Star-Studded Academy Museum Gala With Paul Mescal, Ariana Grande Raises Over $11M
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures held its annual gala on Saturday night honoring Paul Mescal, Rita Moreno and Quentin Tarantino while raising over $11 million to support the exhibitions, education initiatives and public programming at the L.A. museum, which opened in 2021.
The fourth annual event, one of Hollywood’s most star-studded nights, was co-chaired by Dr. Eric Esrailian, Salma Hayek Pinault, Nicole Kidman, Eva Longoria and Tyler Perry. The night’s guest list ranged from Hollywood icons — Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Meg Ryan, Joaquin Phoenix and Julia Louis-Dreyfus — to relative newcomers, including Anora‘s Mikey Madison, Queer‘s Drew Starkey, Babygirl‘s Harris Dickinson, recent Emmy winner Anna Sawai and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story stars Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez.
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There were also plenty of appearances from those who may land a spot among this year’s Oscar nominees, including Wicked‘s leads Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (with co-star Jeff Goldblum and director Jon M. Chu), the cast of Emilia Pérez (Selena Gomez, Zoe Salda?a, Karla Sofía Gascón and édgar Ramírez), Dune 2 director Denis Villeneuve, The Apprentice‘s Sebastian Stan, Sing Sing‘s Colman Domingo and The Substance‘s Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.
At the gala, Mescal received the Vantage Award, which toasts an emerging artist who contextualizes and challenges dominant narratives around cinema; on Saturday, it was presented by his Foe co-star, Saoirse Ronan.
The Gladiator II star told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet that the recognition is “a huge, huge honor. When the offer came in, it’s not something I was expecting and honestly was somewhat reticent because I didn’t understand the context of it, that it was about someone kind of at the infancy of their careers and kind of trying to establish what their career means to them. It made more sense and I’m just really proud to get to express what this job and this industry means to me.”
Spielberg was on hand to present the Icon Award, which celebrates an artist whose career has had a significant global cultural impact, to Moreno, who starred in his update of West Side Story; the award now adds to the EGOT winner’s already full trophy mantle. John Travolta rounded out the trio of awards by presenting Tarantino with the Luminary Award, which is given to an artist whose contributions have expanded the creative possibilities of cinema.
During his acceptance speech, Tarantino announced he was donating his first handwritten draft of the script for Pulp Fiction to the museum.
Grande closed out the evening by bringing Erivo to the stage, as the star performed renditions of “I’m Here” from The Color Purple, Diana Ross’ “Home” from The Wiz, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz and Prince’s “Purple Rain.” The event was presented in partnership with Rolex, the founding supporter and official watch partner of the Academy Museum.
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