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Hollywood Prop Master Maria Simonelli

Published on Mon, 14 Dec 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Episode 116 is a double-header full of insider perspectives and watch ephemera.

Synopsis

This episode of Hodinkee Radio is a two-part show featuring different conversations about watches in culture and storytelling. In the first segment, host Stephen Pulvirent sits down with writers Jack Forster and James Stacey to discuss recent stories from the Hodinkee website. They cover Jack's obituary for aviation legend Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier and lived to be 97 despite a lifetime of dangerous test piloting. The conversation touches on Yeager's methodical approach to safety and his insistence that good pilots are made through practice, not born naturally. They also discuss a story about racing icon Carroll Shelby's elegant Patek Philippe 1463 chronograph from his 1959 Le Mans victory, and Jack's deep dive into chess clocks and their appearance in the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit, drawing parallels between competitive chess and Cold War-era culture.

In the second half, Danny Milton interviews Hollywood prop master Maria Simonelli, who has worked on major productions including Suits, IT Chapter Two, The Expanse, Shazam, and an upcoming Guillermo del Toro film. Simonelli explains the crucial storytelling role watches play in film and television, from establishing a character's wealth and personality to practical concerns like continuity and safety. She discusses the challenges of sourcing period-accurate timepieces, working with actors who have specific preferences or brand deals, and the need for multiple identical props. The conversation also covers how COVID-19 protocols have changed on-set work, with Simonelli describing the extensive testing, PPE requirements, and safety measures now standard in film production. Throughout, she shares entertaining anecdotes about working with actors like Bradley Cooper and the surprisingly difficult challenge of sourcing something as simple as a soccer ball keychain.

Transcript

Speaker
Maria Simonelli I mean, watches are a huge, huge story point for props people. It not only tells you like what time it is in the scene, which like T minus 10 minutes until the bomb explodes. What is that piece? Is that a new watch? Is it expensive? It's ex-if it's expensive, the character probably has money. A watch is very personal aesthetic choice. I think a lot of people that have watches, it's definitely a character for them as well
Stephen Pulvirent . Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polverant and this is Hodinky Radio. We've got a fun old school episode for you today. First up, I sit down with Jack and James to get an inside look at some of the best stories from the last few weeks. We've got an obituary written in tribute to an aviation giant, the story of a racing legend and his extremely elegant chronograph, and a deep dive into one of history's more esoteric timekeepers. Jack is Jack, James is James, and it's a pretty fun conversation. After that, you'll hear our own Danny Milton's conversation with Hollywood prop master Maria Simonelli, who has worked on projects ranging from a slew of Stephen King adaptations to five seasons of suits to a new Guaramo del Toro project that I'm already getting excited for. There are plenty of personal anecdotes that you'll want to stick around for, but Semen Ellie also explains to Danny why she thinks watches are so personal and so important to properly developing a character. I really hope you enjoy this two-parter. So without further ado, let's do this. This week's episode is presented by Grand Seiko and the 9SA5 movement. Stay tuned later in the show to learn about this innovative Hey guys, how you doing? Oh doing okay. Yeah, same here. Pretty good. Yeah. Jack and I just got off a long conference call together. I haven't talked to you in a while, James. It's been way too long. Yeah, it's been a minute, man. How are things up in Canada? Uh things in Canada are fine, you know, cold, quiet. Yeah. All right. So Canada. Mm-hmm. Yeah, for the most part. Perfect. Uh well, I wanted to get the two of you guys on the show this week, because we've had a lot of news and just a lot like some thematic uh trends I would say on the site recently that you two have spearheaded. So I thought we could talk through a little bit of the the newsy stuff and then um go over some of the bigger bigger themes that have been running through the site lately. That uh that sound okay yeah sounds good all right uh let's start off let's start off with the bummer uh and get it out of the way uh and that is that uh we were recording this just a couple days after Chuck Yeager died. Um and I mean like I saw this scrolling through Instagram. I actually saw it. Jason Heaton posted it on his uh his Instagram and I immediately texted uh Nick and was like, we have to we have to get a story together for this. Uh and Jack, you ended up writing writing the Obed here. And I wonder for people who are not obsessed with Chuck Yeager and obsessed with kind of like mid-century aviation, can you give us the like TLDR version of why Chuck Yeager matters and kind of what what you think the legacy is that that would be interesting to our audience. I mean I think the frame that um you know
Jack Forster was you know kind of built around him in uh uh you know in the book The Right Stuff really kind of you know sums up what he was and why he was important. Uh you know he was uh he was an he was an explorer, right? You know, these were guys who were going places and doing things. The test pilots of his generation were going places and doing things, often at uh you know, cost of life and limb that you know nobody else was doing. And he was when he broke the sound barrier in uh forty-seven, uh I think it was. You know, he was the fastest man alive. And you know, the crazy thing is, everybody thought that something terrible would happen when you broke the sound barrier in an aircraft. And like really nothing terrible happened. It was like a relatively smooth transition for him. But nobody knew, you know. Um, and being the first person to go someplace like that takes a certain amount of takes a certain amount of guts. What I liked about writing the OBIT and what I kind of liked about Jaeger was that despite his reputation as a daredevil, he was actually an extremely cautious guy. Like he obsessed about safety, he obsessed about understanding what the limits of his aircraft were and his own physical limits. And I mean, yeah, he pushed the he pushed he pushed the limits for a living, but he always made darn sure he knew where they were and what the potential costs might be for, you know, for going past them. So like, you know, this combination of being very daring and very smart I mean that's an amazing thing
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. I mean James for you do do you have any sort of like I mean anything that that you want to kind of contribute that that was personally like meaningful or moving for you about Chuck Yeager
James Stacey ? No, I I never got so lucky as sis uh you know to have seen him fly. Um I'm a little a little on the young side I think I you know I was going to air shows when I was a kid, but there were, you know, rural stuff up up here around Toronto. Um it it would have been a treat to see him fly. I mean, in many ways he was probably it it's hard to compare them to like a sports, like an athlete like a Michael Jordan or something like that, simply because like that's that's a professional attribute whereas these guys you know they were operating f for and under the purview of the military typically and uh and other governmental bodies but as far as a natural pilot goes he's probab probably the greatest natural pilot of all time at le,ast that that people are aware of, right? This part of that is is aligning with the golden era of flight and and the discovery of flight and you know the great the great kind of pedestals that they hit on on the way to going to the moon. Um he exists uh we got to the moon because of guys like this and his peers and and uh what I like about this is yeah this is a guy that spent his entire life uh flirting with death and he lived to be n ninety
Stephen Pulvirent seven. Yeah, that's that's n that's I mean pretty impressive. I mean if you had told people in the nineteen forties that Chuck Yeager was going to die peacefully at the age of ninety seven, I think people would have laughed you out of the room. But Yeah, the amazing thing about one of the I mean, one of the many
Jack Forster amazing things about Chuck Yeager is uh you know he's stereotypically characterized as quote, a natural born stick and rudder man, but he actually hated the and you know, I I always thought of him that way too, but he personally hated the idea of being uh you know a natural pilot. And you know he said at one point in his memoir, there is no such thing as a natural pilot if uh the the the best pilots are the ones who fly the most. You fly a lot, you get good at it. And uh the first time he went up in an airplane, he barfed all over the front seat of the uh the pilot in front of him. And he had to yeah, he said he you know, I mean he said in his memoir memoir uh you know he had to work like super, super hard at being uh a good pilot. And if he was good it was just because he worked harder than most of the other guys. Um That's great. No, but that said, there's gotta be some natural talent in there
Stephen Pulvirent too. Yeah, I I think so for sure. I mean my my I uh this is such a like nonsense anecdote but I'm gonna share it anyway because I have a microphone in front of me so why the hell not? But my my sort of like first experience of of Chuck Yeager and first like hearing about him was was actually in high school. Um, I had a physics teacher in high school, Mr. Pace, shout out to Mr. Pace, uh, who was obsessed with Chuck Jaeger. And like growing up, he had this guy grew up in like a trailer park in West Texas, and like all he wanted to be was Chuck Yeager when he grew up. But the problem was he grew up to be six foot six and about two hundred and eighty pounds, uh, which means you cannot be a test pilot. Uh so instead he was a high school uh physics teacher. Um, but every like problem on every exam was always like if Chuck Yeager is flying, you know, uh Bell X1 at X speed, and like that was my early experience of Chuck Yeager was doing my physics homework in high school. But uh yeah, I think uh he's he's one of those guys who you know lived and and will continue to live on in the popular imagination as kind of like people at their best, you know, uh people pushing what it means to be a human being and, you know, what we can accomplish as a as a civilization. So uh I'm glad we were able to get a story up uh so quickly and and such a thoughtful, kind of interesting treatment, Jack. Oh yeah. Big huge Rolex guy. Huge Rolex guy. Um, which like I I will, you know, we'll link it up in the show notes, but everybody should go check out the photo of him wearing an early big crown sub. Uh I don't think it's possible to look cooler wearing a watch than the way he wears that watch, personally. I couldn't agree more. Um all right, we're gonna we're gonna go to another sort of like speed related uh story here, and and we don't have to get too in depth. This is one I think you really need to to read and kind of like soak in to fully appreciate. Uh and that's John Rearden's story uh that he wrote for us about Carol Shelby's Patek Philippe uh from the 1959 Le Mans. Um it's a 1463, it's a gold, like absolutely beautiful mid-century chronograph. Uh, and yet it has this incredible connection to racing history. Um, I don't know. I just like imagining this watch as like the definition of quote unquote a sports watch at the time tells me like everything you need to know about that being a completely different world than the world we live in now
James Stacey . Yeah, in the idea of the gentleman driver, right? Which was still a thing in the fifties. Um there were people running in Lamont uh who who you know financed their own way and brought a car and and figured their car could last for twenty four hours, which is a ridiculous thing to figure most most of the time. Yeah. Um there's I mean you could, you could take the car from your driveway today and attempt to drive 24 hours flat out. You're not getting anywhere. Definitely not going to run for 24 hours. But they were doing it. And I mean, like Shelby, it's it's funny that we have, you know, Shelby's watch Shelby died a few years back and is an icon in I would say a few different genres including Chili if you know enough about him. He he was uh like a Chili magnate um uh in his years after uh after you know destroying Ferrari's entire legacy at Lamont, and then before that winning Lamont himself in a British car despite being an American. Um I I think much like uh much like Jaeger, we're looking at like an icon of of uh a postwar American. Uh you know, he maybe this guy was maybe a little bit more controversial to his simb several ex-wives than uh than Jaeger would have been. Uh but I mean a a remarkable dude and the the the lead photo which, is one I'm proud to have found on Getty that we ran is him in the hat uh I think in nineteen sixty five or sixty six, uh, with the watch on his wrist, which I don't believe we know to be that common. You don't see him uh also he wore watch on different wrists, so photos can be kind of hard to judge. Sometimes he had him on the right, sometimes he had him on left. My guess would be that would depend on whether or not he was physically driving a car or working in proving a car, which would have had a a lot of them would have had a sill shifter. So if he liked to wear his watch on the right wrist, you'd bang it into the edge of the car, which would just be bare metal um for a lot of these vintage race cars. Uh but yeah, you see yeah, I mean he was a guy that was photographed a lot and he always look he always has like a certain swagger. But the the the the the fun thing about this is you guys can attest a lot of times you'll find either the watch is incredible and the celebrities sort of somewhere in the middle, or the celebrity' incsredible in the watch is kind of somewhere in the middle. And this is that rare thing where they're both incredible. I mean this is one of the most beautiful watches ever made. It could absolutely be somebody's only watch. And and and it's so of an era you, know, eventually of course they would be giving out Rolexes, Daytonas. Mm you know, quite commonly when when a Rolex, when you win at a race that's sponsored by Rolex, usually C bring, uh, you get a Daytona and they're it's usually a weird one. Um but there's you know, there's race car drivers today that have twenty, thirty of these strange, you know, racing wind they're engraved on the back. And um I'm trying to remember the guy's name. I think it's Scott Pruitt, a race car driver. I think he said in one race he won four uh Daytonas because he was the a marshal of some sort. He's a very uh very uh um uh long-standing and very talented endurance race car driver, race car driver in general. And he yeah, he had um one for being a marshal, one for having the fastest uh time in qualifying, one for something else, and one for winning the race. Like he I I'm sure maybe it wasn't, maybe it's three, maybe it's five, I don't remember. But he it w you can win more than one if you're if you're operating at a certain level. And back in the day that was yeah, like a an insanely collectible uh vintage Patek fleet. Yeah, I think current
Jack Forster ly uh at the twenty four hours uh you know Daytona twenty four it's um it's a two tone two tone Daytona
Stephen Pulvirent . Hmm. I mean it's a we that's a weird choice, but also like kind of a hell of a trophy. And it's a trophy you can carry around like not carry around, but like wear around on a daily basis, which I've always thought is like a a cool thing. It despite not being a racing fan myself, it is it is one of the things I have always found to be like Hey James, if you had to give like an elevator speech on what happened to the gentleman driver, what would it be?
James Stacey Just corporate money. Like racing became something where brands felt that they could prove entire models. You know, the the idea of rate win on Sunday, sell on Monday became a real thing, especially 'cause of Shelby. Uh like Shelby specifically and and Leah Coca and the and the folks at Ford when they when they set out to um you know essentially settle the score with uh with Enzo Ferrari after the you know the partnership between the two companies failed and and that led to the story that you can see in the movie Ford vs. Ferrari or read in the vastly better book, uh Go Like Hell by AJ Bain. Um yeah, I my my guess is that it still exists at some level, but it's a the gentleman driver's this weird um like almost it you're either like you race in lemons where you you have five hundred dollars to prep the entire car aside from your safety and you run that for twenty four hours and it's just meant to be fun. Or on the other side you have, you know, people who who have the the the money to buy into single mark race series like uh like Ferrari does this with the FXX series um and and that's essentially a car that you buy from Ferrari and then they hold on to it and it has a team of people and a a tractor or tractor trailer, and you kind of tell them where you're going to go, and they'll bring it there, and they'll set up the food for you as well, and and and all this kind of stuff. It's like a different world where you don't really have these races where someone could just kind of buy a modern sports car, like you're not going out and buying a uh GT eighty six or or or a BRZ or something and then putting a bit of money into it and going to attempt to running it at a professional level. Um there's still stages of racing that accept that sort of thing, but there's more licensing now, there's more safety now, there's more scrutineering, there's way more rules to get into a race like Le Mans, especially these races where you have multiple um multiple classes of vehicle because you have to know if you're driving in GT class, you have to know what those headlights are behind you and why they're coming up so quickly because you're not the fastest car and you want to be out of people's way. So I don't know if it's the same thing where you might want someone who had never done a lap of of of the Lamont course to show up and and attempt to be doing that next to cars that now are are you know Toyota and Porsche and you know big names that are running cars that'll go flat out, literally flat out for 24 hours. They have to change drivers, they don't change cars. Well you're on me. You don't want me in a in an Aston Martin vantage that I bought, you know, that I bought second hand and and it just barely passed scrutineering, you know, maybe blowing a coolant line and covering the track with a bunch of garbage that takes hours to get rid of or causes a crash or something like that. So it's a it's a crazy world and and r really uh anything about Shelby, it's the story's always fun. The guy was a complete hothead and super talented driver and and and something of like a car whisper. I mean, to take on Ferrari at the time in the sixties was really a a a ridiculous thing to do, even if you had uh the deuce essentially writing blank checks uh the whole process the whole way through. But I mean look, he that that also bred into uh that's a name brand that is still attached to cars today. Ford still sells Shelby class vehicles. And uh and my guess is we'll see it move right into electric cars too, which I have to wanna I don't know what Shelby would have thought about that. Like with the Mach E coming up and being part of their new performance platform. And it'll be interesting to see if they do a Shelby version of the Mach E, 'cause they're still making Shelby versions of the Mastang. You know, they have a few of them, three fifty's and the five hundreds. Yeah. Um, but they're definitely not no tech's not making watches like this anymore. If uh you know Ford's doing their best to continue making uh uh continue making cars like that. Um but you know fourteen sixty three is a special thing. F
Stephen Pulvirent ourteen sixty three has to be in the conversation for like one of the greatest watches of all time, no? I think so. Yep. Jack, what do you think? Oh yeah, absolutely. I don't I don't think there's any uh argument about that at all. Certainly not from me. Yeah. Alright. Well the the last thing I want to talk about is is this is our kind of wild card story, uh which is Jack's uh culture of time story about chess clocks and theen Que's Gambit. You know, the Queen's Gambit, for people who aren't familiar, limited series on Netflix, about a mid-century chess player. It's about a lot more than that. We're not gonna get too too deep into like what the show is about, no spoilers, all of that. Uh but Jack saw this and decided to go as deep as he possibly could on chess clocks, uh, which is not a thing I'd ever thought about covering on the site, um, which I guess is a good sign. Um but yeah, Jack, what what led you down this rabbit hole and what were some of the like craziest things you learned while while there? I mean, I remember when Bobby Fisher
Jack Forster was uh, you know, kind of an international superstar. And uh, you know, like kids of my generation, there was a period where it was 50-50 whether you wanted to grow up to be the next Bobby Fisher or you wanted to be an astronaut, you know, it was just like a uh uh a a super, super cool thing to be. He was um, you know, kind of uh against Boris Spassy for the World Championship and Reykjavik. You know, he was kind of a cold warrior. And the chess clocks were part of that, you know, like banging on the button, um, you know, when you completed your move, working under the clock, uh, you know, being cool under pressure, being able to think ten, fifteen, twenty moves ahead, which, you know, I certainly can't do. And like, you know, the chess clock is uh I mean for me chess clocks are kind of like the speed masters of the um you know mental combat realm. Uh you know, like the speed masters that watch the wind of the moon, but like chess clocks represent um, you know, a different kind of combat, right? Still like, you know, the cold warriors, but uh the ultimate test of cerebral fitness, as the uh you know, as the song used to say. And um they're uh they're wonderful things. Um they have been largely superseded by digital timing devices, you know, like pretty much everything else, because there's so many different possible timing rules under which uh chess games can operate. Uh there's an amazing quote in the story, which I think is true. It's uh not all analog chess clocks are beautiful, but all beautiful chess clocks are analog from uh chess life in 2012. And uh I really feel like that's true. There's something about uh there's something visceral about the ticking and you know just hitting the buttons. It's uh it feels like a fencing match
Stephen Pulvirent . The same could be said about watches. Yeah, I would I would agree with that, James. I I think that's that's uh that's a good point. Um yeah, I think there's something really interesting to me about chess clocks about the way you engage with them. Like, you know, Jack, you describe them in the story as as almost like a seesaw, right? Like this this like y you and the opponent across from you have this timekeeping device that is sort of your link to one another and the the motion of reaching for it and hitting the the button on the top and like the hands stopping and starting and having these two competing units of time like I don't know it's really it's really strange for us to have a timekeeping mechanism that's not just interactive between the one user and one mechanism, but it's two users and one mechanism that is sort of like two mechanisms linked. Like it's I I don't know, it's it's a weird way to interact with timekeeping. Uh and I I don't know, there's something about it that I find really like poetic and compelling. I like that it puts the two times in competition with each other
James Stacey . Yeah. Which is kind of fun. You know, you get two two displays, two buttons, you're not sharing anything. It's like an extension of the player and their side of the board. It's cool. I mean speaking of Bobby Fisher
Jack Forster , that was one of the things he was uh, you know, really notorious for. There's a whole psychological warfare aspect to uh, you know, playing chess at that level. And I mean, you know, he indulged himself in all sorts of behaviors that were basically calculated to irritate his opponents to the point where they wouldn't be able to concentrate properly. And you know, I remember learning to play chess when I was five years old and I played against my dad a lot of the time and uh he was the most annoying person to play chess with because, you know, he was fond of banging the pieces down on the board when he made him move as hard as he possibly could as a way of kind of, you know, like rattling his opponent, like, you know, like his his five, six year old kid. Um no, but but uh you know Fisher Fisher would do the same thing. He would like he'd show up late, he would like uh you know at the last minute say, oh wait, I'm not going to you know play in this match unless there's an extra hundred thousand bucks in it for me. I mean, all kinds of crazy stuff. And uh, you know, Spassky was you know came from uh generation of Russian players who were like they were basically being paid by the government to play chess at a super high level. And you know that but you know the the side effect of that was like they were professionals in a way that you know somebody like Fisher was not. And you know and poor Boris Basky he was like, what is this guy's problem
Stephen Pulvirent ? Amazing. Yeah, I I again I just highly recommend everybody, whether you're interested in chess or not, whether you've watched the Queen's Gambit or not, uh, go check this story out. It's just like it's a perfect case of a weird way in which timekeeping pops up in popular culture and sort of the like insane historical story lurking just just below the surface. Uh and Jack, I I, you know, if I can say so, I think you did a really good job teasing this out and making it a sort of like fun, approachable topic. Uh 'cause I also don't know if I had seen on, you know, some other news or or website somewhere, uh you know, a headline like everything you need to know about chess clocks. Like I probably would not have clicked that if I'm being totally honest. But uh yeah, I enjoyed it here
Jack Forster . Yeah, it was a was a fun story to work on. You know, there's a uh it it's the there's uh there's a uh fantasy to being uh you know, about kind of being discovered as a child prodigy, right? Like uh your your destiny is mapped out for you. You're a genius at math. And uh you know, you go to Princeton and get your first PhD when you're fourteen years old. You're a genius at chess. And uh you know you uh sweep the floor with the competition by the time you're eighteen. And uh you know, for people of my generation, you know, b finding out that you were actually a child prodigy chess player, I mean it was uh it was my generation's equivalent of getting your like letter for letter from Hogwarts, you know.
Stephen Pulvirent Amazing. Love that. You also got a letter from Hogwarts, right? Alas. All right. Uh thanks for doing this, guys. I mean, we have like, you know, we made a list of stories we wanted to touch on. There were like 10 of them, but uh we sadly don't have time to get through all of them, so we'll save save a few for the next go-around. But uh yeah, Chuck Yeager, Carol Shelby, and the Queen's Gambit, all excellent stories. They're all linked up in the show notes. And uh thank you guys for sharing. Really appreciate it. Ton of fun. Thanks for having us on the shows today. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Up next, we've got Danny Milton's conversation with Hollywood Prop Master Maria Simonelli
Danny Milton . Hey everybody, Danny Milton here, and today I am talking watches and the movies with Maria Simonelli, who has worked as both an assistant prop master and prop master on a variety of projects in both film and television, everything from suits to Shazam. She's now working on a film right now directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Um hey Maria, thanks for joining me today and and having a conversation. Yeah, thanks for having me. So um I think for our audience, just sort of if you want to tell them a little bit about yourself, you know, what it is you do in the movie business, I think everyone would be pretty excited to hear about that. Oh, uh yeah, well I
Maria Simonelli am um assistant property master. Um we call it here in Toronto on set key. So my job is basically to handle all the props as the head of department onset and to uh you know go through act with the actors, check with the director that everything is what they wanted, all their concepts for any designs, make sure that all those things work in the scene. And then I workshop that with the actors on the day of or sometimes days before, depending on what the prop is. And then I just maintain continuity and resets and just make sure that everything looks good and looks the way that it's supposed to. So like I polish things or um move it on the table to make sure that
Danny Milton it matches um for all the different setups we do. So when you say workshop things with actors, I think I I think I'd like to dig deep into that a little bit more. What does that mean exactly? So I don't know if you can give an example of a specific prop maybe from your own experience. Like what what does that kind of entail? Um Okay, I think I
Maria Simonelli I can't recall what the name of the actual prop was, but um for example, uh I I worked on the expanse for um the first three seasons. Um, and a show like that would have a lot of props that are are made-up concepts to to suit whatever the the future um needs would be of that prop. So um uh cast member uh Dominique Tipper and I she was like an electrical engineer for the for the ship. Okay. And so we had, you know, things that would come out of this the ship's side that she would have to physically place discs in or uh turn a certain way. And when it's things like that and it's really tactile, it's it's helpful to show them uh exactly how it's going to work, um, you know, to save them on the day, not really understanding what it is, but then also to make sure that, you know, the that that the pieces fit their hands properly or that it's comfortable for them to turn something a certain way if they're gonna be doing it a hundred times in a take
Danny Milton . Um for something like that too, how what's the sort of how does that get conceived? So in is that something that the props department figures out we are inventing something that doesn't exist. This is a future object. And you have to figure out so there's two things. I guess there's two questions. A, how do you even know what you're telling the actor how to do with something that doesn't exist? So what are the conversations that happened before that for something like that? Yeah, for sure. So again on a show like the ex
Maria Simonelli panse, um the writers are literally there all the time, like the writers of the books and um the writers of of the show. Uh so something like that would be conceptually discussed in prep. The prop master of the show would then uh there could be schematics or drawings, um, or it could just be, you know what, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna just go and and and do a build. Uh or or a lot of times what happens now is um because 3D printing is so accessible. Um you know like on a show I worked on uh Star Trek Discovery and you know we have literally 3D printers just outside of the prop's um to do conceptual designs to then show them to make sure they fit the cast um you know a lot of phasers guns, things like that, make sure that they fit the cast that's going to be using them. Um, you know, and then uh and then sometimes actually taking those three D prints and using them uh or taking them to a to a builder, there's some you know build shops in the city in Toronto, uh Walter Class and ZX is just absolutely wonderful, the things that they can do. Um so whether it's it's 3D printing it, um, modifying it, painting it, whether it's um you know having digitally somebody in the art department would do the schematics, send those to a builder. Then the builder inputs them, then they start building. So there's there's definitely a lot that goes into it um from somebody's brain or you know like a like a a director like Germal Del Toro for example, he draws everything out for us. So he would draw stuff and hand them to my boss and then my boss would be like okay I understand what you're I think I understand let me now go and try to make that thing and then with you multiple times in show and tells before
Danny Milton it actually goes to camera So I I've spoken to some prop masters in the past and the show and tells come up pretty often. So how how much of a show and tell from a prop department perspective is the props department after having maybe meetings with the the screenwriter, the director, or in some cases they're the same person, it are you all trying to show like this is what we came up with on our own versus these are things we found that the director specifically wants in the film? Um it kind of
Maria Simonelli depends. I mean, typically well, it depends on your director. It depends on the project. Um, you know, most of the times the directors are pretty specific as to what they want. Um like for for Guillermo a lot of times actually certain props come from things that he already owns that he's like I want to use this thing. Here's one of them, but we need to make more than one and we might need to have it as like a rubber if like there's a stunt or there's gonna be rain and you don't want it to get broken or and you don't uh certainly don't wanna um break his stuff. So you know, so you can kind of make other things that look exactly like what he's presented you. And then other times, you know, you can be really creative. There's also the the job of a props buyer. Um and uh and the bot, you know, sometimes you really luck out. I've I've bought on certain things and I've been like, maybe the director will like this. I'm not sure. And then that's the thing they pick and you're like, wow, now this is going to be handled in this movie that I'm going to watch. And so you never you never really know. It kind of depends. You can really you can you can get the the sort of verbal instructions and then you know just find that thing, or sometimes it takes many, many, many passes to really get that one thing, that special thing to come to fruition
Stephen Pulvirent . This week's episode is presented by Grand Seiko. There are lots of things to like about Grand Seiko watches, from their distinctive case designs to their otherworldly dials that are unlike any others on the market today. But the Japanese watchmaker also sets itself apart under the hood with innovative movements that push the boundaries of what fine watchmaking can be. The latest instance of this? The new Caliber 9SA5. This is Grand Seiko's latest generation of automatic mechanical movement, created to celebrate the company's 60th anniversary this year. At first glance, it looks very much like automatic movements you might already know, with a clearly visible balance wheel suspended from an arched bridge and a swinging rotor to keep the movement ticking away. But tons of engineering has gone into making the 9SA5 a caliber that can be as precise as possible for as long as possible, delivering the very best experience to the wearer. To achieve this, Grand Seiko created a whole new type of high-bit The dual impulse escapement, which is extremely efficient and has low friction to reduce wear and tear. Part of this is a new free-sprung balance with an overcoil hairspring to optimize performance in every position. And, importantly, Grand Seiko developed a new horizontal gear train allowing the 9SA5 to be 15% slimmer than previous high-beat movements, meaning it can be utilized in a broader range of watch styles. It's this kind of thinking, thinking that draws from the past but looks to the future that sets Grand Seiko apart from the competition. And if you ever find yourself wondering if there's still real, meaningful innovation to be done in mechanical watchmaking, the 9SA5 is the answer you've been looking for. To learn more about the caliber 9SA5 and Grand Seiko's 60th anniversary, be sure to visit Grandseiko.us.com. Alright, let's get back to the show
Danny Milton . So let's talk a little bit about uh watches on film. You know, from f from some of the projects maybe that you've worked on, I know that I immediately when I saw your IMDB page before we we even met or started talking, I saw that you'd worked on suits. I saw that you worked on It Chapter Two. Um, and just immediately in my head, I'm thinking, well, in the in the case of It Chapter Two, you've got sort of a a dual storytelling operation in that film where you've got the children's story in the eighties and you've got the adult story in in pseudo present time and then suits obviously you're working in sort of the high powered world of lawyers. And so I don't know if you have any specific, you know, stories about watches that come to mind, or if not, just, you know, generally what it's like as a prop master or assistant prop master and and what role you think watches play um sort of in general? Yeah, I mean for sure.
Maria Simonelli I uh I mean watches are and timepieces are a huge, huge uh story uh point for props people. Um and I think a lot of it, you know, it's like it's like the question would be like well why isn't a watch costumes and it's like well because a watch tells tells a story it not only tells you like what time it is in the scene which like you know can matter depending on what you know what you're you're doing if it's if it's a scene where, you know, you've got T minus 10 minutes until the bomb explodes, you know, somebody's checking their watch every two minutes, you know, the director might want to cut in on that, on that specific piece. And then it's what is that piece? And then is that a new watch? Is it expensive? It's if it's expensive, the character probably has money. Uh if it's an old watch and it's all rickety, um maybe it's uh an heirloom piece. Why are they wearing choos to wear that watch? Because even for for for people, you know, a watch is is an aesthetic, very personal aesthetic choice. I think a lot of people that have watches, um, it's it's definitely a character for them as well. You know, it says quite a lot about about you. Sure. So yeah, like I mean in the world of of suits, you know, you've got you've got uh you know let's say like a Mike Ross versus a Lewis Litt. So you've got a Mike Ross character who has like a you know a crappy old time X. Um and uh and I remember when I started the show, because I believe I came in on season three, you know, I was like, oh, it's like Mike has this like crummy Timex watch that he still wears even though he's making more money. So it shows you that like Mike doesn't care about the stature of being a lawyer. He cares about helping people. Whereas somebody like a Lewis Litt character, I believe he wore a Patek Philippe, but for props people, it's very difficult to carry a Patek Philippe in A, your budget, and B on in your kit that would have to be in a safe, like locked up. Um so I believe that uh his was a knockoff. I think I know it was a knockoff. Um, but that was only for like our purposes of like safety and and making sure that you know you're not stressing out every day that your X amount of dollar watch is gonna get, you know, broken or lost or whatever. Sure. Um, so yeah, so so you know, you've you've kind of got and and you know, like Lewis is big and flashy, Mike's is just you know something he wears every day because he's worn it for X amount of of years. Um whereas you know we tal,ked about um before we talked about uh on the show the expanse, um Thomas Jane wears a watch uh and he was very insistent on wearing a timepiece, even though in that world, uh, watches are obsolete. So nobody need you don't need a watch because you know it's darkness all the time. Um, unless you're on Earth, it's like you don't really need that timepiece so um and thomas's was funny because it was it was a we had sourced it from fossil um but it was it had like a like a screen face but then also it had like little kind of numbers beside it. Um metal it was all metallic with a with um a gray leather band, but it it it it never worked. So like so it was never practical. So you knew that that you know Miller wore this watch for for a reason, but it was never to tell time. So what is this watch? What does it mean to him? Why does he insist on wearing it? Um, you know, he's supposed to be like this noir detective in this like sci-fi universe. So he always had his his watch on him all the time. And it was just, yeah, like things like that. It's interesting to kind of see the you know who wants to wear what and why as like an actor but then also there's also the character beat of of sometimes you know well your character has this watch and this watch, you know, it's it's in the script this that watch is extremely important
Danny Milton . Do those things ever conflict where um an actor is insistent on wearing a watch or maybe has external forces which require that he can only wear a certain watch, maybe a some kind of brand deal, and how maybe what are the behind the scenes politics that go into dealing with that? You know, and and maybe that's a period piece where the watch is very not period correct. You know, something like that. Are there other like um situations where things like that come up? Yeah, definitely. Um
Maria Simonelli I haven't really experienced it too much um where somebody's just like, no, I can't or I have to wear this particular piece. And then typically that would be like a like a director actor discussion. Like we we wouldn't we if somebody doesn't want to wear something, um we wouldn't force them to wear it. Uh I have um a character on the show I'm I'm working on now. I won't say who it is because I don't want to give things away because it's not out yet. Um, but we had Sourced a Watch for them, uh very, very beautiful watch that does play in in the actual script as like you know sink your watches and you know but they they didn't ever want to wear it they just thought well this isn't I don't I it like my character I don't think she ever would really care about that. And it's not and I you know, and then it's just a it's just uh, you know, in that case it's just a a you know, a discussion with the director and it's a yes or uh maybe you should wear it, but it's never like a a total issue but it's funny when we we do source things and and you know they they cost money and and you know it has to look a certain way and your buyers look my you know my boss looks or I'll look and we find something really great, and then the cast is just like, you know what? I don't think my character would wear a watch. And you're like, oh, okay, cool. I only sent it. It's fine. It was really hard to get. But it's like, okay, cool. Like, you know, you don't you don't sweat stuff. You can't sweat stuff like that or take it personally when something doesn't get used or
Danny Milton when I spent weeks and you have no idea what I was doing trying to source that piece, but no problem. I'll just uh give it back. Especially a vintage pie
Maria Simonelli ce, you know, um and you know, like like I said, the project I'm on now, um I know it's it's it's public that it takes place in you know, the thirties in the forties. So sourcing for that was really important for hero watches, um to to find things that would suit the character but that were also actually vintage. And that was a re that was really hard. And our buyer came through big time for us on that because it was, I I can't believe he found three watch faces from you know 1915 like that are all matches. It was just wow. So that was pretty cool and and and and yeah so you know sometimes um cast members also have like pre existing uh relationships with brands as well and so we get product placement um so uh on uh I worked on uh a Stephen King uh show uh called 112263, and the the lovely and talented uh Sarah Gadd and she had um a deal with uh and I might mispronounce, but I believe it's uh Jaguur Lecout. It's pretty close. That's not bad.
Danny Milton I didn't uh butcher it. Okay. There's like eighty different ways to pronounce that and a whole host of different watch brand names, so don't even worry about it. Okay
Maria Simonelli . Um yeah, and she so she had a very, very beautiful watch that they that they gave us. Um and uh and and I yeah it was it was quite expensive. That was I think one of the most like real uh expensive watches that I I was in charge of constantly locking a
Danny Milton way. So what what's the process of sourcing a piece like that? So so now that you now that the budget allows you to get a watch of that of that stature, what's the process? Are you working directly with that brand to get that, or is it something it's a vintage piece that's being sourced from a a d watch dealer. Um what what goes into that pro i if you know if if you're aware for that piece. Yeah
Maria Simonelli um I mean it it just it varies. It um sometimes like we have um like a clearance department so sometimes the clearance department gets approached, like so if there's a big feature coming or there's a cast member, you know, somebody like like Sarah is, you know, she's she's a she's a really big name. And so, you know, people want to style her. So we get we would get emails and requests. Um, but if uh if like the cast members also are like, you know, hey, I was I was kind of, you know, you do fittings with them and they're like, I was kind of thinking, you know, I like this brand, maybe we could like contact them. Okay. Um and then you also have brands like uh like Hamilton like a Hamilton, for example. Sure. Um they've been around forever, so you know, or for you know, so uh they also um you know, will re-release things like so so we we've actually have uh have a timepiece in our kit now that is a match to one of the ones that the 1915 styles that they've just re-released this year. So in that case, it's like then it's then it's great because it becomes like something that that we originally got from you know from 1915, 1920 is now being re-released. So it's really easy to get parts for it. So things like that happen as well, where you're kind of able to it like, you know, because time, you know, watches are so, excuse my pun, but timeless, you know, and a lot of time, you know, things things get recycled designs get recycled because they're just so classic. So that happens um as well
Danny Milton . You talked a little bit about um especially for um the the I think it's current project you're working on, you said that uh you needed three different watch dials. So talk a little bit about as a as you know either an assistant prop master or prop master the need to have multiples of something. What is the what's the reason that you need that? And what's the utility behind that, you know, from a practical perspective? Yeah, I mean, um so,
Maria Simonelli so you know, you always have to have doubles uh for props. If you have one one of the thing and that one thing breaks or that one thing uh gets lost somehow, that one thing gets misplaced, you know, then you don't have that thing anymore. And that's really so so depending on what it is you know but but to typically anything um if we if if we categorize something as hero which means that it's it's that that plays for the cast member that's something that's very important to them.' Thats something they wear every day, or it's something that plays in in a scene that is like it, you know, it tells part of the story. Um, so we'll label it as as hero and and those items will will double. So, you know, like I said, you know, something that you are able to find, you know, that's vintage, you know, you have to have two that look the same as and as best as you can. And I know I I will speak to to Bradley Cooper, um, who's in this this film I'm in now, he he likes to have that one thing um to be the same all the time. So he's not like we have doubles for him, but he really likes to have that same thing, which is wonderful. It's it's very it's part of his character and I totally understand. However, if we're gonna do a stunt, let's say, um, and he's got his watch on, we like to switch or give give the stunter the stunt watch in case something happens because you know you have to and in that case we have like stunt watches that are are either you know depending on the show you know if it's an if it's a show that it's contemporary and you can buy three of the same watch, no problem, then the stunter will have the exact same watch. But when you're dealing with things that are builds um that are very specific, um then you you have to kind of maybe the maybe the stunter might have a very close match. Because you'll never it's a stunter, so you'll never do a pop insert on their watch, but they need to certainly be wearing this watch. Right. Um or ring uh hero necklace, things like that. Um yeah, so so yeah, so we have the hero hero item. Um and then, you know, I've I've worked with other cast members that are, you know, that that are are less um into that attention to detail as long as they have the watch that's kind of like the watch or as long as they have the ring on the right finger they're like I'm fine. So it sort of just depends. Um and it's and it's fine either way, you know, for me, um uh whatever gets the job done for them is like I just want to make their world easier. And if there's if a cast member feels more comfortable always having that same one thing, it just means we have to be extra special specially careful and there needs to be a discussion if there's going to be a stun or if they're you know they're do doing a scene where you know they might bump up against something and it might get broken, then it would have to be a discussion or or if it's raining or you know what I mean, like things that if it might get ruined, that's when it's a discussion to say, Hey, you know, because if this thing does get ruined, like we have to fix it and then for the next like couple of days, you're gonna be wearing that other watch that you that you don't like. Right
Danny Milton . Okay. So yeah. So then it just has to be a discussion. But that's really interesting, actually. I don't it would I wouldn't have thought of that before. Yeah, yeah. It's a very
Maria Simonelli um thing I I really love about props is that um it's very they're very character motivated and for for certain cast members it's a really personal thing um which kind of creates a nice sort of working relationship because I get it and they get it. But some people who don't work in props like they don't get it. And then I'm just like, wait, why don't you get it? Right. And the class member is like, wait, why don't you get it? I'm like, I'm like, I got you. Don
Danny Milton 't worry. I'm with you. We're we're on the same page. We're on the same page here. Yeah. Yeah. So from I think we we talked about this um previously, but you what what's your take on on prop masters in general? Are they usually watch people? And then secondarily, are you are you a watch person? Do you wear a watch normally? So you know, e either or um
Maria Simonelli so yes, it's very funny. Like in my experience, like prop masters are really really, funny with glasses, um, with watches, uh, with any badges, like any any like uh cop badges or flare. It's like I think it it just speaks to your sort of like every props person has to have some form of OCD because otherwise we wouldn't be able to like put the satisfying labels on the on the satisfying bins that are all the same color and that are all like arranged. And you know, it's it's a very like our our organizational processing is it's pretty funny to other people except for to us, where we're like, there's no other way but to do it this way. But yeah, like my my boss uh chris gaggy uh worked with him on on multiple features over the past few years and yeah he loves his watches and and you know knows a lot about watches um and you know we've all we've all learned uh throughout the years like how to take a watch you know watch face off, uh how to change a watch battery, um how to take how to take a battery out because because you know it's it's very rare that when when you're you're on set that you would have a watch that ticks because then then the lab would pick it up. And then also your time of day is constantly rotating and changing. So you never want to have well I mean you you never want to have a a working watch. Right. Uh and then switching watch bands, um, also that's a whole other thing. You need all these little tools for it. It's very meticulous. So I think our
Danny Milton our listeners are pr are very well versed in the uh the meticulous nature of removing and replacing watch bands, which can be uh nerve wracking depending on this on the scenario. Yeah, for us
Maria Simonelli if a band breaks that it it takes a second that you know have that little spring, it's like and you have to have your little micro screwdrivers or your little tools and you have the watch kit and uh it's like a
Danny Milton but that's why you have the double you see then you just switch it quick switch it out and then you work on the other one in the background and switch it back when you need it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So for you, you work pretty much on set. So I I kinda think about it as like you're really involved in like the movie magic aspect of things. So can you talk to me a little bit about that? I think you'd mentioned there's a game you play with your friends sometimes when you're when you're watching back films or project you've worked on, and you just like share that with with the with the audience. But I thought that was super interesting. Oh well, I alwa
Maria Simonelli ys like to play the game of where am I? Um, because a lot of times that's a props person when you're doing resets, it's like sometimes I'm hiding under that table. Sometimes I'm in that c that clos that behind that door that looks like a closet. Um, so that's always like a fun, a fun thing. And then I I yeah, I like to anytime that there's um I've I've had like on on the expanse for example, I've had to wear like green screen gloves and do like helmet catches and things like that. Um so that's always fun too where like somebody you know throws this thing and I'm like hey I was there catching that thing that's actually me um right yeah so that's always kind of like a fun this is a fun little thing, kind of make it a little bit more exciting. You know, I've got such great like supportive friends and family that watch what I do. And um I think for them it's exciting and fun to like know all these little secrets about oh oh that oh see that looks like it's outside, but really it was like on a green screen, or like, oh see how we did that. Like I uh I remember with my I have a um uh a niece and she was uh eight when she saw Shazam and I really wanted her I thought she was old enough to watch it but I really wanted to prep her for what she was gonna see there's a scene in in uh in the boardroom in the boardroom yeah it's gonna be violent um which was actually uh they they they that was a a reshoot that because they wanted uh yeah they wanted to have a little bit more violence in the movie um and that was that was when i when i saw that i was like wow
Danny Milton that''ss it it intense. I warned my brother I I have a young nephew and he's like we're taking them to see Shazam. I was like I saw it just just be aware like there's one that's just one scene. One scene and which which is
Maria Simonelli it's such a great it's such a great dark scene and I think made a lot of Savannah's like scariness really come out, which I I really liked. Um but I had to warn my niece and I said, so when you're seeing those monsters, I said on set, remember I told you they were they were funny men and they didn't wear these green screen costumes, they wore these kind of like speckled ones, but I just said they're just in these green costumes and when then they're moving around and they're they're like dancing and it's actually very funny. So then when she watched it, I said, and did the monsters scare you? And she said, no, because I knew they were just funny men. So I'm trying to get her to understand too that this is what movies are, you know, like, you know, to kind of understand what what CGI actually is and how, you know, I made the movie, so I'm here, don't be
Danny Milton scared, it wasn't real. Um sound like you're trying to make that connection to how you mentioned you watch movies as a child. You kind of watch them with the understanding, like, oh, I kind of want to know how this happened, not not trying to feel like this is reality, but how did how did they do this? How did they create those monsters? Knowing that they're creations, knowing that they were manufactured for the purpose of entertainment, which is which is
Maria Simonelli a great way to think about things. Yeah, and I I certainly want like the people in my life to watch what I do, you know. So when she's when she's quite a little bit older, you know, we'll get her watching it, and I'll just explain to her about I'll show her pictures of me and Bill together and him in his costume and me hugging him, and she'll understand that that's an actor. Mind you, a very wonderful, scary, terrifying performance. Um, but that it's just a person
Danny Milton . So right. I at the for a moment I wasn't sure if you were talking about Bill Hader or Bill Skarsgard. So you're not sure Skarsgard. I mean both Bills are are like wonderful and dreamy and great, but Yeah, well so that that must have been a great experience working on that film. Um was there was was there any um and there might not have been, but I think I remember seeing at least James Mack a voice character wearing a watch throughout the movie. I don't know if there's any story behind that or not. No, I mean with James,
Maria Simonelli James was pretty um he was particular uh about his choices, but I mean, and he was interesting, you know, like cause we we fitted him for reading glasses. There's a few times he has his glasses on while he's uh while he's working. Um and he wanted, I believe they were like Ray-Ban, um, the kind of like nineteen sixties, like those like Malcolm X kind of um hornwork. Like the Wayfarer style or something. Yeah. Yeah. So he was he was like he was pretty adamant about that, which I think was a great choice. Um and then yeah his watch I remember he he really wanted a silver band. That was like his the one thing that he um he was just like I I think my character would have that what do you think and yeah sure I you know I'm I don't really like when it comes to something that is just aesthetic um and especially because those those guys all pretty well wore the same costumes for the whole movie. Right. So it's like so that's an a a conversation with with uh with costumes as well to to sort of be like, Silver okay? And then so silver's okay if that's what Macboy wants. And that's great. Yeah, yeah. But then somebody like um Mike Hamlin, um so I Isaiah, who's wonderful, lovely, um, he was he wanted his watch to be more his his what watch band is more of like a military-style watch. I remember we did have that discussion together about Mike Hanlon lives in this attic and he's just kind of this guy who just never really left dairy. Like the town historian, right? So he wants to have his was a little bit of a nostalgia piece as well. So um, you know, there are there were those conversations uh as well. And then, you know, of course, then all the kids' stuff, it's it's um you know, all all Casio and Sure. Um, you know, fun. Oh, and and sorry, I didn't answer your question about uh I I wear a Casio watch. I wear uh and it's actually from the f the first it movie as from our background stock. Wow. It's just a tiny face little uh digital Casio that I I really like. That's what I wear. That's gotta have great memories for you from that. That's really, really cool. It's just nice. It's it was r really funny. There was a day that we were on set and I had my Casio. I had like an old pair of new balances on. I was wearing like I wear a lot of vintage clothing and I I just and I have and I always wear a fanny pack when I'm on set. So I'm like I'm like, I can be a b an extra. Yeahah, ye. Just put me on camera. I'm ready. Everyone's like, are you what are you talking about? I'm like peri
Danny Milton od accurate here. So yeah, that's what I that's great. So what what's it like now? Um obviously like we're living in a kind of a different world. Um w what's the difference between being on set now and just for for context, we've kind of touched upon it, but you're working right now on the next Guillermo del Toro film. I think you said it's starring Bradley Cooper and is it also Kate Blanchett? Is that is that right? Yeah we got we
Maria Simonelli got Rooney Mara and Willem Defoe and Ron Perlman and Tony Collette. Like it's it's stacked. It's it's pretty it's pretty wonderful. It's like you know
Danny Milton , yeah, it's it's really wonderful. And without saying too much, I think we've we've at least we know it's a period piece and you're dealing somewhat with with sourcing watches. I think we'll save that for when the movie comes out obviously. But but yeah, but it's in terms of like what it's like um being on set and and if the film was interrupted at all, you know f for any reason you know during these times, like what's that been like for you? Oh it's defin
Maria Simonelli itely um you know it was it was uh it was difficult when the show went down because I think we we we were halfway done shooting it and I and you know we didn't that this was on March 13th that we we officially took the hiatus and they said, Oh, we're gonna be off for two weeks and you're like, oh, this is so scary. And then it ended up being off for six months. Um so that was, you know, that's a hard blow when you're when you're sort of in this like wonderful whimsical world that Guarmo creates and and you're able to be creative um work with people that you really, really ad admire and respect and and then that's just gone. Um and then you know paired with just everything that was happening globally and and just sort of the worry of all that and the worry that it still exists right now. Um you know it was it was it was definitely like a hard blow, uh, but and you know necessary to to take that time off, you know, make sure everybody stayed safe. So um yeah, so so we've been back shooting since September. Uh and and it's you know the first few weeks were were pretty intense. You're getting used to we wear face masks and face shields so um you know it's it's it's weird and so different and um you know it it plays with your if you're in a dark set you, know, you've got this reflective visor on. It's like sometimes you can't see or and you also can't take uh like visual nonverbal cues from from people, you know, like a smile from across the room goes a long way on when you're on your 10th hour, you know. Um but uh but yeah we've we've got I don't I don't I know like I can speak for for my p particular show um that we've got you know 10 hour shoot days um social distancing. We we've got there's a whole COVID team um that's always there. Uh I get tested five times a week. Wow. Um yeah, there's certain uh people that it's it's either three times a week or five, depending on what like zone you're placed in. So for me, because I speak directly to cast and I also handle um they call it hand to mouth, which I'm like this is weird, but like um you, know I, deal with cigarettes and and and drinks, um, you know, luggage. It's like my hand is touching the handle, their hand. So I wear I wear nitrile gloves a lot. Um Bradley jokes around with me uh that it's it's it's the Maria Speche is like the wearing the one right-handed nitrile glove but then keeping my left hand not so I can text and I can I can take photos on the iPad of what we're doing. Um and and so I've got the the the Maria special which he likes to jok
Danny Milton e around with me about. It must be cool to have a moniker by Bradley Cooper attributed to you. I've got to say that sounds pretty awesome. Yeah. He'
Maria Simonelli s you know what he's a lot of fun. Well he's got a Cooper Spech too. Um the Cooper Speci is I've got for every time he he smokes a cigarette which is often um I have a water bottle that I have in a holster that is so you can't see the contents of it, but I open the water bottle and and point it to him and he'll do really fun, you know, depending on the mood or whatever, he'll kind of do a flourish and put a cigarette in. He'll he does a slam dunk, which is like, you know, we say I say hoops just it's just amazing that's that's the thing that's great. That's so cool. Yeah. So it's been really great. I'm I'm very fortunate. Even coming back with all these new standards, we still have fun every day. Um we we are safe. We I feel safe. A lot of hand washing stations, uh any any and all the PPE that you want. I'm really lucky, so
Danny Milton that's super important. Yeah. So so one question before we go for you that just interests me, I think would be interesting. What is the hardest prop you've ever had to source, or if you weren't able to find it after all?' Wshat one that just sort of has been is like a cloud over you like I wish I could have got this or some something to that effect
Maria Simonelli . So you are gonna think that this is like such a ridiculous answer to such an awesome question, but the hardest prop that I have ever had to source was a keychain soccer ball to hang from a um a rearview mirror. You would think and it's just one of those things, I know and I know you want some amazing answers. This is this is amazing. So hard. I was working on a show. I I was the Toronto buyer for a show call uh named Cardinal. And uh this is a couple of years ago and that was they're like, oh yeah. And you think, oh, I'll find that. I'll go to anywhere and find that. There's and you know, there's so many little shops here in little Italy, like little they have like you know soccer like soccer shops like that are specialized or little sports shop or I'll order it online. It'll be super easy. And it ended up being like the last thing I was I would I've I had found so many other super weird things so easily. And there's one thing I couldn't find. And it was like order it online from China, but you have to order a thousand of them. Right. Or like or I could find them, but they like in all the little soccer shops, but they'd be like team specific. And I was like, I just need like black and white talk um and i was racking my brain racking my brain i i must have spent like and and my boss was like why i'd found everything else and i said i just can't find this one thing and the director was adamant. And I actually I haven't watched the show to see if it actually made it and I wonder if it did. Um but I finally found what believe it or not I was I was at like a box mall and I went to Ardeen because I was I was like when I was in like high school and I would go there, they would sometimes have weird keychains. And sure enough, I found them and it was like buy one, get one free. I bought like 15 of them. And I told my boss, I'm like, I know I spent, you know, whatever, like fifteen dollars on but like keep these in your kit because I promise you one day that this is gonna make you money because this was impossible to find. That's great. But I ended up finding it but it was just put it on your own keychain now as well. I didn't I didn't keep one. I should have I think I just wanted to like just get it erase it from my memory of of just the hardest prop was like this silly little keychain. But I've done like you know, I've found build parts for phasers and and and you know badges and it's just yeah so that was that's my that's my hardest prop was a soccer ball keychain so anybody listening out there if you have that. Stockpile it, advertise it, sell it to a
Danny Milton props person because it's there's a lot of collectors of things listening to this show. So if the next collectible item is uh soccer ball keychains, then so be it. But you heard it here first. There we go. That's great. Listen, uh, thanks so much, Maria. This was so much fun. I know that I really enjoyed this and I hope everybody will enjoy listening to these stories and and you know, obviously good luck with the rest of the production. Thank you. Yeah, we're three more days and we're done. Oh, that's great. Yeah, I think I think everyone's gonna look forward to seeing that film and we'll be sure to let everybody know when it when the the date of release gets announced and obviously when it's gonna be in theaters, when we can look for a trailer, all of that fun stuff. Great. Thank you so much. This was really fun
Stephen Pulvirent . Thank you to Maria Simonelli for recording with us. This week's episode was recorded in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto, and was produced and edited by Grayson Korhonen. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference for us. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next week.