Once in a Lifetime Gift Ideas
The holidays are nigh, and you know what that means: Many a nerd will awake on Christmas morn to see if Santa brought that sweet Wampa rug or those Nike Delorean Dunks that every geek put at the top of their wish list this year. But not every movie-related gift can be so easily given; the more unique and costly finds are much more difficult to procure. Besides, I can buy my own Harry Potter Legos this Christmas. Who’s going to gift me my very own street-legal light cycle?More on that light cycle later; I’ve got a few other big-ticket items to ask for this year that only an incredibly generous and wealthy benefactor with cash to spare could possibly acquire. Guardian angels of movie geekdom, are you listening?
Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box, $499.99
The fruitful collaboration between composer Danny Elfman and filmmaker Tim Burton dates back a quarter century to when Burton asked Elfman to score 1985’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. That whimsical score appears in this extensive collected set -- along with the 12 other film scores Elfman penned for Burton over the years. The massive music box also includes previously unreleased and expanded tracks, new CD art work by Burton, a Burton-designed skeleton USB drive containing the set’s entire musical catalog in mp3 form, and a 250+ page hardbound book detailing the Elfman-Burton collaboration with a foreword by Johnny Depp. In other words: It’s an essential collection for any fan of Hollywood’s most deliciously macabre creative cohorts.
Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made, $1,500
Clearly, I’m the kind of movie geek who likes to go deep when it comes to cinephilia. And nothing says immersive nerdgasm more than this exhaustive study of Stanley Kubrick’s great unproduced Napoleon movie, which was to be his follow-up to 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Despite committing two years to researching and planning the biopic, Kubrick was forced to abandon the project when he lost studio backing. But what would Napoleon have been like, had Kubrick been able to make it? Fans can piece together an answer to that burning question with this TASCHEN collection, which includes Kubrick’s notes, script drafts, research interviews, location scouting photographs, and access to an online database of 17,000 Napoleonic images he collected in preparation for the project. The set comes in the form of 10 books housed in a giant carved-out history book, which will look great on my coffee table -- even if it takes up the entire coffee table.
Brunch with the Griswolds! $3,500 and up
Ginormous coffee table books may make a great impression on your snooty cineaste friends, but brunching with Clark and Ellen Griswold will impress everyone you know. For just a few grand, you could win a dining date with Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in Los Angeles! Even better: The proceeds go to charity. Past auctions hosted by CharityBuzz include gym workouts with celebrities and a visit to the set of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, which reportedly went for the whopping bid of $80K to one very lucky RPattz fan. Some Twi-hards catch all the breaks.
Alpa Chino’s pimp cup, $495
Prop resellers offer another unique way to go when looking for the right gift for that special movie fan. Who wouldn’t want one of the brain-controlled penguins from Batman Returns greeting guests in the foyer? What family dinner would be complete without the silicone Fred and Ginger prop puppet from the sci-fi creature feature Splice as a lovely centerpiece? I’d personally go even more utilitarian with this blinged-out gold-painted glass chalice from Tropic Thunder. If it’s good enough for Alpa Chino to drink from, it’s good enough for me.
TRON: Legacy Light Cycle, $55,000
One of the more impressive franchise updates in the sequel Tron: Legacy was the sleek, modernized design of the new light cycles, glossy black numbers that form midair under their riders and seem to mold to the Grid. Now, thanks to a custom bike shop out of Florida, a fully functional, street-legal light cycle can be yours to ride as you commute to and from your boring day job. Just hop on, lean forward, and hold on tight; it doesn’t look like the safest ride in the world -- or the most economical (word’s still out on the mileage it gets) -- but with this much attention paid replicating the digital designs of the movie light cycles, it’s probably the coolest. Now, to road test this baby while wearing those $795 designer TRON heels.
Happy holidays (and happy holiday shopping) to all!Jen Yamato writes weekly for Film.com. Drop her a holiday Tweet at Twitter.com/jenyamato.
