Inside the Archives: Celebrating 100 Years of Columbia Pictures | THR Video
Tom Rothman, the chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, gave The Hollywood Reporter a tour of the Columbia Pictures archives in honor of the studio's 100th anniversary. Rothman and Senior Archivist Gil Emralino showed off items from films like 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,' 'Men in Black,' 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and many more while recalling the studio's storied century.
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00:00Gil's the expert, he can really tell you, but this I recognize very well because it
00:27was worth $2 billion at the box office to us.
00:30This is the Spider-Man suit from the most recent of the Spider-Man movies, and this
00:34from the one before that.
00:36This is Thomas Hayden Church as the Sandman, and this is from Amazing Spider-Man.
00:41We have actually never put one out to auction, but someday we may.
00:47Spider-Man is one of the most culturally iconic characters that exist in the history of movies,
00:53and so it would be very valuable.
00:55These archives mostly, you'll see some historic stuff from some of the photographs, and maybe
01:00later if you have time, some costumes.
01:02The actual items, Sony really started collecting them in the early 90s.
01:09The photo collection does go all the way back well into the 30s.
01:13All of these shelves, this contains all of the history of Columbia Pictures.
01:22Here is a very little known movie.
01:27It's called Rocket Gibraltar, 1988.
01:30I have worked on over 500 motion pictures as a studio executive, and this was my first one.
01:41What's significant about it, it was Macaulay Culkin's first film, and Burt Lancaster's
01:46last film.
01:47Here's a definitional picture, not just of a movie, but a movie era.
01:53That's a movie that changed an entire aesthetic in Hollywood, and that's basically the image
01:59that did it.
02:00When the set photographer is doing their job, you will capture, you will have a still of
02:07that iconic moment.
02:08Of course, you can take it off, you can always take it from the film itself, but on set there
02:15will be, here, in case you think you can handle the truth, he's here to tell you that you
02:21cannot.
02:22Here's Robert Redford directing a very young Brad Pitt, and Craig Sheffer in A River Runs
02:28Through It.
02:31Columbia began on what they call Poverty Row.
02:34It was a lesser studio.
02:37It wasn't at the level of MGM or Warner Brothers, until Frank Capra.
02:42Frank Capra came and he made it happen one night, which was the first Columbia picture
02:49to win the Academy Award.
02:50He went on to make a series of Capra-esque hits for Columbia.
02:57It was really Frank Capra that pulled Columbia up into the ranks of the majors.
03:04Let's push on.
03:05What else we got here, Gil?
03:08This is cool.
03:10This is the real stuff.
03:11I don't know whether you've held these before, but they're heavier than you would expect.
03:20This is obviously the model in the pre-digital days.
03:25Here's a young Mr. Spielberg in front of what the actual rendering of it was, but Close
03:30Encounters of the Third Kind.
03:34I can't tell you how many times I've asked Mr. Spielberg, wouldn't you like to make a
03:40sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind?
03:44But he thinks it's very good as it stood, and he's probably right.
03:52That's a lot of cool gadgetry.
03:54These are Frank Capra's original film splicers.
04:03Oh, why are they in the tip or control room, I guess?
04:09That is very valuable.
04:11As I said, here you go.
04:12Without this, without him, and whatever he did on this machine, there would be no Columbia
04:21Pictures.
04:22And when I first started in the business, of course, everybody cut on film this way.
04:37If you had to say three people, three people without whom the history 100 years of Columbia
04:45Pictures couldn't be written, it would obviously be Harry Cohn, Frank Capra, and then this
04:53lady right here, Rita Hayworth.
04:58That's really cool.
04:59I've actually never seen this.
05:05Let me ask you this.
05:07On this thing, I see Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant, and Spencer Tracy.
05:13Is there anything to do with them in this box?
05:15Yes, those are actual wardrobe pieces that were found in our weld department.
05:20The vest is from Spencer Tracy, the pants are from Cary Grant.
05:27That's pretty cool.
05:29That's pretty cool.