The American Cinematheque has two different theaters in LA, one in Santa Monica and the other one, the Egyptian Theater, on Hollywood Boulevard.
The Egyptian Theatre itself is worth the trip. It was built in 1922 by Sid Grauman in an Egyptian style, the first of the foreign-style theaters, years before the famous Chinese Theatre. The auditorium is pretty different from the original but it still is pretty great, the atmosphere is very special, and you can almost feel that this is where the first movie premiere ever took place. It’s the kind of place that inspired dozens of other theaters around the US.
For a very reasonable price, only fifteen dollars, I was able to watch two movies in one night: Marriage Story and Paterson. Two movies starring Adam Driver. And that is not a fortunate coincidence. Indeed, between the movies, as planned, Adam Driver himself came for a Q&A session of about half an hour. It was very interesting to hear from one of the best actor in the world, but also very surprising, as he is shyer than I expected. This was a great experience, one that only LA could offer.
A few weeks later, a friend sent me a text about an even better event at the Egyptian Theater: the screening of The Irishman. I really wanted to see this movie in a theater and not on Netflix, and I could not find time to watch the movie in one go. Just kidding, the really cool part of this screening is the 45 minutes long discussion between «Marty» Scorsese and «Bob» De Niro. Possibly the most iconic director-actor duo of the past 50 years, casually discussing their movies in front of a delighted audience. It was obviously extremely interesting, they talked about their relation, their movies, how their 50 years long collaboration and friendship has evolved… It was overall an incredible experience.
There are many ways to experience cinema in LA, and this is probably one of the best.
