From props to icons, a new exhibition at Turin's National Cinema Museum is celebrating the crucial designs and items used on Hollywood film sets that help create the magic of movies.
ADVERTISEMENT“It reminds me of a holy relic,” I say. I’m gaping at it as if it was a splinter of the True Cross, or the bone of a saint. We’re standing in front of a glass case containing a hunk of hair about twenty centimetres in length. Domenico De Gaetano laughs. “I know,” he says. “Icons originally had a religious meaning.”
Around us a couple are taking a picture in front of the guns that Samuel L. Jackson wields while reciting Bible verses in Pulp Fiction; a group of kids gawp at the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter; a family stop in front of the hat Forrest Gump wears in his run across America.
Everyone, it seems, has their favourite object and the effect it has on them is one of awe, as they laugh in recognition. That’s why we’ve stopped in front of the weave of hair that comes from the original costume worn by Peter Mayhew as he played the Wookie Chewbacca in the film Star Wars in 1977. A holy thing indeed.
Domenico is the director of National Cinema Museum of Turin which is situated in the awe inspiring building of the Mole Antonelliana, one of those grand European follies which was built the same year as the Eiffel Tower and for many years was the tallest building in Turin.
From its panoramic terrace, reached by an elevator that takes you Willy Wonka-like through the middle of the museum, visitors see one of the best views of the Italian city with the Po running through it, its churches and palaces and the Alps rising in the distance.
Inside, the vast space of the Mole, visitors experience first the permanent collection which tells the story of early cinema and includes the technology and magic lanterns. “Turin was the capital of Italy briefly and also the capital of Italian film,” Domenico says. The great silent masterpiece of Italian silent cinema Cabiria was shot in Turin.
Movie Icons
In the main body of the cavernous building, a corridor winds up the inside of the open space and here is exhibited a new collection called “Movie Icons” and curated by Domenico, along with collector Luca Cabieri of the Theatrum Mundi, Arezzo and in collaboration with Propstore. The exhibition gathers together one hundred and seventeen iconic props that have starred in Hollywood movies from the last four decades.
One of the first exhibits I see on the ground floor is the “Neuralyzer” from Men in Black, the pen-shaped device that emits a light beam and erases the memories of anyone who stares into it. This is ironic because the next hour is spent with memories flooding back from beloved movies and from the history of popular cinema.
From the original costume worn by Christopher Reeve in the 1978 Superman to Captain America’s shield from the Avengers movies, Gerald Butler’s armour from Zack Snyder’s 300 to the space suits worn by Bruce Willis’ asteroid destroying team in Armageddon, there’s Tom Cruise’s samurai sword from The Last Samurai as well as Excalibur from well John Boorman's Excalibur.
In a world where so much is becoming digital, it’s fascinating to see the physicality of objects, such as Thor’s hammer. “Everybody wants to lift it up and see how heavy it is,” Domenico says, before adding sotto voce, “It’s actually very light.” A huge replica has crashed into the ground outside the museum and is being eagerly photographed.
Science fiction and fantasy tend to proliferate, though there’s also a room with some horror icons - Freddy Kreuger’s claw-like glove from Nightmare on Elm Street and Jason Vorhee’s damaged hockey mask from Friday the 13th. A ten year old boy is taking blood-thirsty pleasure in getting his dad to photograph him posing in front of the gruesome pieces.
“In a realistic dramatic movie a telephone is just a telephone,” Domenico says. “But in this collection every object is really unique. These are designed objects which we want to display the way you would a painting in an art gallery. You don’t need to show where the painting was 600 years ago. Here, we just show the prop alone, like an artefact.”
Facing the future
Domenico sees challenges for museums such as his attempting to track the changes in the film industry. “How do you maintain an archive when you can’t purchase a physical print of the film? And now with streaming there are fewer film posters. We have a collection of film posters but they’re beginning to become fewer and fewer for films in recent years.”
At the same time, the museum is embracing new possibilities. Already there are permanent VR installations boasting long queues and a new section of the museum is opening this month that's dedicated to the overlap between videogames and cinema.
Meanwhile, as we walk from object to object, winding through the building, I can compare and contrast Michael Keaton’s Batman costume with Christian Bale’s cowl and George Clooney’s bat-suit. Everyone seems to have their own particular wow moment.
ADVERTISEMENTFor me, it’s the voodoo doll of Indiana Jones and the “chilled monkey brains” from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Others are marvelling at the Iron Man helmet or gaping at the invitation to Hogwarts. It might be an invitation to a world of magic but it is astonishing that it exists here on real paper.
MOVIE ICONS: Hollywood props runs until 13th January 2025, and is organised by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in collaboration with Theatrum Mundi and hosted inside the Mole Antonelliana, Turin.
