with the elegance in the main figure of Audrey.“Blake Edwards, director (in an interview with The New York Times, 1960): “Even Capote is happy about the script. He wrote the producer that we should watch the two-foot cigarette holder and not come too close to Auntie Mame, but he thought we had Holly right, and that was the main thing. I couldn’t agree more.”

Two characters holding drinks, dressed elegantly, in a scene featuring famous movie props.

Person holding a hamburger phone, famous movie prop, in a bedroom setting with posters.

Group of actors in costume, holding a constellation map; iconic props from a fantasy film scene.

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Peter Farrelly, director: “We shot most of the bowling stuff in the Pittsburgh area. There are tons of old bowling alleys around Pittsburgh – in the Midwest, they bowl! But they’d never been changed, so they were just beautiful. Every town had one!“We were scouting for the bowling alley and there it was, on a shelf. I said, we have to get his for Big Ern, so we bought it from them. When I first saw it, it looked like art, man. But [Bill Murray] did bowl with it, of course. The minute we handed it to him he was just tickled. And there was only one ball. Now it lives in Kings Alley in Boston, Massachusetts. They have a Kingpin wall.”

Man in a flashy bowling outfit holding a golden bowling ball.

Guy Bushman, assistant property master (in a letter of provenance written for auction): “[Cinematographer Conrad Hall] wanted a white power cord for contrast on-screen. The real black power cord was hidden in Olivier’s sleeve while a vestigial white cord was added for effect.“Jim Clark, editor (in Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing): “The sound effect of the drill was crucial to the effect we desired. As the drill came closer and began to go out of focus, we altered the pitch of the drill, as if it were boring into something hard. The sound continued until the camera panned to the white light when the drill stops and [Dustin Hoffman’s] scream is heard. The out-of-focus image was created in the optical printer, as was the zoom into the white light.“The astonishing thing about this scene is that it remains potently arresting while not being visually emphatic. Very little is actually shown. Originally there was another section that was much more graphic. I did suggest to [director John] Schlesinger that we should shoot some very close inserts of the drill touching the tooth. He did not think this was at all necessary but allowed me to shoot some material. I spent some time getting the special effects people to produce a whiff of smoke as the drill hit the tooth. I thought this was really good, which shows how insensitive I had become to the power of this sequence. The graphic inserts remained in the film for a long time and were there for the first preview without causing the audience to faint.”

Hand holding a classic movie prop against a bright light, highlighting famous movie props stories.

Perry Blake, co-production designer: “It was a totally fabricated prop. We started with the hockey stick, in terms of the size of it. The bottom part was, more or less, like a hockey stick, but we also wanted to make it flat and smooth. As far as I know, there wasn’t anything like this that existed – it’s not like you could go online and buy them, and I don’t remember anybody having them.“We mocked them up and would bring them to director Dennis Dugan, and, you know, Adam is very involved in his movies, so he was testing them out and looking at them and deciding which one he liked best. We wanted to have one ‘prove-it’ shot that was like a 25ft putt, one where Adam actually made it. So the putter actually had to work.“I remember the day we were shooting that scene, it was basically like, OK, we’re just gonna sit here, and Adam’s gonna shoot the ball from way back there until he makes it in. Everyone was betting on how many it would be: Is it gonna take him more than five shots? Is it gonna take him 10 shots? Finally, when he made it in, everybody went crazy. It was a lot of fun.”

Man on golf course with hockey stick, iconic movie prop surrounded by onlookers.

Chris L. Spellman, production designer: “I was doing the film Knocked Up with Judd Apatow [who] said he had this other film that he was producing and that he’d like me to meet on it and read the script. I really laughed out loud a number of times. I remember reading about the guys trying to get alcohol and Fogell getting a fake ID. I don’t believe it was really descriptive, I think it just said he brought out a fake ID and that his name was McLovin.I don’t believe it said that he was from Hawaii. I actually mentioned to the guys, why don’t we make his license from Hawaii [because] I had done a film there and I just thought about a state that’s not even in the mainland. I remember researching streets because we had to put a street name on there.“The guy that created it was our graphics designer named Ted Haigh and I brought him on the movie because he has a website called Dr. Cocktail and he knows more about the history of cocktails and alcohol than anyone I’ve ever met. I knew that we had to create all these alcohol labels, because the kids were under 21 and we had to create fictitious labels. So I brought Ted on, mainly to do the liquor labels and stuff. Sometimes the best part of working with Seth and Evan is actually making them laugh and hearing them laugh. I recall Seth laughing and saying, ‘Yeah, let’s make him from Hawaii.'”

“Hawaii driver’s license prop from a famous movie, held between fingers, showcasing unique story details."

Person using a computer to browse famous movie props, showing a plaid outfit on screen.

Man in pajamas with a unique helmet, a notable movie prop, lying in bed.

Pascal Lamorisse, actor (Pascal) and son of director Albert Lamorisse, in an interview with NPR (2007): “It’s a love story. This poor little boy, we’ll call him Pascal, he seems to have a grandmother. No sisters, no parents, and his only hope in life, his only real, close friend, is the red balloon. The red balloon was my friend. He was really like a real character with a spirit of his own, because he was glossy and reflected the world around him. It looked beautiful. You don’t see balloons like that.”

A child holding a red balloon stands on a sidewalk, an iconic famous movie prop in a vintage street scene.

Alfred Hitchcock, director (in the book Hitchcock, 1966): “[Rear Window] was a possibility of doing a purely cinematic film. You have an immobilized man looking out. That’s one part of the film. The second part shows what he sees and the third par shows how he reacts. This is actually the purest expression of a cinematic idea.“He’s a real Peeping Tom. In fact, Miss Lejeune, the critic of the London Observer, complained about that. She made some comment to the effect that Rear Window was a horrible film because the hero spent all of his time peeping out of the window. What’s so horrible about that? Sure, he’s a snooper, but aren’t we all?“A 1954 ad for the Exakta VX: The choice of the Exakta VX for Hitchcock’s best motion picture could not have been unintentional because of the fact that the VX is the most versatile camera in the world. With it you can photograph any type of subject, microscopic or gigantic, an inch or a mile away. With the VX you can shoot routine pictures with a maximum of simplicity and ease, and master any difficult or challenging subject as James Stewart did in Rear Window.

Person using a large camera lens, representing famous movie props stories.

Jane Musky, production designer: “When we were designing Molly’s loft set, Demi Moore had wanted a work space of some kind. Somewhere along in this process Demi had begun pottery lessons to learn how to use the wheel and shape pots. She actually became very good at throwing pots. We used her teacher’s pots on all the shelves and Demi learned to throw in that style so the work would all look like hers.“When Jerry Zucker was directing the love scene with ‘Unchained Melody’ we all left the stage while they came up with the choreography. Somewhere between, Jerry, Demi, and Patrick [Swayze] hit the pottery wheel and the rest is history. [The clay] created quite a mess take after take. The slip was all over the floor. We created a real working studio. Clay and mess everywhere. I also held my breath each day hoping the juke box would not malfunction.”

Hands shaping a clay pot, iconic scene from a well-known film, highlighting famous movie props.

Howard Cummings, production designer: “What I really didn’t know until we started getting into it is that Bryan [Singer, director] wanted all the clues in the room. So we started thinking, What could these different things be? We’d all stand around and argue about what [Kevin Spacey’s character, Verbal Kint] should look at.“The cup, though, was the scripted centerpiece of it all… It was a breakaway mug. But they don’t really hold coffee well, so we had to find a matching mug. I can’t remember if we picked the mug based on what we could find in breakaways or if we actually had to make a breakaway mug. I didn’t realize Bryan was going to do an ultra, ultra close-up. And there is no Kobayashi Porcelain. You can sort of see in the close-up that it’s stamped on and I am sitting here cringing, going ‘Nooo.’ Getting it to break, I remember I had to break a few. It was coincidental that in the floor shot it broke looking the right way. But we had to break several so the name was readable. And that [mug] had to be real because you could see the edges of it.”

Broken coffee mug prop on wet floor, part of famous movie props stories.

Person holding “Merry Christmas” sign from famous movie prop scene, wearing dark coat, with festive lights in background.

Flamethrower guitar from a famous movie prop scene in a desert battle with vehicles and speakers.

Polaroid of a garden gnome and Russian architecture, related to famous movie props stories.

Spaceballs character using a humorous flame thrower, surrounded by cereal boxes in a scene from the movie.

A man in front of a painting, holding a brush, inside a vintage train cabin.

Gideon Ponte, production designer (in an interview with Yahoo, 2015): “All I remember was just trying to find out what you would put on these cards, and how they were meant to look. So there was a lot of talking to bankers and trying to get a hold of cards. In the end, actually, the cards probably are — and this is my fault — more European than American.”

A business card from “American Psycho,” showcasing a famous movie prop story.

In The Big Lebowski, Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski’s quest for justice begins after two intruders assault him and urinate on his rug, which “really tied the room together.” This incident propels The Dude on a chaotic adventure searching for compensation.Set decorator Richard Johnson searched prop warehouses and antique stores in Los Angeles to find a rug that suited The Dude’s bohemian lifestyle. The props team chose a Persian-style rug with a subdued yet intricate pattern, striking a balance between visual appeal and the laid-back aesthetic of The Dude’s apartment. Its eclectic design subtly reinforced his mismatched, carefree existence.The props team lightly distressed the rug to give it a lived-in feel, adding scuffs and fading while keeping it intact enough to justify The Dude’s attachment. While the original rug hasn’t surfaced publicly, replicas have become fan favorites at events like “Lebowski Fest.” .

Person in robe and sneakers striking a pose on a rug in a cluttered room, related to famous movie props stories.

Nick Adams, actor (Chick) (in an interview with Modern Screen, 1956): “I remember [James Dean’s] reaction one afternoon when we worked on Rebel Without a Cause, and we all argued against his decision to use a real knife, instead of a prop, in the famous knife fight scene. All we had to do was catch the look in his eyes as he stared in protest at us, to know that a prop would be too dull, let alone unrealistic, as far as he was concerned. So he might get cut. So what? So he did get cut – and he was delighted with the feeling of satisfaction that came to him, a feeling based not only on the fact that he had lived his role more than he had pretended it, but that there was a kick to this way of acting, as there should be to everything a fellow pitches in to do – and no matter the cost.”

Two men in a tense standoff over a knife, depicting a story about famous movie props.

Jane Musky, production designer: “Props had many tryouts and ended up with the set Alec [Baldwin] was comfortable with. We all decided they had to be big enough and intimidating enough and brass, for sure, but not too big or small, as to be silly. The sound of them hitting is what sold the gag. The brass balls also had to fit in his briefcase with the steak knives. If I am remembering correctly there were some laughs at first [during shooting], but, with such a wonderful and skilled cast, once the scene clicked it was dead silent and serious.“On Glengarry the prop master and I spent quite a bit of time developing the dressing and propping inside each salesman’s desk since they were at these desks for days on end. Opening and closing drawers. Using the contents during filming. The first day the actors came to the set it was a thrill to see this incredible ensemble sit at their stations and spend about 20 minutes going through the drawers and file cabinets smiling. Each gave us a small list of additions and we were on our way. That office set lives in my memory as one of the great thrills of my design career.”

Man in a suit holding movie props with a colleague in the background.

Robert L. Carringer, from his book The Making of Citizen Kane (1984): “The original Rosebud sled… [was] custom-built in the RKO property department. It was thirty-four inches long, made entirely of balsa wood, and fastened together with wood dowels and glue. Actually, three identical sleds were built; two were burned in the filming.“Orson Welles, director (press statement, 1941): “The most basic of all ideas was that of a search for the true significance of the man’s apparently meaningless dying words. Kane was raised without a family. He was snatched from his mother’s arms in early childhood. His parents were a bank. From the point of view of the psychologist, my character had never made what is known as ‘transference’ from his mother. Hence his failure with his wives. In making this clear in the course of the picture, it was my intent to lead the thoughts of my audience closer and closer to the solution of the enigma of his dying words.These were ‘Rosebud.’ The device of the picture calls for a newspaperman (who didn’t know Kane) to interview people who knew him very well. None had ever heard of ‘Rosebud.’ Actually, as it turns out, ‘Rosebud’ is the trade name of a cheap little sled on which Kane was playing the day he was taken from his home and his mother. In his subconscious it represented the simplicity, the comfort, above all the lack of responsibility in his home, and it also stood for his mother’s love which Kane never lost.”

“Close-up of a snow globe with ‘Rosebud,’ a well-known famous movie prop."

Scott Maginnis, property master: “[Christopher Nolan] had this old thing that he called a top… but it wouldn’t actually spin. So I completely redesigned [Nolan’s top], and the only thing I kept from that one was the texture. It had an amazing texture. “Then I got a bunch of tops, I got about 20 of them, and went out to spin them to see which looked the best and spun the best. From that I had four different people make one which would work, and when that one came in, it was obvious that it was the one. It’s funny: I spent about three or four months designing the case that transports in and out of their dreams, but the top took me about three hours.”

Spinning top movie prop on a smooth surface, showcasing iconic movie memorabilia.

Lynda Reiss, property master: “It was a very low-budget movie. A tiny budget, and I had a tiny portion of the tiny budget. When I talked to Sam [Mendes, director] about the shopping bag, he was very specific about it not having markings on it. No store name, no ‘thank you, have a nice day’ — he wanted a plain, white plastic bag.…I made calls to various manufacturers but the only way I could get one unmarked plastic bag was to buy 5,000 unmarked plastic bags. Even though it didn’t seem like a lot at the time, it was still in the range of $500. Which with my $17,000 budget or about that, I couldn’t afford it.…Towards the end of my prep, my assistant and I were in downtown LA and we’re buying all sorts of stuff from all sorts of stores for all the characters. We came back to my house, and we’re unloading my car, and we’re piling all these bags on to the table, and right in the middle of the pile, is this white plastic bag with no markings. And I’m like, THAT’S THE BAG. We didn’t know where it came from — we’d been to 55 different places. The receipts just say ‘item number whatever.’ I have no idea where that bag came from, but it came to me. It came from the prop gods who knew I’d never find one otherwise.”

A plastic bag in the wind on a sidewalk, reminiscent of famous movie props scenes, with autumn leaves nearby.

Two actors stand near vintage chairs with famous movie props on a white background.

Twigs arranged in a symbolic pattern in a forest, associated with famous movie props stories.

A person playing a banjo outdoors, a famous movie prop from a classic film scene.

Man cleaning a dish in a vintage kitchen with a woman observing, illustrating famous movie props stories.

Keith Walters, property master: “They use those things to stun cattle, but I think this was a little bit of creative license on Cormac McCarthy’s part that it worked like it did in the film. Basically the effects guy designed and built the little bolt part so they could have one that was really practical and could knock the locks out, and then, of course, one that was inert that they could put against someone’s head. Then we searched different places to find an air tank and I happened to find two tanks taped together at a surplus store in Albuquerque. I bought those tanks and the guys loved them, so that gave us two of those. We got some hose and fit it together.“For as iconic of a prop as it became, it was a pretty simple process. We needed something that was handheld and mobile enough that he could carry the tank and the bolt itself. No one really knew what it was. No one was particularly scared of it when he came out – it wasn’t like he was carrying a gun – so he put it to the guy’s forehead and k****d him. I don’t think anybody realized you could k**l someone with it. That was part of the mystique of the whole thing: until he did it the first time you really didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t your conventional weapon.“We took most of the descriptions from the book and used them. Especially with all the guns and things. I just went through the book and listed everything that Cormac described and that’s why we used the shotgun with the silencer on it. We built that to his description, which was a silencer that ‘looked like a beer can.’ So, we tried to interpret his descriptions and make the props in the film as close to the book as we could get.”

A man with a tank stands by a vintage car in a desert setting, depicting a famous movie prop scene.

Barry Bedig, property master: “We made the bat from scratch. It took a long time. I had to go to a place that makes bats. Except for early bats from 1890, 1901, which are a little bigger, making a [period-appropriate] bat was the same as today. But I had hundreds of bats, and many of the specific bat. There’s also a scene where the father makes a bat, and we just found out how they did it in the old days, and made the bat as a block of wood, then halfway finished, three-quarters of the way finished, then finally the finished product. I had a little boy on set write Wonder Boy in his handwriting. We copied that, made a stencil, then wood burned it into bat. They all had to be the same.”

Wood burned with “WONDERBOX” for a famous movie prop scene, surrounded by carving tools and shavings.

Karolyn Grimes, actress (Zuzu): “I’m sure they threw it away. It was a flower! I know it was burgundy colored – a really beautiful burgundy color rose. I remember that, but I’m quite sure it was thrown away. The movie wasn’t a success when it came out so it wouldn’t have been anything great to hang onto anyway. It was just a movie and no one thought it would ever become what it is today. No one knew. So all of the props were pretty much destroyed in the ’50s. That’s the way it goes. But this is one of the most beloved movies of all time now.“It was something I never dreamed would happen. I never even saw the movie until I was 40. Now I live it, eat it, drink it, sleep it, and I have a wonderful time meeting people and traveling and sharing it. And, oh my goodness, they share with me their feelings and their thoughts about the movie and how it’s helped them through life.“Since 1980, It’s a Wonderful Life has been a huge part of my life. Everyone remembers Zuzu’s petals. When we actually filmed it, I saw Jimmy Stewart put the petals into his pocket. I’m sure [the director] Frank Capra shot it several times, and I don’t suppose I was watching him put the petals in his pocket with each of the scenes that he shot, but he kept it in there. So I have to think he did it for a reason. I think that he put it in there because he wanted to show that Zuzu loved her daddy very much but she knew he wasn’t perfect.“It’s an integral thread throughout the movie. When George Bailey is in the unborn sequence and he’s downtown and it’s all crazy down there and he jumps in Ernie’s cab, he says, ‘Hurry, Zuzu’s sick.’ So she’s mentioned there and when he comes out of Martini’s he looks for the petals and they’re not there. It’s a thread that runs throughout that unborn sequence. It showed how much he loved that little girl and how much he loved his family and how fortunate he was to have his family. So when he found those petals when he came back to the born sequence again, it was such a joy to him.”

Child and adult exchanged glances, famous movie props storytelling moment, in a black and white setting.

A famous movie prop of a sculpted face, with a person in the background, creating an atmospheric scene.

Iconic silver sphere prop from a famous movie featuring blades, reflecting a setting.

Amplifier knobs from a famous movie prop, labeled Volume I and Volume II, turned up high.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, actor (Michael/Laszlo) (in “Belmondo: Father and Son,” Têtes d’affiche, 1961): “When I accepted the role, [Jean-Luc Godard] gave me three little pages where he’d written, ‘He leaves Marseilles. He steals a car. He wants to sleep with the girl again. She doesn’t. In the end, he either dies or leaves – to be decided.’ And we opted for his death […] In Breathless, [Michel Poiccard] does what he wants and isn’t afraid of anything… But he takes it a step further. He’s so relaxed. He kills a cop, but it doesn’t shake him. He steals money like it’s completely natural. It’s not a problem for him. James Cagney played gangsters, too, of course, but he was always tense, and terrible things always happened to him. Poiccard got k****d at the end, but that’s the only bad thing that happens to him.”

“Character holding a prop gun, driving with intense expression, illustrating famous movie props stories."

Jon Neill, prop maker: “The blue box was a really complicated piece that had to be machined. My business partner and I were working at Prop and Custom Inc. when we got Mulholland Drive. From what I recall, David did some of the first rough sketches, and then based off those, I did some more drawings. The script was pretty secret, [and] the scenes would be described loosely to us, like how Lynch wanted to see the box work – he had a vision and direction in his head. He wanted the box to appear otherworldly, with a weird key that would unlock a seamless box and the hinges needed to be inside the box, so that when it would finally open, the metal would have a clean look.“We made a prototype version in the beginning that wasn’t working. Then we figured out a way to make it open where there were no hinges on the outside. The second box was just a cube with a key hole – no door – just smooth like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. We had to make two versions of the box, so Lynch could get the different shots he needed, where the box was being examined closed and opened.“Both versions were either anodized aluminum, or they were painted to look like they had a deep auto-body color. The chunkier key was also aluminum. But Lynch didn’t want you to look at these and think, Oh, these are definitely made out of aluminum. Jim, the guy I worked with, was a custom hotrod guy, so he was very into candy paint and clear coats and stuff like that – stuff that would make the light bounce through, off the aluminum, and give it that otherworldly feel. There’s a luminescence to the blue that’s on those props. I would say there’s probably 1/16 of an inch of paint on the boxes – enough that if you held it in the light, you’d be like, Oh man, that pops!“Watching the movie afterward to see how he restructured whatever it was that he had in his mind, it was like trying to come to grasp with, Did the blue box come from outer space? Was it an inter-dimensional thing? Or was it some kind of life force? I am as close to having any answers about the meaning of the box as every single person who’s seen the movie – even though I’ve worked on it and had it described to me.”

Hands holding a blue box and key from a famous movie prop.

Stephan Dupuis, special makeup designer: “I was told [the gun] was ‘made of bones and it shot teeth.’ You take that information and you go from there. I said to myself, ‘Let’s see, made from bone and there’s some meat attached and it’s served in a restaurant.’ Poor Jude Law had to eat the gelatin that we attached to it and make it seem like it was chicken. Let me tell you: it was not. You could see he was turning green towards the end of the fifth take.“But [Jude Law’s character] assembles the thing and turns it into a gun. The psychotic waiter comes over, and Law shoots him in the cheek and part of his ear goes. Then the waiter goes berserk with the meat cleaver, and he shoots his face off. So we made several prop ones with the handle – that you would assemble and click together – for Jude. Then there was one that was rigged like a prop gun. It wasn’t really shooting teeth but there was a loading zone for the teeth in there. And that was it. When he shoots his face off it was synchronized with the prop gristle gun, the mechanical one with the tubing that was hidden underneath. It was kinda a mask that I made for the guy with his last expression – kinda screaming. There were different plugs in it and different chambers that were going to shoot all the goo and the blood. That was done with air pressure – not with explosives because that was right against his face. So that’s what you see in the movie.“There were sketches I made and David [Cronenberg] approved them and then we went from there. I just bought a whole bunch of model kits basically. Human skeletons, cat skeletons – you name it. And then I looked at the pieces and arranged them in a fashion with some plastic and fused them together and built it from those anatomy class skeletons … It was a really cool concept. So bizarre. But then again, you know, that’s David.”

Actor holding a unique movie prop in a dramatic scene, highlighting famous movie props stories.

A hand holding a famous movie prop: a small origami unicorn, significant in film storytelling.

Enzo Staiola, actor (Bruno) (in Working with De Sica, 2005): “Poverty was all around us, and I represented this poverty. That’s how Italy was back then. People were hungry. The war had just ended. Losing a bicycle seemed like the end of the world. People had to pawn their bed linen. That’s how it really was.“Suso Cecci d’Amico, co-writer (in Working with De Sica, 2005): “I thought it was absolutely essential to have an ending. An ending where he returns home and just closes the door didn’t seem satisfactory to me. I thought, ‘How are you going to tell the story? You have to tell what happens to the protagonist.’ I got the idea of him deciding to steal a bicycle, since he sees so many of them around. It will stay in the child’s memory his whole life, the terror at seeing his father about to be arrested.”

A man in a uniform holding a bicycle, looking at a boy; famous movie props depicted in a black-and-white scene.

Piles of frogs and a prop gun on the ground, connected to famous movie props stories.

Bryan Burrough, writer of “The Mystery of the Maltese Falcon,” Vanity Fair (2016): “One studio memo said John Huston himself had been involved in commissioning the statuette for the film. He had contracted an artist to make it for $75.““During the 1940s, [Black Dahlia mr suspect Dr. George Hodel] had run in a circle of celebrated artists and filmmakers that included director John Huston and the noted Surrealist Man Ray. According to the book, one of Hodel’s closest friends was Fred Sexton, an artist who was also a friend of Huston’s. In a single aside, the book made the claim that Huston had Sexton sculpt the original Maltese Falcon.“It was the first time [anyone] had seen any artist’s name associated with the Falcon’s creation. But that wasn’t the only thing the book had to say about Fred Sexton. It was [Black Dahlia Avenger author] Steve Hodel’s theory not only that his father had kd Elizabeth Short but that his accomplice in a series of other unsolved m*****s during the 1940s had been none other than Fred Sexton.”

Actors gathered around a table examining famous movie props in a classic film scene.

Alfred Hitchcock, director (in the book Hitchcock, 1966): “It took us seven days to shoot [Marion’s stabbing] and there were seventy camera setups for forty-five seconds of footage. We had a torso specially made up for that scene, with the blood that was supposed to spurt out from the knife, but I didn’t use it. I used a live girl instead, a naked model who stood in for Janet Leigh. We only showed Miss Leigh’s hands, shoulders, and head. All the rest was the stand-in. Naturally, the knife never touched the body; it was all done in the montage. I shot some of it in slow motion so as to cover the breasts. The slow shots were not accelerated later on because they were inserted in the montage so as to give an impression of normal speed…. This is the most violent scene in the picture. As the film unfolds, there is less violence because the harrowing memory of this initial k*****g carries over to the suspenseful passages that come later.”

Silhouette of person holding a raised knife, reminiscent of iconic movie prop scenes, with dramatic lighting.

Andrew McAlpine, production designer: “I found the piano at a supplier of pianos and other instruments in London. At the time, Jane [Campion, director] wasn’t imagining it to be a cable piano, which is what you see in the film. She had thought, the way she had written it, that it would be an upright piano. But the problem with an upright piano is that you’ve always got the back of the piano, which is very ugly. And you don’t want to see the back of the piano. So the camera as it circles around our piano, the one in the film, you have this beautiful, beautiful instrument Harvey [Keitel] could be seen cruising around like a shark. It’s a very erotic piece of musical instrumentation.“I had to make four other replicates of the piano. The first one was when the Maori men have to go get the piano off the beach and carry it through the forestry to the house where Sam [Neill’s character] lives. There was a piano that had to be built into the box in the canoe. The third piano, the one that went to Harvey Keitel’s [home], was a silent piano because you can’t have live piano to camera. Then the last piano was a steel-frame piano for when it’s thrown off the boat at the end and has to sink down through the water. So it was a major, major logistical journey. I had a piano maker who could make repairs or look after the upkeep of the pianos, all the veneers. So you could, at any given time, do a close-up on the piano itself. If the film is called The Piano, you better be sure it looks pretty good all the time.”

Two people on a beach with a wooden cart at dusk, related to famous movie props stories.

Scott Maginnis, property master: “On the shelf are a whole bunch of other colognes and this was the one that was supposed to stand out. This one was for ‘the important ladies.’ I don’t remember if the elevator that it comes up on was in the script. It described a very elaborate box. Then there’s Judd Apatow’s line: “it’s a diaper filled with Indian food.““So I bought a humidor, for storing cigars, and then lined it with astroturf, and then built a unit below it with the elevator on a servo so we could control it. Then I had a sculptor make the actual panther, which was based on some panther photo that I found. It was her idea to have the ear pop off – it was definitely a joint effort.“But you know when you’re watching the movie and it’s a little wonky when it comes up? When I had it built, we got it to work really smooth. But when we were filming it it was really jerky. We realized the focus-puller for the camera, his [rig] was wireless and it was on the same frequency as the servo. So we were having the toughest time getting it right, then we finally got a perfect one. I talked about it with Adam later and it turned out it was funnier with the jerky take. That was a happy accident.”

A famous movie prop featuring a black panther head in a wooden box with green lining and leaves.

Person in a white suit with a box of eggs, illustrating a scene linked to famous movie props stories.

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