The Museum Of Modern Art Film Benefit Presented By CHANEL

Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain, and more celebrate Guillermo del Toro at MoMA’s Film Gala

“You are a rare and special cinema artist, and it’s a privilege to know you,” Blanchett said

Senior Writer

DECEMBER 9, 2022 6:22 PM ESTDEC 9, 2022, 6:22 PM EST

Guillermo del Toro was honored at the 2022 MoMA’s Film Gala, surrounded by A-Listers that included Jessica Chastain and videos from stars like Cate Blanchett. “You are a rare and special cinema artist, and it’s a privilege to know you,” Blanchett said from Australia, where she’s filming a movie. “So the honor is in fact all ours.”

Tim Blake Nelson also shared some words and described del Toro “perhaps the most optimistically generous lover of life I have ever encountered.” Adding that “to work with him, to break bread with him, to listen to him, to be heard by him, simply makes you better, because you always part knowing how profoundly lucky you are to be alive at the same time he is,” Nelson said.

The Museum Of Modern Art Film Benefit Presented By CHANEL

Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain, and more celebrate Guillermo del Toro at MoMA’s Film Gala

Guillermo Del Toro Honored At The Museum Of Modern Art's 15th Annual Film Benefit

Jessica Chastain took the stage to recall moments in which she had the privilege to be directed by del Toro. “So he calls action. Bam. I slammed the skillet on the table. Eggs go flying into people’s faces and hair. I get right up into Mia’s face and I scream the line like I’m Tom Hanks in Cast Away screaming for Wilson,” she tells the crowd. “And I’m trying to cool myself down. I’m still a little bit in the scene. I see Guillermo running over to me. I’m still a little mad, by the way. And he, in the sweetest voice and the happiest smile, yells with a childlike glee: ‘You made my b*lls crawl up into my body.’ Best compliment I’ve ever had.”

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Del Toro’s good friend and fellow Mexico-born Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu advised him to “enjoy” the night. “Get drunk. Allow yourself to be loved.”