The original Disney+ series Prop Culture is a fun journey through some of Disney’s most beloved films, by digging into the iconic props, costumes and set pieces that represent the some of the most memorable moments and characters from them. Throughout the eight episodes – focusing on Mary Poppins, Tron, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, The Chronicles of Narnia, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Muppet Movie – that make up the season, film historian and prop collector Dan Lanigan, who admits to being a fanboy himself, talks to the filmmakers, actors and artisans who created and used some of these nostalgic items.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, co-creator/executive producer Dan Lanigan talked about how surreal it is to get to do a show like Prop Culture when he’s such a fan himself, getting to look around the Disney Archive prop warehouse, why symbols of a movie can be as important as the movies themselves, the first and last prop he’s gotten for his own collection, the props he wishes he could get ahold of, how they chose which movies to focus on this season, whether he feels it’s possible to ruin the movie-making magic by knowing too much, why it’s important to preserve our cultural legacy, and his hope that viewers will want to revisit each of these films after watching the episodes.

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Image via Disney+

Collider: As a big Disney fan myself, I very much enjoyed this TV series.

DAN LANIGAN: Awesome. I’m a fanboy myself, and I made the show for people like me. Hopefully that translates to other people.

As a fanboy, what does it mean to you to get to do a show like this, where you really get to dig deep into stuff that you’re personally a fan of?

LANIGAN: It’s surreal. It’s really surreal. I’ve been collecting, and thereby reaching out and researching and talking to people that have worked on films, for many years, but to have Disney support me and back me to do this has been a wonderful experience. To be able to talk to some of these amazing artists, engineers and actors is an opportunity I’ve never had in the past, and to really find out what this stuff means to them is pretty special. It means something different to them because it’s a part of their life, working on these films, and then looking back on this stuff, there’s an emotional connection, and I also have an emotional connection. There’s a lot of us that love these movies. We share that. Here’s the thing, I got to go into Walt Disney’s original office, with Richard Sherman and Jason Schwartzman. How amazing is that?

When you went into the prop warehouse, it seemed like a place that any fan could get lost in for hours or days, or just stay there permanently looking through everything.

LANIGAN: It was really, really a lot of fun to go up and down the aisles. It’s not a “prop warehouse.” It is a warehouse and there are props in it, but it is an archive. Some film companies have a prop warehouse to rent stuff out, the stuff that goes into this warehouse doesn’t come out, unless it’s going on display. It doesn’t get reused in other films. They’re there to preserve the stuff.

What was it like to be in there and not be able to open up and play with everything there?

LANIGAN: Because the archive was partnering with us on the show, they were willing to open some crates. On a few occasions, with gloves on, they let me touch some things, but I still could not play with stuff. They had the V.I.N.CENT robot from The Black Hole, and I so wanted to see how it works. But of course, I’m not gonna touch it ‘cause I don’t wanna break it and I don’t wanna get in trouble ‘cause I’m their guest. Just seeing all of that amazing stuff around the archive warehouse was spectacular.

It’s really incredible how many emotions can be brought to the surface when you see a prop or a piece of a movie that you love. Why is it that symbols of a movie become almost as important as the movie itself and can really instantly bring all of those feelings to the surface?

LANIGAN: For me, one of the reasons I started collecting props was that, in researching film and getting to know as much as much as you can about a movie that you love, it’s just a way for you to get closer to them. When you know more about it, you can experience it in a different way. Seeing original props, costumes and set pieces is just an extension of that. These pieces have imbibed magic of that film. If that film is important to you, these pieces have to be important to you because they are part of that process. They’re part of making that movie and they’re still left over. It’s a physical reminder that this movie was made by people, and to see it out of the perspective of the movie, but still knowing that’s what it is, it just connects you directly to that experience of the movie and that love.

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Image via Disney+

What was the first prop that started your collection, and what is the last prop that you got for your collection?

LANIGAN: The first prop that I got for my collection, I picked up a few small things and I don’t even remember what I got, but the first significant piece I got was what I thought was an original toon gun from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It would have been one of the guns that Bob Hoskins’ character, Eddie Valiant, held when he went into Toontown. I bought it from someone who worked on the film, and I confirmed who the person was. I was super excited. I got the piece and, because Roger Rabbit is one of my favorite films, it really meant a lot to me. And then, a number of years later, I found out that he was actually a crew gift made to give to the crew, not an original prop. So, although I was very disappointed, it still had a connection to the film, even though it wasn’t the piece that Bob Hoskins held. At the same time, I was already two feet in, collecting movie props and doing the research, and I haven’t gone back since. It’s just gotten crazier and crazier. And then, the last thing I got was from a friend of mine, who offered me a piece that he’d just picked up. He actually gave it to me as a gift. From the movie Gangs of New York, I got Liam Neeson’s cross that he uses at the beginning of the movie. It was on one of the Facebook boards and a buddy of mine picked it up on my behalf, and gave it to me as a gift. It’s just one of those weird things that I think is super cool.

If there was any prop that you could have for your collection and money was no object, what’s the prop that you would want to have in your collection?

LANIGAN: There are two pieces. It’d be either one of the original AT-ATs from The Empire Strikes Back, which I know are in the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, so it’s not gonna happen, but you asked the question, so I had to say it. Another one, and I’m not even sure if they exist anymore, is Harrison Ford’s trench coat from Blade Runner. I’m obsessed with the film and I’ve been collecting from it for many years. Although I have his costume, I don’t have the trench coat that goes with it, and I would love to come across one of the original trench coats.

How were the movies chosen for each of these episodes? Did you have a list that you wanted to explore, or did Disney give you a list? How did you narrow it down to this eight?

LANIGAN: When we sold the show to Disney, I had a list of movies that I wanted to profile, but I had a feeling that Disney would have a strong feeling on what they would want to do and not. One of the ideas for the show is that I hope someone watching one of our episodes would wanna watch the movie that we’re talking about right afterward. When you see the Muppet episode, I want you to wanna go and watch The Muppet Movie. That would mean a lot to me, that you’re learning a lot about this movie and you wanna experience the movie. The beautiful thing about it was that we had this list of films that we wanted to do and stories we want to tell and Disney was like, “Okay, we’ll make it work,” with very few exceptions. It was wonderful. And I love every movie that we have in our Season 1, and look forward to being able to do a Season 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. I just hope people wanna watch the show.

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Image via Disney+

Do you already know what you’d want to explore in season 2?

LANIGAN: Absolutely! But when it comes down to choosing these movies, it comes down to the story that we can tell, the people that are involved in these movies, and the people we wanna shed a light on that normally don’t get that. The true stars, in my opinion, are the artisans and the behind-the-scenes people. The props are important, and I’m a prop collector who’s obsessed with this stuff, but ultimately, it’s about the passion that we all share, whether as a fan or as the maker. That’s who should tell the story of the movie, and why this stuff is important to them, and important to me. I wanna really shine a light on these folks that are the stars of the movie, in my opinion. The props are wonderful pieces of art, made specifically for these films, and then they either get thrown away, repurposed, or put in a collection. The artists that make this stuff are the people that I really wanna shine the light on.

People often think that learning about the magic behind movies can take away something from the experience of it all, but at the same time, it can also really enhance the experience. How do you feel about that? Do you feel like there’s a point where you can learn too much about the movie making magic, or can you never learn enough?

LANIGAN: I can never learn enough. I find that, the more I know about a particular film or project, the more I appreciate it and the more I believe the magic. It’s so difficult to do so much of this stuff that they’ve done in these film. It’s one thing to see that on camera and believe it at the time, but then, when you research it and find out how they actually accomplished it, sometimes it’s even more unbelievable. TRON is a great example of that. If you look at that film now, you’d think that it’s just CGI stuff, but it was mostly analog. That was people in tights and costumes with tape on their bodies, trying to get through this dialogue that nobody understood, and yet [writer/director] Steven Lisberger believed in it and knew what he was doing, and his passion for it comes through. It’s a very prophetic film. It was so difficult for them to do at the time. It will never be done again, the way that they did that.

What was it like to also get the opportunity to step out of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride boat and onto the actual attraction? That’s a once in a lifetime experience, so how did that feel and what did you learn about the ride from walking around it?

LANIGAN: It’s one of the rides that’s been around for a long time. It wasn’t there when Disneyland was made originally, but it’s got a long history there at the park. When you go behind the scenes, you can see that history written on the walls. There are messages, and there are old pieces of wood that they used to build it. To get to different parts of the ride, you have to go to different parts of the park and go up and down through hidden doors throughout the park. It was amazing and enlightening. Honestly, it’s difficult because it’s not really designed to get around easily unless you’re in the boat. To see that stuff up close and in person with the lights on was spectacular. Some people might think that takes away the magic, but it just makes you realize how magical the people that created this stuff were, to be able to accomplish what they did . . . They make these things so that, from a distance, it looks a certain way, and up close, it looks very different. Some people may think that takes the magic away, but for me, it just makes it that much more magical ‘cause they knew what they needed to do to accomplish what they were trying to accomplish.

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Image via Disney+

What makes The Nightmare Before Christmas such a special movie for you?

LANIGAN: It’s the first big-budget stop-motion film, it’s a musical, the music is amazing, the visuals are spectacular, and the characters are interesting. It’s surprising that it happened. I just love the world of the film. I play it all the time. It’s hard for me to say one thing that makes it important and special to me. There’s just so much from the craftsmen that got to work on their dream job. A lot of the people that worked on that film were outsiders who hadn’t worked on big-budget films. They’d worked in commercials before. They sat together and worked for two and a half years making that movie, and became lifelong friends, and the love comes through the movie. When you meet Henry Selick, you realize that when he’s motioning things and taking you through the conversation, he’s Jack Skellington, the way that he’s moving. It’s just such a special film. I loved the movie, from the moment I saw it in the theaters. I collected the toys, and I’ve just been trying to find puppets and set pieces wherever I can. That’s one of my biggest collections, The Nightmare Before Christmas material. I’m always looking for stuff from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I will say that it’s a miracle that movie got made. It’s one of those special films. And look at what time has done to that film. Time has shown that that film is one of the biggest merchandising films for Disney of all time, because there’s so many people that love it. But at the time, it wasn’t a huge hit. It didn’t have much support. People didn’t understand it.

Especially with the Mary Poppins episode, when you see how many props and important pieces of some films are just gone, and it’s so heartbreaking. Does it feel tragic to you, to know that so many of the important things from one of the most iconic Disney movies are just lost forever?

LANIGAN: Yes, it does. It is a constant reminder why this stuff needs to be preserved, and it does make what remains more special. The contrast of realizing that the Mary Poppins umbrella, for all intents and purposes, is gone, is heartbreaking. I don’t know where it is, and Disney doesn’t know where it is. Maybe parts of it exist, but I don’t know. All that could be found was the original mold that it was cast from. Luckily, there are a few versions of Mary’s costumes out there, and one of Mary’s carpet bags is still around. It’s amazing that was found. The show is a reminder of why it’s important to preserve our cultural legacy.

Prop Culture is available to stream at Disney+ on May 1st.