Les Hemstock’s “Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty Prop: A “Terminal” Error in Authentication
April 27, 2009 by Jason DeBord
An industry professional who personally inspected the Les Hemstock “Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty prop at the “The Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show” convention has come forward with information and evidence that it was actually custom designed and sculpted for the film, The Terminal (2004), which would confirm that it has absolutely no connection whatsoever with Planet of the Apes.
The Statue of Liberty prop head owned by Les Hemstock, claimed to have been used in the filming of Planet of the Apes (1968), was previously consigned for sale with Profiles in History (est. $30,000-$40,000) and Heritage Auction Galleries, as well as offered for sale on eBay under Mr. Hemstock’s “kcotsmeh” account, was this past weekend prominently advertised in conjunction with “The Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show” featuring “for a fee” photo opportunities.
There have been a number of articles published on the Original Prop Blog going back to August 2007, raising questions about the attribution of this piece to the classic movie, Planet of the Apes, released in 1968:
Today I have been in communications with Mr. Daren R. Dochterman, who was employed as Conceptual Artist for Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal (see credits, IMDb), who gave me permission to publish the following statement on his behalf:
I hadn’t heard about this prop “restoration” before… probably because I don’t usually travel in the collector’s circles… but I just saw this on display at the Hollywood Show over the weekend… and I recognized it immediately… it’s from a film I worked on back in 2003, Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal”… I did the concept art for this… and remember it being sculpted in the shop next to the large Terminal set in Palmdale, CA. The scene, which I’m not sure is in the final film or not, had Tom Hanks’ character in a souvenir shop in the NYC Airport Terminal, and this Statue of Liberty head was made to fit a closed circuit television fed by a camera imbedded inbetween the eyes… so he could see himself in the crown windows. This is why the crown line is distorted… to fit a standard monitor size.
Below is collateral provided by Mr. Dochterman showing the composite illustration he created for the film, The Terminal (TOP), as well as “sculpting in progress” photos of the prop itself (MIDDLE), and a photo of the shop set in which the scene would have been filmed (BOTTOM):
Below is a side-by-side comparison of Les Hemstock’s post-restoration “Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty prop (LEFT) and the very distinctly custom sculpted prop specially designed for The Terminal circa late 2003 (RIGHT):
Also note, in this photo of Les Hemstock’s “Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty from the Hollywood Collectors and Celebrities Show held this weekend (LEFT), the back of the piece is completely flat, so as to be pushed up against a wall. Then compare with the on set photo from The Terminal (RIGHT) to see how the piece was designed to fit flush against the wall in the store (with raised ceiling to account for the crown spikes):
Note also that both pieces are self-standing, with flat, horizontal bases.
I did review the film, The Terminal, and did not find the prop used in the final cut of the film, though Mr. Dochterman’s account is absolutely consistent with the film and the use of monitors and closed circuit television cameras, and would explain many of the outstanding questions about the Les Hemstock “Planet of the Apes” piece.
***UPDATE: I have found this prop on screen in the film – see “Reader Comment” below for stills from the movie showing the Statue of Liberty prop.***
Most notably, the distorted crown line of the Les Hemstock piece (height and windows), which does not resemble the actual Statue of Liberty nor the matte painting as seen in the film.
Below is a comparison of the Les Hemstock Statue of Liberty prop he attributes to Planet of the Apes (LEFT) and the real world Statue of Liberty (RIGHT):
Not both the pronounced height of the crown as well as the large, centered window, as opposed to the numerous, small, evenly-spaced windows on the “short” crown of the original work:
In comparing a screencapture obtained from the recently released Blu-Ray disc of Planet of the Apes (BACKGROUND), with the long shot of the matte painting seen in the film (the only front shot of the statue is a matte painting), while the windows are too dark to see clearly, the height of the crown is consistent with the real world Statue of Liberty, not the Les Hemstock prop (INSET TOP LEFT):
As noted, I have reviewed the Steven Spielberg film, The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks, and found no scene as described by Mr. Dochterman. However, one of the running themes and visual motifs of the film is the prevalence of CCTV cameras and monitors as well as televisions throughout the film, as seen in the screencapture samples below:
Mr. Dochterman also examined Mr. Hemstock’s prop in person over the weekend, where it was on display at the Hollywood Collectors and Celebrities Show. As noted early last month (see Les Hemstock “Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty Prop: “For A Fee” Photo Opportunities), attendees who were interested in having their photo taken with the “piece of cinematic history” were charged a fee.
Mr. Dochterman’s account would explain why the Les Hemstock Statue of Liberty has both a stretched crown in height, far fewer windows in the crown, and why there is one large, centered window.
As seen in the photo comparison below, the “restoration in progress” photos of the Les Hemstock prop (LEFT) show a crown frame which is empty – per Mr. Dochterman’s experience, that was to account for the placement of CCTV display monitors (RIGHT).
Based on Mr. Dochterman’s information and photos, one can conclude that Mr. Hemstock’s prop – which he characterizes as “[a]rguably the most iconic piece one could hope to acquire from this science-fiction classic” – is in fact a prop made for the 2004 film, The Terminal.
Prior Article Summaries
The following are prior articles related to this piece along with short summaries.
Profiles in History 28 Held Yesterday, Today
This Statue of Liberty piece was consigned to auction with Profiles in History for their Hollywood Auction 28 event in August 2007.
Though the cover featured item for the event, it failed to sell with no bids on the $15,000 opening, with an estimate of $30,000-$40,000.
Heritage Music & Entertainment Memorabilia Auction – October 6-7, 2007
After failing to sell at the August 2007 Profiles in History event, the piece was consigned to the Heritage Auction Galleries “Entertainment Memorabilia” auction event that was scheduled for October 2007, just two months later. The Heritage estimate was $15,000.
October’s Heritage Auction Addendum: “Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty Prop Removed from Catalog
The piece was then removed from the Heritage Auction Galleries auction in advance of the event.
“Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty Prop – Restoration Information, Outstanding Questions
This article summarized the prior failed sales attempts and made note of the fact that the consensus about that scene in that film is that the front shot (of the face and front of the statue) was achieved utilizing a matte painting by Emil Kosa, Jr. (see “The Invisible Art: Legends of Movie Matte Painting“) and the rear shot employed a hanging miniature (though I have yet to see a production image of such a miniature).
Included in the full article is collateral which shows the restoration of the 15′x14′x8 piece which was consigned for sale to the two auction houses.
Of note is that all that is seen in the film in the rear shots is the back of the head, back of the crown, and back of the spikes – while the piece owned by Mr. Hemstock does not appear to have matching components.
More, the spikes that are part of Mr. Hemstock’s piece were recently manufactured reproductions – and those pictured in the restoration collateral that are designated to be the originals do not in any way resemble what is seen on screen:
“Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty Prop – Update, SciFiNow Magazine
This article compares information and photos from SciFiNow Magazine, the SciFiNow forums, and LesHemstock.com to further confirm that the prop in question is owned by Les Hemstock. Also of note is that the photo in the SciFiNow Magazine feature matches one of the photos in the restoration files.
“Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty Prop Update – Reader Comment (Apemania.com), eBay Auction Archive
This article provided multiple updates.
The following is the full “Reader Comment” published by Brian Penikas of ApeMania.com:
monstermaker on September 6th, 2008 10:37 pm
Wow. It always amazes me when a “collector” brings an item to my studio for comment, restoration, and/or repair. Most of the time the items are genuine “reel-deals”, but every now and then I have to break the bad news to a poor schmoe (that’s now even poorer) that he shelled out a lot of dough for something that’s not what he thinks it is.
Those are the times when I ask the question, “Didn’t you do any research before you bought this? Didn’t you visit/contact the archives department for fotos and reference?” Sadly the answer most of the time is “no”. Especially with folks who make a habit to buy stuff, restore it, and try to “flip” it and make a quick buck at auction.
This Liberty prop is one of those items. The question is easily answered by looking at fotos of the original prop made for the film. The main problems with Mr. Hemstock’s Liberty head is that it’s way too small, and…well…it’s a HEAD!!! The prop used for the final scene in the film NEVER was anything more than the crown and the top of the head. That’s all they needed to build (other than the torch), so that’s all they actually built. Look at the fotos in FOX’s archives. You’ll see the scaffolding, the crown, the top of the torch, and all of the tiny little people working around it all. It’s huge! Not at all a piece of a parade float that fits in the back of a pick-up truck, by any means.
I’m sure if someone took the time to ask Bill Creber, he’d say that thing went into a dumpster immediately after “wrap”. Why would FOX want to store such a huge yet incomplete hunk of junk?
It really amazes me that when it comes to movie props some people do not take the time to do the research when there is so much information around and facts are so readily available. These are movie props people! It’s not like we are looking for biblical artifacts and there are no records anywhere to be found. The info on this stuff is abundant and easily obtained if you just think to ask the right people in the right places the right questions.
Sorry for my rant, but this all seems so silly to me. Plus I do know a thing or two about the Apes. Not a lot, but a small thing or two, so all of this is even sillier to me now that I review it even more.
Brian Penikas
Creative Director for
Make-up & Monsters Studios
Keeper of the Glue and Faith for APEMANIA.COM
Also noted in the article is another attempt to sell the prop on eBay, which realized $8,600 with the unstated reserve not met.
In researching a statement by Mr. Hemstock in the eBay marketing remarks – “FOLLOWING THE SHOOT WRAP, THE PROP WAS HANDLED BY HOLLYWOOD CPR” – the statement was found to be problematic.
Planet of the Apes was released in 1968.
Per The State of California website, Hollywood Cinema Production Resources was filed as a business in California on January 8, 1998 – 30 years following the release of Planet of the Apes.
Blu-Ray Disc Screencaptures/Stills
The following screencaps are from the recently released Blu-Ray Disc edition of Planet of the Apes:
Below is a comparison between images from the restoration collateral of the Les Hemstock Statue of Liberty prop compared with one of the high definition Blu-Ray Disc stills from the film:
Also of note is that not only do the “original” Hemstock spikes not resemble those seen on screen in any way, nor does the top of the crown (smooth and even on the Hemstock prop – raised “rails” on front and back of the actual prop as seen on screen in the film):
Very special thanks to Mr. Dochterman for coming forward to share this information.
Jason De Bord
UPDATE:
I just went through the film The Terminal again since publishing the article above, a little more carefully since I knew what I was looking for based on Mr. Dochterman’s artwork and photos.
The Statue of Liberty prop does appear in the background (see bottom left hand corner of the first sequence of stills below). It appears in a store named “Broadway”. It can be seen in brief and cropped shots, but certainly identifiable. You can also see the monitor, centered in the crown, changing images/channels.
I have assembled some screencaptures below (click each for full resolution):
Jason De Bord