<p>In the iconic Billy Wilder film ?Sunset Boulevard,? Gloria Swanson plays an aging starlet of the 1920s fading in the new era of the 1950s. The new Billy Wilder Theater will also pair the past and present together, but it will successfully assimilate the two, bringing a legacy of films from now and before together with the cutting-edge breakthroughs of the future. <br/>The Billy Wilder Theater?s opening inside the UCLA Hammer Museum on Dec. 3 brought celebrities and other film industry luminaries together in a private, invitation-only gathering that celebrated the legacy of Wilder and his wife, Audrey Wilder. Warren Beatty and Annette Bening functioned as the masters of ceremonies, while writer/directors Cameron Crowe, Curtis Hanson and A&M Records founders Ann and Jerry Moss co-chaired the event. <br/>Speaking about Wilder?s prolific film career as a writer and director of such classic films as ?Double Indemnity,? ?Some Like it Hot? and ?The Seven Year Itch,? the opening paid tribute to both his work and life, with a 90-minute program on his film legacy. <br/>The theater?s inception has been in the works for a number of years, as the Hammer Museum has always contained space for theater, but was never properly able to utilize it until Audrey Wilder?s request to dedicate such a venue to her husband?s legacy. <br/>?There was always this notion that the UCLA Film & Television Archive would come to this theater, because the theater space existed,? said Ann Philbin, director of the Hammer Museum. ?It was really just a matter of making it happen.? <br/>A $5 million grant made by Audrey Wilder finally made the theater?s construction possible. Now that the theater has opened, the Hammer Museum and the UCLA Film & Television Archive will be able to collaborate on the theater?s various programs, with programs beginning in February of next year. <br/>One of the main programs will be film screenings. With technological capabilities of the highest quality, the 295 seat theater allows the presentation of 16, 35 and 70 mm film along with digital projection. <br/>The Film & Television Archive will continue its tradition of screening a wide range of film selections, bringing the largest collection of film ? second only to the Library of Congress ? from the James Bridge Theater to the Billy Wilder Theater. <br/>?The Archive goes from the nitrate era all the way up to digital and contemporary settings,? said Robert Rosen, dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. ?The theater fully embodies today?s audience and the very distinctive mission of the archive.? <br/>Upcoming highlights for the Film & Television Archive include a tribute series to Wilder, ?Roberto Rossellini: A Retrospective,? and a screening dedicated to filmmaker Guy Maddin. <br/>Besides an extensive showcasing of film, the theater will provide a center for a number of non-film Hammer showpieces, including lectures, theatrical productions and readings, beginning Dec. 10 with Dave Eggers reading from his latest novel on southern Sudan, ?What is the What.? <br/>The theater?s opening also represents an important step for the Hammer Museum in incorporating film into the museum?s extensive art collection and reinforcing its focus on encompassing all elements of artistic expression. <br/>?It was like a dream to fulfill the idea to show all kinds of art,? Philbin said. ?The fact that now we can also have filmmakers, especially in a city like Los Angeles where film is so important to people, just made perfect sense.? <br/>The theater maintains this multifaceted theme not only in its selection of film and other non-theatrical uses, but also in its very structure. <br/>Architect Michael Maltzan designed the theater as a more contemporary, vibrant building, reflective of its location within the Hammer Museum ? a nexus for film amid a bustling, moving city. <br/>The vibrant and unusual pink color scheme of the theater immediately surrounds visitors, as seats, curtains and aisle rows all boast the bright color and reinforce Maltzan?s themes for the theater. <br/>?I was looking a for a color that had a presence that was unique, that you probably hadn?t seen in other theaters, but also a color that really seemed to reinforce a sense of optimism and a sense of the future,? Maltzan said. <br/>The lights of the theater appear as elongated beams, unconnected to the walls and ceiling and reinforcing a more modern atmosphere. <br/>The lights may be unconnected, but according to Maltzan, elements like these connect the Wilder Theater with the populous city of Los Angeles. <br/>?The lights are a part of a larger choreography that spoke of the sense of the city,? he said. <br/>This modernity is expected to especially attract younger audiences to the theater. <br/>?It feels like a contemporary space instead of most theaters, which might feel old-fashioned,? Philbin said. <br/>But no matter what age theatergoers are, they are in for a special, interactive kind of experience at the new Billy Wilder Theater. <br/>?It?s large enough to have many people together interacting with each other to create a true theatrical experience, but at the same time, it?s intimate enough so that the audience can have a relationship with the filmmakers,? Rosen said.</p><br><br><a href='; target='_blank'>;