Hollywood’s Big Night Out: Inside the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s Star-Studded Grand Reveal

She went on to reflect on the frustrations of the 17-year journey to make the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art a reality. “We did not realize how hard it would be to give the city a museum,” she said. “Third time is a charm, but George insisted. He was driven to create a space to showcase the brilliant illustrators he felt were too often overlooked and ignored. And if critics say a museum of narrative art is too much like a popcorn movie and not enough like an art film, well, we like popcorn movies in our family. In fact, we love them. For George, art is not intellectual—it’s emotional.”

Lucas then took to the podium. “There wasn’t a major museum that had this kind of art for illustration. I’m hoping this will change that,” he said. “The job of all illustrators is to bring emotion. The idea that illustration is an art form and illustrators are artists is too much for somebody who had been taught otherwise by the art schools that they went to. But you can’t decide what is art or what is not art. Art is in the eye of the beholder. If it is emotional to you, then it is art. Of course, I’ve been criticized up and down and sideways for that, but I believe it, wholeheartedly: You get to decide what art is.”

Following Lucas’s remarks, attendees rode the elevators up to the fourth level to explore the galleries. In the Star Wars gallery, Samuel L. Jackson came face-to-face with his lifelike wax figure of Jedi Master Mace Windu from the prequel trilogy and promptly pulled out his phone to capture the moment. “To be immortalized here is more important than Madame Tussauds. It’s great,” he giggled. “I’m glad George saw fit to include me.”

Across the gallery, Mark Hamill marveled at his life-sized likeness as his iconic character, Luke Skywalker. “He looks taller than me!” he laughed, mimicking the pose with his arms crossed. “I really admire George’s ingenuity. He’s so creative, and no one deserves more recognition than he does,” Hamill added. “The museum is really unbelievable.”

Elsewhere in the gallery, Miranda Kerr and her husband Evan Spiegel paused to take a closer look at the original R2-D2 and C-3PO figures, while Camila Cabello posed for a selfie with a Stormtrooper. Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau took their time exploring the collection of Star Wars vehicles on display, as Perry filmed a video of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen portraying Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker inside the original airspeeder. For Christensen, the moment was a trip down memory lane. “It’s a blast from the past and very cool to see myself,” he said, with his 11-year-old daughter, Briar Rose, beaming by his side.

In the Rockwell wing, Leonardo DiCaprio lingered over each painting alongside his girlfriend, Vittoria Ceretti, father, George DiCaprio, and stepmother, Peggy Ann Farrar. “That’s a great one!” he exclaimed upon spotting The Connoisseur, Rockwell’s 1962 portrait of a conservatively dressed, middle-aged man standing nose-to-canvas with a sprawling drip-style abstract reminiscent of Jackson Pollock. A few minutes later, Oprah Winfrey paused before the same work, then turned her attention to Rockwell’s 1948 painting The Gossips. On the red carpet, she spoke about her admiration for Lucas’s visionary approach. “I admire his ability to see the things that none of us can see. I mean, he could see this [museum] years and years ago,” Winfrey told Vogue. “To be able to actually see it and stick with it through Covid and everything else, it’s the most extraordinary gift that anyone has given.”

As the evening unfolded, the Rockwell wing bustled with guests. Doja Cat met up with Winfrey, Al Pacino swept into the room and immediately greeted friends, while Michael B. Jordan reunited with Sinners composer Ludwig Göransson. Nearby, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart were spotted chatting with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. 

By 9 p.m., partygoers were ushered onto the rooftop, where Winfrey and Jackson introduced—and narrated—a spellbinding drone show that transformed the night sky into a moving canvas. Images from the museum’s collection—including the Cave of Altamira, N.C. Wyeth’s The Storybook, Julie Bell’s The Huntress, Banksy’s Girl with Balloon, the Star Wars Millennium Falcon and Maxfield Parrish’s Ecstasy—soared overhead in a dazzling display of narrative art.

Following the drone show, it was time for dinner and dancing inside Skywalker Grill, the museum’s restaurant, with its midcentury-modern touches, cherry wood paneling, and outdoor terrace with panoramic views of the Los Angeles skyline. Over an abundant spread of sushi and endless watermelon margaritas, the party continued, with Kris Jenner catching up with Gayle King and Winfrey while Kim Kardashian linked up with Lewis Hamilton, in coordinated Saint Laurent ensembles.

The Black Eyed Peas closed out the night with their hits Let’s Get It Started and Where Is the Love?, as Emma Watson, Cynthia Erivo, Lucas, and Hobson hit the dance floor. Then came I Gotta Feeling, with confetti raining from the ceiling as the crowd sang along. Hobson, too, joined in on the lyrics, “I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night.” She couldn’t have said it better: For the long-awaited opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, it truly was.