A century in the making and with a price tag of $462 million, the L.A. museum is finally set to open—and even with social distancing measures in mind, the show must go on.
Building a museum requires an army of workers, millions in funding, and nerves of steel—and it helps if you have Sophia Loren. At least, that was the case in 2012, when Dawn Hudson, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, asked Italian architect Renzo Piano to design the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, a project that is planning to open its doors in April of 2021—when it will unveil 300,000 square feet of galleries, screening rooms, and assorted displays of movie magic in an overhauled former May Company building (now named the Saban Building) on Los Angeles’s Miracle Mile.
“Renzo has so many projects going on and very little time,” says Regina K. Scully, a film producer and museum trustee. “The way Dawn enticed him was that she brought him this gorgeous photo of a young Sophia Loren leaning up against a pillar with her eyes closed. It’s the most beautiful, symbolic photo, and he turned around and said, ‘I’m going to do this project.’ ”