Alumnus Joel Weaver (left) on set for the “The Irishman” (2019) with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese
WRITTEN BY JULIA LYON
Sitting by the Boise River as a kid and watching Shakespeare’s plays under
the stars, Joel Weaver thought he’d grow up to be an actor.
“Storytelling was always so magical to me,” Weaver recalled.
When it came time for college, he headed to the Actor Training Program in the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Like many high school actors, he arrived with his own tricks. Studying under the legendary Kenneth Washington, he learned to strip all that away and get down to the core of acting. Professor Washington, who became a mentor, taught him exercises he’s never forgotten.
“There’s things I remember from that classroom more than 25 years ago,” Weaver said. “I bring them with me to work every day.”
Though Weaver did spend several years acting after graduation — starting with an internship at the DC-based Shakespeare Theatre Company and then some off, off-Broadway in New York City — it wasn’t the life he imagined.
“I had a rice cooker that kept me alive for a couple of years,” Weaver recalled.
Weaver (right) on the set of Noah (2014), directed by Darren Aronofsky, with Russell Crowe (left)
But he had always remembered the words of another U professor, Gage Williams, who had started teaching at the U the same year Weaver arrived. The two bonded over their shared connection to Boise where Weaver grew up and Gage designed sets for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.
“Artists are adaptable,” said Williams, who is still a professor in the department. "After every actor becomes more conscious, they ask: What other skills do I have? And what kind of work do I like?”
Williams always taught the importance of having diverse options and advocated for working in the real world.
The real world, as it turned out, needed help with props. At first, Weaver took small jobs: nonunion music videos, including one for Mary J. Blige, which evolved into nonunion independent movies. He learned to be scrappy and inventive, borrowing and making his own props.
“I remember setting myself apart on those, because there was an enthusiasm I brought,”
His enthusiasm and commitment led him to work on bigger and bigger movies until he rose to become the prop master on major movies such as “Maestro” and “The Irishman.” A prop master oversees anything an actor might touch — from a small key to the car it could drive.
Weaver may not be in front of the camera, but now his props are.
Weaver (left) with with Robert De Niro and director Todd Phillips from “Joker” (2019). Photo: Niko Tavernise
“The more I’ve done, the more I’ve realized that it’s all of the same ilk,” he said. “We’re all telling a story and trying to tell it as richly and as fully as possible.”
On “Maestro,” a 2023 film about the relationship between the conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, Weaver traveled to England for filming. He brought massive traveling cases containing, among other things, 100 pairs of period eyeglass frames with clear lenses — having been told the musicians had memorized the music.
But when he realized 50 of the musicians in the London Symphony Orchestra needed prescription lenses to read new music, he and a British optometrist filled all the prescriptions in three days.
Within the “mad scramble,” his job has moments of transcendence. While Bradley Cooper and the symphony recreated a concert at Ely Cathedral outside London, Weaver assisted filmmakers in the heart of the set and could feel the music moving through him, his shirt vibrating.
He loves working on period films and the preparation it takes to recreate another time.
“It’s kind of like getting ready for the play,” Weaver said. “You read the script and delve in and do research and kind of figure out what the world would be like in 1950 or 1880 or whenever.”
That could include recreating a box of cigarettes, finding a period baby stroller or the exact book an actor needs to hold in his hand. Weaver owns a 48-foot equipment trailer with thousands of props to meet a film’s needs.
As assistant prop master in “The Greatest Showman,” he got to help bring P.T. Barnum’s 19th century New York back to life. For “Noah,” Weaver spent seven weeks working in Iceland and several months in Brooklyn and Long Island where crews built replica arks.
Alumnus Joel Weaver (right) on set for the “The Irishman” (2019) with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese | Photo: Niko Tavernise
His training at the U taught him to find the layers of a character, to know the world in which these characters came from.
“To be true to the story and to respect the truth and the sanctity of it,” Weaver explained.
Williams, who has stayed in touch with Weaver, remembers his positive energy as a student and his willingness to collaborate. Even as an undergrad, he stood out.
There may not be a category for props at the Academy Awards, but if the films Weaver works on win “he’s part of that award-winning team,” Williams said. “In that sense, he’s the most successful person to come out of the Department of Theatre in terms of design — though he wasn't even studying it.” ▪
