Check out the photos below and read more from Lanigan after that.
DAN LANIGAN:I started collecting when I was a kid.
Like a lot of kids my age, I had a lot ofStar Warsfigures.
Disney’s Prop Culture.Credit: Disney+
When I was in my mid-teenage years, my mom gave them all to my brother’s kids.
And I wasn’t happy at the time.
I wasn’t still playing with them, but they still were important to me.
Disney+
As I got older, I started collecting things like prop replicas.
In the early days of the internet, somebody was selling an original prop.
It was sold to me as an original piece with some maquettes of the bullets.
Disney’s Prop Culture.Disney+
But it did get me into prop collecting.
How did you first devise the concept of this show?
I had been working in television production for a while.
Disney’s Prop Culture.Disney+
I thought wouldn’t it be great to do a show that celebrated them.
Why do you think movie objects have come to hold such power in our collective consciousness?
You have these movies that are made.
Disney’s Prop Culture.Disney+
And then everybody shares these movies, right?
You watch these movies in the theater, and you become connected to these films.
People share that connection.
Disney’s Prop Culture.Disney+
And whatever else might still exist that was used to make that move.
These props, these objects, this ephemera, seem to have magic to it.
I collect so I can get closer to the movie.
Disney’s Prop Culture.Disney+
As weird as it sounds.
How did you choose which eight films to focus on?
There were a number of movies that I wanted to do.
Disney’s Prop Culture.Disney+
I kind of led the way.
Because it’s all about sharing the love of the movie.
How amazing was that and can you walk us through the experience of being there?
No, no, no, no.
It’s a nondescript warehouse somewhere in the United States.
I can’t say any more than that.
Otherwise, [they] would be very upset.
It makes me feel very small.
And I’m a big guy.
Its pretty emotional watching the creators and actors reunite with these pieces.
How close to tears were you on some of these episodes?
I would say pretty close.
I probably had tears a number of times.
Which of those was cooler?
Well, they both were hot (laughs).
The Caribbean was warm.
Actually, they turn the air conditioning off on these rides after hours.
It was amazing to see the history of how that ride was made literally on the walls around you.
I would say that Disney has done better than most.
They’re doing the best job that I think anybody’s done.
It’s one thing to save all this material from a company’s perspective.
Disney’s trying to save everything.
When it comes to the animation art, they’ve done a spectacular job.
But they’ve also built this amazing collection at the Walt Disney archives where they keep the physical props.
Ultimately, I would want to inspire people that love film to be collectors.
But my collecting inspired me to work in the industry.
I actually was a collector and then I became a filmmaker.
You learn about filmmaking through collecting.
If we could have like-minded collectors out there trying to save this stuff, that would be wonderful.
As far as what to collect, collect what you love.
Don’t collect it based on if you think someone else is gonna like it.
It has to be important to you.
