Inside LACMA’s Art+Film With Moguls, Gucci-Clad Stars and Ryan Coogler

Looking out over a sea of seated artists, actors, auteurs, moguls, models, musicians, studio chiefs and more, LACMA’s Michael Govan opened the Art+Film gala program by describing the scene as one “that can only happen in L.A.”

“We’re art, film, creativity, all deeply intertwined,” explained the veteran CEO of the 14th edition of the starry affair that honors an accomplished artist from each discipline in front of a unique mix of insiders that seemingly can only take place on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “I always say this is the most creative place on Earth, and you are it, here, all of you.” It’s also one of the most fashionable in the city, thanks to Gucci, which returned as sponsor, this time with new leadership courtesy of newly installed creative director Demna, who made his first appearance at Art+Film.

Govan was right: The event hosted the most creative of mixes. Honorees Ryan Coogler and Mary Corse made rounds amid a crowd that included moguls (David Geffen, Bob Iger, George Lucas, Francois Henri Pinault), filmmakers (Jon M. Chu, Park Chan-wook, Ava DuVernay), musicians (Doja Cat, Finneas, Lorde, Troye Sivan, Demi Lovato), of-the-moment models (Kaia Gerber, Alex Consani, Alton Mason, Paloma Elsesser, Vittoria Ceretti), artists (James Turrell, Mark Bradford, Judy Baca, Betye Saar, Calida Rawles, Cathy Opie, Charles Gaines), influencers (Alix Earle, Dixie D’Amelio, Jake Shane) and event co-chairs (Leonardo DiCaprio and Eva Chow).

But it could have easily been renamed the Art+Film+Baseball gala. The official program was delayed due to the World Series as the hometown heroes Los Angeles Dodgers faced off in a gripping Game 7 up north against the Toronto Blue Jays. As the game stretched into extra innings with a tie score of 4-4, every table inside the custom tented structure had guests glued to their phones. Cheering erupted at 9:18 p.m. when the Dodgers closed it out to secure a back-to-back championship.

By then, guests had finished dinner prepared by chef David Shim of Simon Kim’s COTE New York, America’s first and only Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse. The exquisite meal was served on Ginori 1735 Oriente Italiano porcelain in Castagna (brown) and Meringa (beige), arranged to complement rich brown and deep purple tones woven throughout the space. One high-profile guest at THR’s table marveled at the floral arrangement and wanted to take it home.

After Goven confirmed that the fundraiser netted a record-breaking $6.5 million (which will be used to underwrite LACMA’s initiative to make film more central to the museum’s curatorial programming, in addition to other programs), the program rolled out to welcome beloved artist James Turrell to the stage. He had the honor of offering the tribute to Corse, whom he praised as “one of the keepers of the light.”

Gucci-clad Angela Bassett followed Corse’s brief speech by turning attention to the film honoree, her Black Panther director Coogler. “Let’s go Dodgers, all of that,” Bassett said. “It’s great to be in L.A. tonight.” Bassett, who snagged an Oscar nomination for her work in the Marvel sequel Wakanda Forever, cited nearly all of Coogler’s films one by one. “His films share a strong sense of purpose that makes every moment meaningful. As a storyteller, he has an instinctive ability to balance the epic and cinematic with moments of quiet and intimacy.”

She continued: “Throughout all his films, Ryan never loses focus on the people at the center of them. Every choice he makes keeps us connected to the emotional core of those stories long after we leave the theater. Like all great filmmaking, Ryan’s films stay with us not only because of their technical brilliance and visual artistry, but because of their empathy by immersing us so completely in the experiences and emotional worlds of others, he helps us see the world a little differently.”

After a tribute reel, Bassett welcomed Coogler to the stage as the audience responded with a standing ovation. The blockbuster filmmaker, who had a home run this year with Warner Bros. Pictures’ Sinners, starring veteran collaborator Michael B. Jordan, delivered an emotional and profound speech about how he came to view the world, and Los Angeles, a little differently, too. In doing so, he spent the first chunk of his speech by graciously calling out all of his collaborators and friends in the audience (and some of whom were not in attendance) and asking them to stand while being recognized. The long list included Iger, WB’s Pam Abdy, WME’s Craig Kestel and Dan Limerick, Marvel’s Kevin Feige, Amazon MGM Studios’ Sue Kroll, producer Nina Yang Bongiovi, Tessa Thompson and more.

Coogler dedicated much of his speech to how he found community, both in Los Angeles and in the film industry, after moving here from his native Oakland, Calif., to attend USC. While wearing a red Lead With Love pin to honor the late Michael Latt and his Legacy Fund, he noted how Latt, son of Sundance’s Michelle Satter and brother of CAA power agency Franklin Latt, was the first person to market one of his films. “He was so ahead of the curve that he understood that humanity needed to be advocated for and he knew how to do it on social media. He was incredible loss.”

So was Robert Redford, he said. “He was at the peak of his power, his highest success, and he thought it was important to find a way to give back and support the arts,” he explained of how Redford launched the Sundance Institute, where Coogler studied at the labs at the invitation of Satter.

The filmmaker and producer also recalled the first time he got invited to LACMA from a female friend while studying at USC. “I didn’t know what LACMA was at the time and when she drove me, I saw the La Brea Tar Pits and I freaked out. I didn’t know the street was named after the actual place. I was taking pictures of the mastodons on my cell phone and everything. I thought the museum was the actual Tar Pits,” he said. Once he got inside the museum, he had his mind blown “tremendously” while looking at all the paintings.

“I was broke, I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have a crew, and I thought, man, how cool would it be if I could be one of these artists, just sitting in a room and painting something to get my feelings out like that? Why is I have to pick an industry where you need a crew of 300 people? I became very addicted to going in the back to LACMA, going to the Hammer whenever I needed some inspiration. It always made me feel really good and I fell in love with the process of film. I realized that to make the films I wanted to make, it was a combination of art, utility and commerce. I liked that I wasn’t good enough for the paint rush or a pen to finish it up.”

It was then that Coogler realized he needed a community to help him realize his dreams. “I felt connected to that idea coming up as an athlete, coming up as a Black person in this country, existing in that zone of art, utility and commerce. I’m from a people that have been in this country for 400 years. For a long time of that 400 years, we were bought and sold as commerce. We’ve always been a utility to this country, always been a necessary thing to this country, but not always acknowledged. And goddammit if we haven’t made some beautiful heart the whole time.”