John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe as FW Murnau and Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire. Photo: Saturn Films/BBC Films/Allstar
19. The Stunt Man (1980)
A fugitive Vietnam War veteran blunders onto a movie set, accidentally kills a stuntman, and is blackmailed by the bigoted director (Peter O’Toole) into taking the dead man’s place. Richard Rush’s clever dramaturgy pioneers a reality-bending script that would become all the rage 20 years later.
18. Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
A depraved American star (Kirk Douglas) gets a chance at redemption on a movie set at the Cinecittà studios outside Rome in Vincente Minnelli’s wonderfully over-the-top melodrama. Highlights include Douglas’ bad behavior in nightclubs and an intense drunk driving scene with Cyd Charisse screaming in the passenger seat of his Maserati.
17. Through the Olive Trees (1994)
Abbas Kiarostami’s account of a film crew shooting a movie in an earthquake-ravaged Iranian village is a low-key charmer. There’s plenty of gentle humor as a stoner-turned-actor fails to woo his leading lady, while non-professional performers continue to balk at dialogue that doesn’t match their own life experiences.
16. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
When he’s not covering the Manson murders, Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to 1960s Hollywood is hanging out with action star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Brad Pitt) or stalking Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). to watch herself. screen. He loses points for his irreverent portrayal of Bruce Lee.
15. Bowfinger (1999)
Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger. Photo: Universal/Allstar Steve Martin stars as a Z-grade director who makes a sci-fi movie around a paranoid action star (Eddie Murphy) who doesn’t know he’s being filmed and assumes the strange goings-on around him are an alien conspiracy. Murphy also plays a fool who looks like cheating to run on a busy freeway. Comedy gold!
14. The Player (1992)
After years out of the mainstream, Robert Altman is back with his adaptation of Michael Tolkien’s novel about a studio executive (Tim Robbins) who murders a screenwriter. But forget the plot and get a bunch of cameos and star jokes in a lively deconstruction of Hollywood clichés.
13. The Big Picture (1989)
Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kevin Bacon in The Big Picture. Photo: Aspen Film Society/Allstar Christopher Guest’s directorial debut was this delightful satire about an idealistic film grad (Kevin Bacon) whose beloved Bergman work is transformed by Hollywood into a crazy teen picture. With super support from Jennifer Jason Leigh as a fellow student and Martin Short in a tour de force cameo as Bacon’s agent.
12. Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
Eddie Murphy deftly portrays 70s standup comedian, proto-rapper and blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore, whose talent for self-promotion trumps his acting and kung fu abilities. It’s like a reworking of Ed Wood, if only Wood’s movies were box office smashes. Wesley Snipes provides unexpectedly hilarious support.
11. Millennium Actress (2001)
A documentary interviews a reclusive movie star (based on Setsuko Hara) in Satoshi Kon’s excellent anime. As her memories weave in and out of reality, we revisit the history of 20th-century Japan through her cinematic backdrops, amid homages to directors such as Yasujirō Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.
10. Hail Caesar! (2016)
“I wish it were that simple!” The Coen brothers bring their love of classic cinema to a day in the life of a studio “assembler” (Josh Brolin) who must deal with lost or misplaced actors and awkward pregnancies to keep the decade’s Hollywood dream factory running smoothly of the 50’s. It’s a mission and a tribute, and Channing Tatum’s musical number is a knockout.
9. Contempt (1963)
A playwright (Michel Piccoli in a Dean Martin hat) travels to Capri to rewrite The Odyssey for director Fritz Lang (playing himself), but his self-esteem is undermined when his wife (Brigitte Bardot) becomes involved with the producer ( Jack Palance). ). Jean-Luc Godard’s iciest, most beautiful film is structured around a believably disintegrating relationship, with a haunting score by Georges Delerue. Steve Buscemi and James LeGros in Living in Oblivion. Photo: Columbia/Allstar
8. Living in Oblivion (1995)
Steve Buscemi plays a director for whom everything goes wrong on the set of his art film in New York in Tom DiCillo’s delicious ode to independent filmmaking: intrusive microphones, exploding light bulbs, revolting short actors. James LeGross is priceless as the self-obsessed protagonist, whom DiCillo denies was modeled after the star of his directorial debut – Brad Pitt.
7. One Cut of the Dead (2017)
Shin’ichirô Ueda’s comedy, which took 1,000 times its micro-budget at the box office, opens with the cast and crew of a zombie picture being attacked by real zombies, all shot in a single take. A flashback to the beginning of the play is barely interesting, but stick with it for a third act that unfolds into a glorious celebration of basement filmmaking.
6. Ed Wood (1994)
Tim Burton’s heartwarming biopic stars Johnny Depp as the man once dubbed the ‘worst director of all time’ – not to be, since Wood’s low-budget monster movies are still entertaining audiences 60 years later. It’s a funny, bittersweet study of filmmaking that turns a bunch of misfits into an alternative family, with an Oscar-winning performance by Martin Landau as depraved horror star Bela Lugosi.
5. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
Joel McCrea plays a slapstick comedy director who gets more than he bargained for when he poses as a bum to investigate human suffering for a serious drama. Preston Sturges delves into some very dark places as he asks, “Why do social realism when you can make people laugh?” but his own film is a masterclass in combining comedy and tragedy. Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in The Bad and the Beautiful. Photo: MGM/Allstar
4. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Kirk Douglas stars as an Academy Award-winning producer whose planned comeback is thrown into disarray when former partners refuse to work with him. Vincent Minnelli’s irresistible Hollywood-on-Hollywood piece shows us why in flashbacks, with Dick Powell as The Writer, Barry Sullivan as the Director and Lana Turner as the Actress having a world-class hysterical fit in balls and furs.
3. Day for Night (1973)
François Truffaut plays the beleaguered director of a romantic drama set in the south of France in his own semi-autobiographical billet doux on cinema and the people who make it. Unrelenting kittens, spontaneous outbursts and forgettable divas are just some of the problems brought to episodic life by a star-studded cast led by Jacqueline Bichet and Jean-Pierre Leo.
2. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly as Cosmo Brown and Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain. Photo: MGM/Allstar Stanley Donen’s evergreen Hollywood musical takes place during the transition from silent to talking pictures. Gene Kelly (who co-directed) plays a movie star smitten by the technician (Debbie Reynolds) hired to dub his co-star’s annoying voice. Donald O’Connor runs up the wall in Make ’em Laugh, Cyd Charisse shows off her endless legs, and Kelly performs the most seductive dance in movie history.
1. 8½ (1963)
Marcello Mastroianni plays a director who has no idea what his next film is, even though his producers have already built a huge set of rockets. Federico Fellini evokes dreams, memories and the most wonderful women of European cinema in the ultimate blueprint for filmmakers who want to put their lives on screen. Many have copied, but no one has done it so beautifully.
