BAZ LUHRMANN'S ELVIS (2020)
I worked as a Prop Maker on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis with the rest of the very talented folks in the Props Manufacture Department. We made some amazing stuff and now the Blu-ray is out I can share some screenshots of our work created by out department. As with any builds like these, the whole Props Manufacture Department had a hand in building all of these, so it’s a team effort.
GUITAR AUTOGRAM TILES
First up, the small metal tiles that are seen on Elvis’s guitar in his early performances. We had to replicate them for his early performance scenes and I got to make them. The tiles were shaped by hand from aluminium stock and then polished. Then the text was achieved with decals we had cut on the decal cutter. Was a small but important build.
TOM PARKER CANES
We also made all the walking canes for Tom Hanks (Colonel Tom Parker). We got to make a variety of designs that he used through the film.
I was involved with cleaning up parts and final assembly. Each Cane design had three copies made. Two ‘hero’ sets and then a ‘stunt.’ An example of the stunt cane is when Tom throws it as a glass picture frame and it smashes. We also did a tiger head cane for Austin/Elvis that you can see near the end of the film.
INTERNATIONAL HOTEL CHANDELIERS
We also manufactured several floor mounted chandeliers for the Las Vegas International Hotel set. As with any build like this, the whole Props Manufacture Department had a hand in building them. It was a great build to contribute to, especially with how fantastic they looked installed on set! You can see the chandeliers distributed among the crowd.
BEALE STREET
We built a bunch of stuff for the gigantic Beale Street set! I had a hand in helping build the period traffic lights, street lights and the vintage Coke Button sign replicas.
POKER MACHINES
Here’s the mountain of poker machines we made for Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. There were over 90 manufactured by our department to fill out the casino set!
GRACELAND MANSION
For Baz Luhrmann's Elvis we also helped kit out the Graceland Mansion set! We made a number of large furniture pieces such as the sun clock, the giant coffee table, the garden bench seats, giant decorative urns inside the front door and the TVs mounted into his ceiling above the master bed.
We also got to manufacture all of the tiki furniture for the iconic Jungle Room! Unfortunately that set was cut from the film, but there were some publicity photos released where you can see one the tiki chairs and a bookcase we made.
NBC CONTROL ROOM
We also built a bunch of the equipment for the NBC Control Room set seen during Elvis’s Comeback Special performance.
