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To celebrate the city of Los Angeles in the wake of last year's devastating fires, AD asked a group of iconic Angelenos to share their favorite local places. This is Danny DeVito, Lucy DeVito, and Rhea Perlman's love letter to LA. The family of actors reflects on the magic of Hollywood’s most iconic movie theaters–from the historic Egyptian Theatre to the TCL Chinese Theatre and the Cinerama Dome. They share memories of Batman premieres, waiting in the rain for The Godfather, and why the big screen experience still matters.

AD is proud to partner with The Foothill Catalog Foundation and San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild homes in Altadena. To donate, go to https://sgvhabitat.charityproud.org/Donate/Index/40825

Michael Shome - Global Visuals Director
Melissa Maria - Senior Visuals editor
Lizzie Soufleris - Visuals Editor
Transcript
00:00I like goobers because they're the chocolate-covered peanuts.
00:03You like the Raisinets.
00:05I like Raisinets, too.
00:06It's the same thing.
00:07You know, I'm a Dodger fan, you're a Yankee fan.
00:09Oh, no.
00:09Oh, I'm only kidding.
00:10Excuse me.
00:11Pardon me.
00:12Oh, take that back 100%.
00:15She's a diehard Dodger fan.
00:27This is so great.
00:28Yeah.
00:28Being in the Egyptian theater?
00:30Well, it's a classic Hollywood theater.
00:33It's a real deal.
00:34Yeah.
00:34I read somewhere that, like, they had the first premiere here ever.
00:38You mean, like, a Hollywood premiere?
00:40A Hollywood premiere.
00:40The first premiere ever was Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood.
00:45Wow.
00:45Wow.
00:46And it's where the red carpet.
00:47Oh, yeah, became the red carpet.
00:49Became the red carpet, yeah.
00:50This is Hollywood.
00:51This already means a lot more to me.
00:52I thought it didn't know it meant a lot.
00:57Well, I always thought when I was a kid that it was an escape.
01:01Every weekend I went into the movies when the lights go down and then you let yourself go.
01:06And it's just the most, I just love the experience of going to the movies.
01:10Yeah, I love it, too.
01:11I remember the first time I got here, like, to California, I wanted to see Hollywood and I went immediately
01:16to Hollywood and Vine.
01:18And then the second thing I saw was, I think, this beautiful Egyptian theater.
01:23Because it was so iconic, I mean, and you walked in and it had all these palm trees.
01:29On the street, there's also, like, man's Chinese theater.
01:32Chinese theater down the block.
01:34Yeah, with the handprints and the sheet prints.
01:36Yeah.
01:36What a street.
01:37What a street.
01:38It's a great street to go to the movies.
01:40Movies, in general, were just, like, a big part of our lives growing up and going to the theater together.
01:47Oh, yeah.
01:47We came here a lot.
01:48Oh, yeah.
01:49We went to go see The Departed for, like, opening weekend.
01:54And it was before there were assigned seats.
01:57I think they oversold it or something.
01:59But I remember sitting on the steps.
02:01With me.
02:01With you.
02:02Yeah.
02:02Just watching the whole movie from, like, the aisle.
02:04Wow.
02:05Yeah.
02:05Just, like, how exciting it was to be there with, like, so many people seeing that movie for the first
02:11time.
02:12And Matt Damon saying, The Departed.
02:14Yeah, Departed.
02:17And then, yeah, going to, like, your premieres.
02:20Yeah.
02:21I remember you did Batman.
02:23At the Chinese.
02:24Yeah.
02:24At the Chinese.
02:25Probably.
02:25Yeah, yeah.
02:25That was fun.
02:26One theater that I hope gets renovated or just comes back is the Cinerama Dome.
02:33Oh, yeah.
02:33I'm wearing my Roger Rabbit shirt because I saw that when I was a kid at the Cinerama Dome.
02:40I happened to be at the Vista when they were playing one battle after another.
02:45And, oh, my God.
02:47I think that's the best movie of the year anyway.
02:49But that's how I found out it was the best movie.
02:52Everything was great about it, you know.
02:54And you just get so sucked in.
02:57You don't want it to be over.
02:58It's so cool when you have, like, the right sound and the screen and it's dark and you're
03:04not, like, tempted really to look at your phone.
03:07Oh, boy.
03:07It's great to watch a movie the way that it's meant to be watched.
03:12I shot a scene in From Mama from the Train in the Vista with Owen watching Strangers on
03:19a Train.
03:19Oh, yeah.
03:20Didn't you guys film in there for Get Shorty?
03:22Yeah.
03:23I think we shot in that movie theater a lot.
03:25It's a real landmark and a great, great theater.
03:28Like, here, you've got the whole new sound system and everything.
03:31It's a beautiful green.
03:33It is.
03:33I love it.
03:34I'm going to come back quick.
03:35What's playing tonight?
03:36We'll see.
03:38Yeah.
03:41I also like the idea lately of the thing where you can go in and have a cocktail.
03:47I don't know.
03:48I mean, when I was a kid, it was like, you know, it was juju beads and milk duds.
03:54Well, don't knock juju beads.
03:55No, I like juju beads.
03:56I'm not going to juju beads.
03:58No, you can do like the classy experience.
04:01Come on in.
04:01Yeah.
04:02Get a little bucket of wings.
04:04Yeah.
04:05The first movies I ever saw were in Coney Island where my grandmother lived.
04:10And almost every week would be another Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie.
04:14I don't know how they made so many movies.
04:16And I'll tell you the truth.
04:17I think they were all the same.
04:19I thought they were hysterical.
04:20Like, I remember when Godfather 1 was in New York.
04:24Oh, God.
04:24And Rhea and I stood in line in the rain, pouring rain for like, it had to be an hour.
04:30Oh, yeah.
04:30But we got in there.
04:32We actually watched Don Corleone while we were sopping wet.
04:37It was like a great experience.
04:39I was shooting Megan Matilda.
04:42I think I was Megan Matilda.
04:43We get home and the kids say, hey, Dad.
04:45We just saw the greatest movie we ever saw.
04:47And I said, oh, good.
04:48Where'd you go see?
04:49They said, Usual Suspects.
04:52My 12-year-old, my 10-year-old, this is the greatest movie they ever saw in their life.
04:57With Kaiser Soce, you know, blowing everybody up.
05:00It was a great movie.
05:03You got good taste.
05:04Yeah, it was great.
05:09When we first came here, I had an apartment in New York and I didn't want to give it up.
05:13Once I was here for a certain amount of time, I became a Los Angeles person.
05:19It swallows you in a good way.
05:21It makes you feel like this is home.
05:22I'm always really proud to say I was born in L.A.
05:25Yeah.
05:26This is a great place to raise a family.
05:28We have three wonderful children and now two grandchildren.
05:31And it's a really cool, it's a cool place to live.
05:35This is a great, great city.
05:38It really is.
05:39And movies is the basis.
05:41It is the foundation of it in a way.
05:43The experience going to the movies is like supreme.
05:46Once people get that experience and know how exciting it is
05:50to be in a room with 300, 400 people, the scare hits, the laugh hits, the intensity is so great.
05:58So what we have to do is like regenerate that interest.
06:01I think we've got to like all get together in the movie industry and do this.
06:06Let's revamp these theaters, put them on their feet and allow people to get that visceral, wonderful experience
06:14and get into a habit of going to the movies with their families and with their friends.
06:18Coming together for an experience is one of the most special things that you can do for community,
06:25for feeling like filled in your life.
06:28We all have to come together.
06:31Family.
06:32Yes, yes.
06:33Let's go to the movies.
06:33Mm-hmm.
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