The new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened its doors with a star‑packed gala, featuring Oprah, Kim Kardashian, Harrison Ford and a who’s‑who of directors.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art threw open its doors on Saturday evening, turning the museum’s courtyard into a makeshift Hollywood after‑party. As the sun slipped behind the building’s massive oculus, a stream of A‑list guests arrived, turning the event into a who’s‑who of film, politics and art.
Oprah Winfrey was among the first to be spotted, sharing a warm embrace with Robert De Niro. Not far away, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart slipped past the red carpet after a quick chat with Spike Lee, while Laura Dern and Greta Gerwig exchanged laughs at the entrance. Samuel L. Jackson claimed a bench for a brief sit‑down before Cynthia Erivo and Andy Garcia arrived, prompting another round of hugs and handshakes.
The guest list kept swelling. Owen Wilson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian, Meg Ryan, Jack Quaid, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mark Hamill and NBA legend Magic Johnson all made appearances, turning the night into a veritable roll‑call of fame.
A vocal collective dressed in white, co‑founded by Pharrell Williams, delivered a rousing performance that set the tone for the evening. During the opening remarks on a raised platform in the museum’s lobby, Mellody Hobson laughed as she recounted Lucas’s nervous habit of asking, “Will this person come? Do you think this person will come?”
“I said, ‘They will all come,’” Hobson recalled, prompting chuckles from the crowd.
Later, a photo op on the fifth‑floor Skywalker Grill captured a historic moment: a line‑up of directors that reads like a master class in modern cinema. George Lucas stood shoulder‑to‑shoulder with James Cameron, Jon M. Chu, Chris Columbus, Francis Ford Coppola, Lee Daniels, Guillermo del Toro, Jon Favreau, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard, Peter Jackson, Chris Meledandri, Denis Villeneuve, Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Steven Spielberg, Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, Nathan Fielder and David Benioff.
The director lineup was the night’s most Instagram‑worthy shot, even though Greta Gerwig slipped away for a brief exit, leaving organizers scrambling to locate her.
Artists also turned up, though in smaller numbers. Jeff Koons, Refik Anadol, Judy Baca and Takashi Murakami mingled with museum heads like Joanne Heyler of the Broad and LACMA’s Michael Govan, who admitted he was relieved to attend someone else’s party after hosting several of his own earlier this year.
Lucas used the platform to defend his vision. “When I started it, everybody said, ‘You’re crazy. You shouldn’t do it. It’s not going to work,’” he told the audience. “People have come after me all my life, especially in the movies.” He added that the museum’s focus on illustration as fine art has drawn criticism for lacking wall text and context. “Art is in the eye of the beholder,” Lucas said, insisting that illustrators deserve a permanent home.
Mellody Hobson echoed the sentiment, noting that the museum aims to give illustrators the museum space they’ve long been denied. “If critics say a museum of narrative art feels like popcorn cinema, well, we love popcorn movies in our family,” she quipped.
The evening capped off with a drone light show over the museum, narrated by Oprah and Samuel L. Jackson, projecting images from the collection – from the ancient Cave of Altamira to N.C. Wyeth’s The Storybook and Julie Bell’s The Huntress.
The gala celebrated a new cultural landmark for Los Angeles and signaled the city’s growing clout in the museum world, a point Queen Latifah highlighted when she told the crowd, “Paris has the Louvre, New York has the Met, and now L.A. Has its own artistic equal.”
With tickets now on sale, the Lucas Museum is set to open to the public next month, promising visitors a blend of blockbuster nostalgia and high‑brow illustration.
What’s next? The museum will roll out its first public exhibitions in October, and industry insiders are already speculating how the venue might reshape the narrative‑art market.
All quotes are taken from the event’s official remarks.
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