Where Dreams Are Made

Reflections on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Hollywood, CA

On a recent work trip to Los Angeles, I had a few hours to kill before the big event we were sponsoring. So, I met a friend for lunch in Santa Monica.

We caught up and talked about old times. It was nice.

While I was in Santa Monica, I decided to make a quick detour en route back to my hotel Downtown. I knew I would regret it if I didn’t do this. After all, I have no clue when I’ll ever be back in the City of Angels.

This piece won’t be for everyone, but here are some notes and thoughts on my recent trip to the Academy Museum.

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Opened to the public in 2021, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the world’s largest museum dedicated to preserving and educating folks on our cinematic heritage.

I was itching to see it in complete glory ever since construction began. After fits and starts, COVID-related, and budget delays, I was concerned the project would never be finished.

But once the doors opened, it was clear this museum would be the leading space in the industry. The museum’s 1,000-seat theater has already hosted the premiers of high-profile films such as Belfast, House of Gucci, Glass Onion, and Babylon, to name a few.

The verdict? If you love movies like me, it will be hard to be disappointed.

The five-level arc deco monstrosity holds over 13 million items in its vaults, including Dorthy’s ruby slippers, the tablets from Cecil B. DeMile’s The Ten Commandments, and the only surviving shark mold from Jaws, which hangs between the third and fourth floors.

The thematic thread that the museum presents is unique.

It’s not a linear narrative that traces the evolution of movies from the silent Nickelodeons that folks spent a nickel to see to the mega-blockbusters content machines that dominate marquees. Instead, it explores the craft of filmmaking more than the final product.

Each floor is dedicated to exploring different areas of filmmaking.

The first floor explores directing, performances, and cinematography. As a bonus, they throw in one of the most remarkable rooms in any museum for good measure: a circular room filled with significant Oscar statuettes from Clark Gable’s win for It Happened One Night to Barry Jenkins’s screenplay win for Moonlight.

Importantly, there is an empty spot to honor Hattie McDonald’s missing Oscar for Gone with the Wind—the first Oscar ever given to a Black performer.

The second floor explores visual effects, animation, music, sound, and makeup.

Clearly, the Academy wants to use the museum to educate the public on the stuff that dreams are made of. But what it forgets is to emphasize the movies that made us dream.

To be clear, there are rotating exhibits that help achieve that. Right now, the Academy is celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Godfather with its installation on the second floor. The artifacts include Brando’s dentures, the gruesome horse head, and the famous Coppola copy of the Mario Puzo novel. Hell, they recreated Don Corleone’s office piece by piece!

There’s also an immersive gallery that invites visitors to experience what it would be like to walk onto the Dolby Theater stage to accept an Oscar. Sounds cool, yeah? The only problem is a separate ticket is required.

One of the key themes the museum explores is storytelling, how each writer, actor, and artisan come together to contribute their talents to further the singular story. But the exhibits that have been curated don’t try to tell a story—they primarily want to show you what it takes to make one.

I guess I wish there was more of a story.

Because Hollywood is in so many ways a strange, warped microcosm of America—beautiful, misguided, straight-out flawed, and somehow universal. It’s a damn good story that more people should know.

But even that nitpick doesn’t dispel my joy in wandering the exhibits.

It’s a fantastic place, and I am glad to know it is around, pulling back the curtain on the movie business for those who look up to the screen and openly wonder, “How do they do that?”