Early on in the frenetic thriller “Uncut Gems,” Adam Sandler’s jeweler character shows off a prized piece of merchandise: a diamond-encrusted Furby toy with controllable eyes that dart back and forth.
Fans who viewed that creation with more envy than fear are in luck: In an effort to raise money for organizations supporting New York communities during the coronavirus pandemic, A24, the company behind “Uncut Gems” and other art-house favorites, will soon auction off an array of original props — including one of those twinkling Furbys in the Safdie brothers’ movie (those diamonds aren’t real; they’re crystals) and a carved mermaid figurine that plays a significant role in Robert Eggers’s “The Lighthouse.”
“It’s nice to see when stuff that’s made for a movie can live on,” Eggers said in a phone interview. “The craftspeople that make these props put a lot of time and effort and love and sweat and tears into creating them, so if it can have another life, that’s great. And it couldn’t be for a better cause.”
Auctions will take place in April and May, and will be held online. A24, which is based in New York, will give the proceeds to four local organizations: the FDNY Foundation, which supports the New York City Fire Department; the hunger-relief nonprofit Food Bank for New York City; the public health-care organization NYC Health + Hospitals; and the Queens Community House, which provides services to children and adults throughout Queens.
The first auction begins Wednesday at a24auctions.com. Each auction will last 16 days.
Other items going on the block include the 33-pound floral dress worn by Florence Pugh for the finale of Ari Aster’s “Midsommar”; a skateboard from Jonah Hill’s “Mid90s”; a shoe-box time capsule from Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade”; and the enormous replica lighthouse lens that enthralls the keepers played by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe in “The Lighthouse.”
Asked what the prop lens might be like to own, Eggers replied, it’s “quite beautiful in person, and hypnotic.”
But he added a note of caution for the lucky buyer: “It weighs a ton. Literally, I think. Or half a ton.”
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
