Two years ago, director Jason Reitman corralled around 30 of his filmmaker friends to buy the Westwood Village Theatre in LA, an historic 1930s venue that had fallen on hard times. The group dubbed themselves the Village Directors Circle, and last November announced a partnership with American Cinematheque to give the landmark a $25 million restoration and, ideally, a grand reopening in 2027. So I guess you can say that it takes 30 (mostly) men to take Kristen Stewart’s place, because she just purchased the iconic 1920s Highland Theatre to fix up all on her own! OK, even Kristen realizes she can’t renovate a “dilapidated” theater without significant help, but in her view, that’s kind of the point of this project. Kristen just spoke with Architectural Digest about her dreams for reviving — or more accurately, reinventing — the Highland Theatre into a community center that benefits the people who live and work in LA. So yes, the goal is to have movies screen there again, but Kristen also sees this precarious time for moviegoing as an opportunity to shake up all the functions a theater can serve.
“Making films is a political act,” says actor-director Kristen Stewart. “You have to decide how you want to wield your presence and your voice.” These days she is making hers heard at Highland Theatre—the 1925 Highland Park movie palace and onetime vaudeville performance space, designed by noted architect Lewis Arthur Smith, whose resume also includes the Vista theater in Los Feliz, the El Portal in North Hollywood, and the Rialto in Pasadena, all from the mid-1920s. Stewart recently purchased the noble yet dilapidated building, which closed its doors and dimmed its marquee in 2024.
“I didn’t realize I was looking for a theater until this place came to my attention. Then it was like a gunshot went off and the race was on. I ran toward it with everything I had,” she recalls. “I’m fascinated by broken-down old theaters. I always want to see what mysteries they hold.”
Stewart’s vision for the Highland goes beyond a straightforward restoration. “It’s an opportunity to make a space to gather and scheme and dream together. This project is about creating a new school and restructuring our processes, finding a better way forward. We want to make it a family affair, something for the community. It’s not just for pretentious Hollywood cinephiles,” she explains. “I see it as an antidote to all the corporate bullsh-t, a place that takes movie culture away from just buying and selling. I think there’s a huge desire and craving for what this kind of space can offer.”
The original bones of the theater, including an extraordinary mezzanine and stage, remain partially intact, but the resurrection of the space will require a herculean effort. Nevertheless, Stewart is determined to recapture the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Age while positing a new kind of social cinema experience: “there are so many beautiful details that need to be restored. I think there’s a way to bring the building back to life in a way that embraces its history but also brings something new to the neighborhood and something new to the whole LA film community. That’s the point—new ideas.”
Go Kristen! The early movie theaters really are stunning pieces of architecture, so much more beautiful than the mall-meets-arcade aesthetic of modern multiplexes. Of course the first place my mind went to when thinking of renovations — and needing partners to make it all happen — was HGTV. Then my next thought was remembering that Kristen had an encounter with a Canadian ghost in an old hotel she was staying at, and this is an old building too, so maybe the angle of Kristen’s HGTV show could be Movie Theater Reno + Ghosts! Hey, stranger things have been pitched! Anyway, AD filmed Kristen talking about her dreams for the Highland in a video embedded in the article, and I highly recommend watching it. I think she’s someone who has resting aloof face, which makes her appear distant or uncaring at times, but what really comes through in the video is how much she loves the filmmaking community. Not the celebs and studio heads, but the unseen working class that makes it all happen. I also think it’s bold of her to say, in essence, “I don’t know what the future of filmmaking will be, but let’s invest in this space and figure it out, together.”
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, screenshots from YouTube and via Instagram
It’s nice to see people pouring their money into projects that really support the community. We all need to step up after years of the government slashing and burning infrastructures, social and otherwise, in the name of capitalism.
She’s so cool. And it’s a great antidote to all the horrors to see her being unapologetically herself and invested in her industry.
This is so cool and I’m so happy that she’s saving this theatre! I never want to hear James Cameron complaining about the state of moviegoing again unless he’s doing things like this. Michael Moore did this with the theatre in Traverse City, Jack White in Detroit, KSTew here… celebrities with 100x their money would do well to take notes.
I’ve lived the old movie palaces my whole life. As a kid we went to one that still played the organ before shows. Thank you Kristen!