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New photos from the Academy Museum’s galleries, from ‘Oz’ to ‘Midsommar’

An amphibian man prosthetic suit in a case in a museum
The prosthetic suit, center, worn by actor Doug Jones as the Amphibian Man in the 2018 Oscar-winning film, “The Shape of Water,” directed by Guillermo del Toro. The costume is part of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ inaugural exhibition, “Stories of Cinema.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures doesn’t open to the public until Sept. 30, but Tom Hanks, Anna Kendrick, “Parasite” producer Miky Lee, architect Renzo Piano and others welcomed media on Tuesday to a peek of the fully installed galleries, and Times photographer Jay L. Clendenin was on hand to capture the scene.

An actor in a skirt and blouse smiles as a woman directs her to her right.
Anna Kendrick spoke at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opening press conference.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The event began in the museum’s 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater, the belly of Piano’s futuristic, glass-domed sphere building. Just don’t call the structure the “Death Star,” as it’s been nicknamed, Piano insisted.

“It’s not a Death Star,” he said. “Call it a dirigible, that’s fine — this place was an airfield less than one century ago.” Or, he added, call it “a soap bubble. But this soap bubble will never blow up. It’s very well done, very well built.”

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R2-D2 in a glass case in a museum.
R2-D2, from the “Star Wars” franchise, on view as part of the “Stories of Cinema” exhibition.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The museum’s collection of about 8,000 items includes Dorothy’s ruby red slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” H.R. Giger’s creature headpiece from “Alien” and the typewriter on which Alfred Hitchcock wrote “Psycho.” But Hanks, a museum trustee who co-led fundraising efforts with Annette Bening and Bob Iger, said his favorite gallery was one filled with old magic lanterns that hundreds of years ago projected images via candlelight. It may not be as glamorous as seeing “Star Wars” droid R2-D2, also on view in the museum, but the lanterns illustrate the power of storytelling, he said.

“It made people like all of us want to go inside that dark room and be transported to another place,” he said of the gallery. “That’s what motion pictures do.”

Other cities have film museums, Hanks added. But “this museum has got to be the Parthenon of such places.”

A platform houses a mannequin wearing a purple suit, a red staircase with a Prince guitar on it, a jersey and a statuette
As part of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures core exhibition, “Stories of Cinema,” director Spike Lee is showcasing objects from his personal collection, which illuminate his creative process and inspirations, including film, music, art and sports.
(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
A person wearing a mask walks past a wall covered in posters
An installation about Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar’s 40-year career includes posters from his movies in addition to a video installation that the filmmaker created exploring themes of family, bodies, guilt and pain, mothers, musicals and religious education.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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A gaggle of press, left, photograph posing press conference members
A group photo following an inaugural press conference for the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures included BACK ROW (L to R): Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President David Rubin, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures COO Brendan Connell, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Director and President Bill Kramer, Jr. FRONT ROW (L-R); Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Chief Artistic and Programming Officer Jacqueline Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures and museum trustee Jim Gianopulos, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Dawn Hudson, actress Anna Kendrick, Academy Museum Board of Trustees Vice-Chair Miky Lee.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Ruby shoes in a glass case, with a photo of the Yellow Brick Road in the background
In the “Art of Moviemaking” gallery, Dorothy’s iconic ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A bodysuit with flames with feathers out the back
The costume worn by actor Taron Egerton, as Elton John, in the 2019 film “Rocketman.” It’s part of the museum’s “Identity” gallery.
(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
A round space vehicle in a glass case in a museum
The miniature model of the Aries-1B lunar landing shuttle from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A large dress made of flowers and a headpiece made of flowers
The dress worn by actress Florence Pugh in the 2019 horror film “Midsommar.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A visitor watches a scene from a Cheech and Chong film, inside the Spielberg Family Gallery.
A visitor watches a scene from a Cheech and Chong film inside the Spielberg Family Gallery, part of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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A person holds a phone up to a glass case holding ET from "E.T."
A visitor gets a closeup of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Costumes in the "Identity" gallery.
Forty costumes are in the “Identity” gallery along with costume design sketches.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A fake head that has been burned
The Terminator (T-800) animatronic designed by John Rosengrant and Mark “Crash” McCreery (Stan Winston Studio) for 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Costume design sketches hang on the wall
Costume design sketches in the museum’s “Identity” gallery.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Visitors stand in front of a large photo of a witch.
A behind-the-scenes look at the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A visitor watches a movie play on a large screen
A visitor watches a scene from Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar’s “Volver.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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A space suit in a glass case in a museum
A space suit worn in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A visitor walks past a screen with a cyclopes on it.
A visitor walks through the Spielberg Family Gallery, which is just off the lobby of the new museum.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A Polaroid of two men wearing suits
A Polaroid of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, in costume, from the 1980 John Landis-directed film “The Blues Brothers.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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