Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

During his five decades in show business, producer Joel Silver has amassed one of the modern cinema’s greatest collections, featuring desired and iconic props, costumes, scripts and models not only from his productions but from such films as House of Wax, Blade Runner, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (in which the producer had a cameo as a director).

For the first time, Silver will offer all of these precious and celebrated memories to the public: More than 100 items from Silver’s collection, representing nearly every major film of his career (even Xanadu and Hudson Hawk!), will be sold through Heritage Auctions during the July 22-23 Hollywood & Entertainment Signature® Auction. Every item comes with a letter of authenticity signed by Silver.

“Everywhere you look in this auction is something from a movie you know by heart,” says Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena. “This is one of those auctions movie-lovers only dream of – a chance to own something from a childhood favourite, a movie that upended the industry, a film that revolutionized the art form. These are some of Joel’s most prized memories from some of his biggest movies, including all of his scripts from the Lethal Weapon series, and to share them with our client-collectors is a pleasure and a thrill.”

Look no further than the more than a dozen props from 1999’s The Matrix, otherwise known as The Movie That Changed Everything.

Here is the Nebuchadnezzar itself, or at least the original production maquette used during The Wachowskis’ first visit to the Matrix. This is the ship captained by Morpheus as he searched for The One: the model comes in its original wooden crate and still lights up when plugged in.

This auction also features the lightning rifle hero prop, designed for use against the lethal Sentinels but also the weapon used by Cypher to kill Dozer and injure Tank. And there are two Sentinels – one, a standalone model; the other, featuring a “squiddy” affixed to the Nebuchadnezzar during the battle sequence late in the film.

From 2003’s The Matrix: Revolutions comes three life-sized Agent Smith models created for the climactic rain-soaked brawl pitting Keanu Reeves’ Neo against Agent Smith in front of an infinite number of Smiths. Most of the agents were just actors made to look like Weaving; but to flesh out the fight, the Wachowskis had lifelike Smiths scattered throughout the crowd.

This isn’t the only Hugo Weaving available in this event: from Silver’s office comes a life-sized display clad in the complete hero costume and Guy Fawkes mask Weaving wore in 2005’s V for Vendetta, written by The Wachowskis and based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel. This is the entire costume, too, from the black waffle-weave jacket to the half dozen steel daggers to the signature felt hat.

No less impressive – or imposing – is the life-sized creature suit display from 1990’s Predator 2. The alien was the creation of legendary special-effects artist Stan Winston, who was recommended by the original film’s star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and took his inspiration from a portrait of a Rastafarian warrior in Silver’s office and Aliens director James Cameron’s suggestion of a creature “with mandibles.”

Said Winston later of the creature’s design, “The Predator had to be a real character, rather than a generic creature. He needed to be a very specific character, and that’s what we came up with.” Winston’s team crafted the head, hands and feet from the original’s moulds and finished them to detail to complete the display for Silver.

From the 1987 original Predator comes another production model: the alien’s spaceship filming miniature made of cast fiberglass, resin, acrylic and multimedia components.

Further details – including the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard memorabilia up for auction – can be found here.