Aug 02, 2016 Warner Bros Archive and Studio Tour
My old roommate who has worked at the Warner Bros archive for decades has been inviting me over for a personal tour of the studio lot for just as long. This summer I finally took him up on it. It’s a unique and historic place which, in some ways, is more like the White House than Universal Studios. There are no rides or shows, but it is a functional working space as well as a culturally significant location and museum.
These days the archive isn’t as much of a viewing place for its antiquities such as the Maltese Falcon or Chuck Jones cells as it is a latest and greatest hits showcase. With the recent Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice flick and upcoming Suicide Squad release, there was a a lot of DC superhero related stuff like props and costumes on display. (Yes, there were key actual comics under glass, too, including Action Comics 1, Detective Comics 27, Justice League of America 12…)
I saw a lot of the same costumes the other week at DC’s Comic-Con booth in San Diego, but they should be reinstalled in Burbank by now. Are you a fan of Deadshot and Harley Quinn? Will DC’s super villains be the ones who come to the rescue of its heroes who do well at the box office but are still chasing Marvel properties on the big screen?
Right upstairs is a Harry Potter section that includes costumes, props, and even a sorting hat. Turns out my wife and I were assigned to Hufflepuff and our daughter was sent to Slytherin. Uh oh. It was interesting seeing the kid-sized school uniforms from the first movies next to their more grown-up gear from the later ones.
Harry Potter’s house-elf Dobby was there, too. He looked great in real life, but some of the Styrofoam is starting to disintegrate. If one of these props is ever called into action, they’ll probably be replaced by computer graphics anyway. (But those won’t look as cool in an archive!) Potter freaks who visit the Wizarding World at Universal Studios should definitely make the Warner Bros Studio Tour part of their pilgrimage.
We left the archive to walk around the lot, and most paying visitors will be driven around in carts to see studios that were used for movies from Casablanca to Billy Jack. Pretty cool but I didn’t take pictures of the big boxes except for the ones seen on Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album cover photo. Across from the company store we saw a piece of the Berlin Wall. We figured it was there because the Sex Pistols‘ first, last, and only record was released by Warner Bros,
There was more Batman stuff to celebrate the Dark Knight’s 75th anniversary at the Picture Car Vault, which has been converted into a Batcave full of vehicle and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman suit. You can tell it was from the 1992 Batman Returns flick and not the Catwoman stinker with Halle Berry because there are shoulders. My friend said that he was present when the Tumbler arrived at the lot and was fired up just for fun!
There is a script-to-screen part of the tour that details the filmmaking process, includes many more props, and leads to a gift shop and cafe that happens to be the one from Friends. Of course, I appreciated the Tim Burton collection, much of which was shown at the LACMA exhibit, as well as a Fellowship of the Rings display with forced perspective that turns you into a Hobbit and your friend into a giant–or vice versa.
There’s an interactive costuming section of the tour as well as plenty of actual costumes, like the ones from Max Max: Fury Road. Cool! Sadly, having my friend’s access did not allow us to try them on. He did tell us some cool stories about seeing the cast of the brand-new Friends TV show eating at the cafeteria when we started working there (we ate there, too) and showed us where Clint Eastwood parked his car as well.
The Legacy Room was probably the lowest-tech part of the tour as well as my favorite section, with the miniature blimp from Blade Runner, Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman outfit, Harry Callahan’s handgun, and the crucifix from The Exorcist. I remember my friend’s dad taking a bunch of us kids to see that movie when we were in fourth or fifth grade and it scared the crap out of us! This prop was still pretty creepy and cool–the power of cinema on display in Burbank for all of us to rediscover and see in person.
Find out more about the the Warner Bros Archive and Studio Tour at wbstudiotour.com, watch movies at the movies (or at least on a decent-sized TV), and follow Imprint on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too.