VALENCIA, CA — The screen-used model for the USCSS Nostromo — all 11ft of it — appears as the top lot in Propstore‘s four-day Entertainment Memorabilia sale running Thursday, August 15, Friday, August 16, Saturday, August 17, and Sunday, August 18.
Written by Dan O’Bannon and directed by Ridley Scott, the 1979 film Alien broke new ground in the science fiction-horror-action movie space. The alien was downright monostrous and terrifying, and the acting — led by Sigourney Weaver — was thoroughly excellent. The premise was simple: The crew of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s USCSS Nostromo are awakened from hypersleep by a distress signal from a desolate moon, and soon found themselves hunted by a deadly xenomorph brought onto the ship. The Nostromo is the tug-ship pulling the massive flat refinery model, and is the setting for the majority of the film.
Designed by concept artists Chris Foss (the ship exterior) and Ron Cobb (interiors), this massive 11ft model is mounted on a wheeled dolly. The Nostromo model is constructed primarily of wood paneling and hand-carved wooden forms assembled around a robust steel frame and clad with plastic surface panels and detailing from various pieces from off-the-shelf model kits, a process the model makers referred to as “widgeting.” As a one-of-a-kind artifact from one of sci-fi’s biggest hits, the model carries an estimate of $250,000-$500,000.
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, released in 1984, was the second installment in the series and is best remembered for the diminutive sidekick Short Round, exciting chase scenes and the presence of Kate Capshaw, who would become the wife of director Steven Spielberg in 1991. The screen-matched fedora worn by star Harrison Ford as Indy is another star lot in the Propstore auction. It was used both by Ford and his stunt double Dean Ferrandini. Made by Herbert Johnson Hat Company in London, the fedora is estimated at $250,000-$500,000.
Also from Temple of Doom is construction manager Bill Welch’s storyboard binder for sequences throughout the film. The binder contains 123 pages of printed storyboards and internal Lucasfilm memos. Several are stamped in red with the words ‘Indy 2’ and hand-marked for Welch. The binder is estimated at $6,000-$12,000.
Kate Winslet’s ‘sinking’ coat worn in the final scenes of the 1997 film Titanic sports a hefty estimate of $125,000-$250,000. Winslet wore the coat as crew members aboard the Titanic told passengers to put on their life belts, and when she attempted to save Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) from drowning in the lower level holding area. One of numerous examples made – many had to be worn in the water for hours – it comes with a certificate of authenticity from 20th Century Fox, the studio that funded director James Cameron’s blockbuster.
