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-This is the Warner Bros.
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Archive in Los Angeles,
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a prop warehouse that helps preserve the history of one of Hollywood's greatest studios.
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And we had the rare opportunity to take a tour.
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- We have everything from cars, as you might see.
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We have props.
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We have over almost 30,000 costumes.
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-This is Bonnie Fallone Otto.
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She's the director of the Warner Bros. Corporate Archive.
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- And we have some set deck too.
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- She showed us props and costumes that go back decades
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and explained how they maintain them
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and why the archive is so important.
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Oh, and I may have geeked out just a little bit.
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I just remembered that Leonardo DiCaprio sat in this car.
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- Yes, he did!
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Oh, my gosh, does it smell like him?
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OK, oh, my God!
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The first thing that strikes you about the archive is just how massive it is.
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And there was still a ton of ground we didn't get to cover.
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The "Batman" movies have been a defining property
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for Warner Bros. since Tim Burton's iconic 1989 movie
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starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.
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- You can call me
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Joker.
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- So from which movies are these Batmobiles from?
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- This one over here is from "Batman Returns."
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This is the Batmissile.
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Over here, this is the spinner car from Michael Keaton's "Batman," so it's quite old.
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They used it for a sequence where the Batmobile spun around.
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- Wow.
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- And then over here is the George Clooney Batmobile from "Batman and Robin."
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So now if you want to sit in it.
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- I can?
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- Absolutely, go ahead, jump in.
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- I jump in?
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Oh.
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How does George Clooney fit in here?
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Oh, God.
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I'm scared to move.
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And let's not forget this giant tank-like Batmobile
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from "Batman v Superman" and "Justice League."
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This is my Batman ride.
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It weighs 8,300 pounds and is around 11.5 feet wide.
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It's not easy to move it from place to place.
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Sometimes productions need more than one version of the same car.
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This was Joker's car from "Suicide Squad."
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One of these cars can actually drive,
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one was just used for static shots,
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and the third one?
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- That's ruining date night!
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Has a hole in its roof.
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But enough about "Batman" for a moment.
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There was another car I was really excited about,
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the Duesenberg from "The Great Gatsby."
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- Custom job.
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Supercharged engine.
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- Ah.
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Wait, I just remembered that Leonardo DiCaprio sat in this car.
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- Yes, he did!
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Wow, Oh, my God, Leonardo DiCaprio's butt was here.
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And look at all of these costumes.
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They're stored in custom-made muslin bags that help keep out moisture,
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and it's a who's who in there.
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We saw some outfits that were used in movies as recent as 2018's "Crazy Rich Asians."
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So this is the dress that was worn in the engagement scene.
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And of course probably my favorite outfit from all of the gowns and
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everything was this that Awkwafina's character wore inside her home.
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And then we saw hats worn in "My Fair Lady" dating all the way back to 1964.
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♪ The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain ♪
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- [Bonnie] That was worn when she returned
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to Covent Garden after she became a lady.
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So the straw is in beautiful condition.
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- Yeah.
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- [Bonnie] And even some of the colors are still pretty much intact.
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- [Caroline] Especially delicate outfits are wrapped in acid-free paper
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and put in acid-free boxes
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to keep them in mint condition.
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There was also a wide array of other types of props and set pieces.
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So Margot Robbie, um, hello, and that's her bat.
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Ew!
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They actually have the hair on it too.
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Preserving pieces of film history like this is incredibly important, but it's not easy.
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This archive has been around since 1992.
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- Before the archive was set up,
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there really was no protocol as to where these assets were going,
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so many times they went home with cast and crew.
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- [Caroline] A lot of iconic movie props, puppets,
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and animatronics are made out of materials like foam,
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which, sadly, deteriorate over the years.
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- When you're in production,
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all they care about is getting that shot.
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So a lot of times they're not made to last,
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and then they come here, and we are commissioned to do that.
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We've gotta figure out the best way to make that,
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at least preserve the life of that prop.
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- [Caroline] While the archive isn't open to the public,
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a lot of these props often go on tour,
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so you too can one day get a chance to sit in the Batmobile.
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Batman.
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No?
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Batman.
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It's my Batman ride.