Inside an Unforgettable Night at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala

Walt Disney has often been quoted as saying “it’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” But on Saturday, September 25th, current Executive Chairman of the Walt Disney Company Bob Iger offered a new take on that oft-repeated bromide. “I didn’t think it would be kind of fun,” Iger told a chucking crowd, “but I thought it was impossible.”

Iger was speaking of the long-awaited Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and he was surely glad to have been incorrect. Before its September 30th opening to the public, the museum held a starry gala, co-chaired by Jason Blum, Ava DuVernay, and Ryan Murphy, to celebrate what will be the country’s largest such institution dedicated to moviemaking.

Iger helped open the gala dinner—alongside Annette Bening and Tom Hanks, as the trio was presented by Nicole Kidman with the museum’s inaugural Pillar Award—but things were only getting started. As the evening progressed, guests including Warren Beatty, Angela Basset, Selma Blair, Ruth E. Carter, Barry Diller, Kathy Hilton, Cher, Zac Posen, John Waters, and more were treated to the presentation of the inaugural Vantage Award by DuVernay to filmmaker Haile Gerima and the first-ever Visionary Award by Ted Sarandos to Sophia Loren.

For anyone who was itching for a bit more magic, the evening concluded with Lady Gaga rising from her table (after, of course, a dinner prepared by Wolfgang Puck) to belt out a set of showstoppers including “Luck Be a Lady” and “New York, New York.”

Not all the action was happening on the Dolby Family Terrace, though. Throughout the evening, guests were invited to visit the Renzo Piano-designed museum’s exhibitions, including a retrospective of the work of filmmaker Hayao Miyazak, galleries celebrating the oeuvre of Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar, and a collection of treasures including the shark from Jaws, the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane’s Rosebud, Paul Newman’s Daytona, and more.

The evening, which was presented by Rolex with support from J.P. Morgan raised more than $11 million to support the Academy Museum’s initiatives.