LOS ANGELES — Originally scheduled to open last year during the height of the pandemic, the oft-delayed and over-budget Academy Museum of Motion Pictures finally had its red-carpet moment in September. Turns out, it was well worth the wait.
Italian architect Renzo Piano, designer of the High Museum’s 2005 expansion, was charged with transforming the 1939 department store building on Wilshire Boulevard into a $484 million temple to filmmaking. The exterior was preserved in all its art deco glory, providing sharp contrast to the industrial-chic interior design composed of steel, glass and concrete.
Dwarfing the original structure is the eye-popping addition of the Sphere Building, appearing like some sort of colossal Space Age patio. Up top is the airy Dolby Family Terrace, and down below is the enclosed, 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater. Altogether the museum brings to mind the architectural equivalent of a mullet — business in the front, party in the back — but to a more pleasing effect.
When it comes to museums, though, what really matters is not the building but what’s inside. The main attraction in the 300,000-square-foot facility is the “Stories of Cinema” exhibition that spans multiple galleries over three floors. In addition to objects on loan from collectors, it contains items from the Academy’s permanent collection, which numbers about 13 million objects, ranging from photographs, films, scripts and storyboards to posters, costumes, props and Oscar statuettes. Within the exhibition are multiple galleries devoted to topics such as sound, story, character and costumes.
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
One gallery, titled Director’s Inspiration: Spike Lee, features costumes and props from his films, as well as posters from movies that inspired him, including “Cool Hand Luke,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Porgy and Bess.” Another gallery, titled The Art of Moviemaking: “The Wizard of Oz,” illustrates the various cinematic crafts that converge to make a movie. Objects include script drafts, production photographs, props, costumes, studio memos and a Technicolor camera.
A highlight for animation fans is the museum’s inaugural temporary exhibition, a retrospective of renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the Academy Award-winning film “Spirited Away,” among many other celebrated films. The exhibition features more than 300 items, including animation cels, backgrounds, storyboards, layouts and multiple large screens showing film clips. The exhibit begins with visitors passing through a tree tunnel, a recurring motif in Miyazaki’s movies, and ends with the Mother Tree installation of a fantastical, life-size tree that sparkles with LED lights. The show, which remains up until June 2022, is augmented with programming that includes full-length screenings of Miyazaki films.
Other exhibitions include “Backdrop: An Invisible Art,” which displays the Mount Rushmore backdrop used in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” and “The Path to Cinema,” featuring pre-cinema devices such as ornate magic lanterns, zoetropes and peepshows. And there’s an interactive attraction called The Oscars Experience that gives those willing to pay an extra $15 the simulated sensation of receiving an Academy Award. Afterward, the statuette remains behind, but participants receive a digital video of the moment.
Admission is free to the museum’s 10,000-square-foot Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby. It contains the museum store and Fanny’s, a glamorous fishbowl of a restaurant serving soups, sandwiches, salads, pastries, coffee and wine, with plans to add dinner service in November. Also in the lobby is the Spielberg Family Gallery, which contains a 13-minute, multiscreen film installation featuring revelatory moments from 700 films. It’s the perfect place to begin an immersion into the museum’s interpretive exploration of the art of filmmaking.
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Museum highlights
E.T. There’s nothing quite like standing eye to eye with a full body animatronic E.T. on loan from the private collection of Steven Spielberg. It’s one of many wonders to be found in the Inventing Worlds and Characters gallery of the “Stories of Cinema” exhibition. E.T. is accompanied by full-size animatronics of R2-D2 and C-3PO from “Star Wars,” the “Alien” creature designed by H.R. Giger, the spacesuit from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Johnny Depp’s costume in “Edward Scissorhands” and more.
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Dorothy’s ruby slippers. One of the most iconic pieces of cinematic history, Dorothy’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” are as sparkly and spectacular in person as they are in my child mind’s-eye. At least four pairs of the shoes were made, but it’s believed this pair was the one used for close-ups. Also in The Art of Moviemaking: “The Wizard of Oz” gallery in the “Stories of Cinema” exhibition are Dorothy’s blue gingham pinafore and filmed auditions for the Wicked Witch of the West.
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
“Toy Story” 3D Pixar Zoetrope. If you can withstand the strobe lights and spinning action of this delightful installation, you can witness a 3D demonstration of how animation tricks the eye to mimic movement. In the center of a darkened room, a kitchen-table-sized lazy Susan covered with repetitive sculptures (called marquettes) of characters from “Toy Story” in slightly different poses seems to come to life when the table spins and the lights flash.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Hayao Miyazaki. This is the first retrospective of Miyazaki’s work in North America, and it features many items never before seen outside of Japan. For the uninitiated, it’s an excellent introduction to the magic of his storytelling that explores themes of love, family, friendship, war, nature and spirituality. For devoted fans, it’s an immersion into his creative process behind the movies they love.
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Credit: Suzanne Van Atten
Dolby Family Terrace. The open-air pavilion spans the top of the museum’s Sphere Building (locals call it the Death Star), which is connected to the main building by the Barbra Streisand Bridge. A dome consisting of 1,500 glass shingles arches overhead. From this vantage point can be seen an expansive view of the Hollywood skyline, the Hollywood Hills and the Hollywood sign.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Open daily, including holidays. $25, free for children 17 and younger. Advance reservation required; admission is timed. 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. 323-930-3000, academymuseum.org.
