"Write about what you know," beginners are always told, resulting in a plethora of books about writers and, in Hollywood, films about the film industry. A movie like this is guaranteed to be well researched and it can offer writers, directors and producers the chance to celebrate the craft they love - or to make sly comments about the people they hate. Sometimes they're clearly an indulgence, a way of making clever references to a director's own talent, and sometimes they provide the framework for fascinating stories about human behaviour.
The Player
Probably the most famous cinematic take on the Hollywood production process, this is a film as famous for its dozens of star cameos as for its story, with many actors and directors jumping on board to support the point it makes. It features Tim Robbins as a studio executive blackmailed by a writer whose script he rejected. The trouble is that he's rejected so many over the years, he can't remember who he's dealing with. Dark comedy ensues and there are a lot of sharp comments about how the industry's focus on profits sidelines both talent and humanity.
An American producer, an Austrian director, a script doctor and his glamorous wife make a film about The Odyssey - a recipe for tragedy. As the film within this film explores the plight of Penelope, fending off unwanted suitors whilst her husband struggles to make his way home from Troy, so Brigitte Bardot has to fend off unwanted attentions as her marriage falls apart. This was the actress' first really serious role and she demonstrates both intelligence and real strength of character as she explores the consequences of the way women like her are treated by the industry.
Living in Oblivion If you though things were better in the world of independent cinema, think again. This sharp but also affectionate comedy about go-it-alone filmmaking shows how, sometimes, everything that can go wrong will go wrong, from tantrums to food poisoning. Working on a small budget can still entail having to deal with big egos, and sexual tension and petty politics only add to the problems as pressure increases to bring the project in on time. Anyone who's worked on this kind of production will find the humour here bitingly accurate.
8½
Part satire, part autobiography, Federico Fellini's classic tale follows a film director who wants to help out his assorted industry colleagues by coming up with a new project, but who is all out of ideas. It's a fascinating exploration of what the business of creating fantasies can do to a person's grip on reality, as our hero, masterfully played by Marcello Mastroianni, retreats into fantasy and memory, exploring his past romances as if they were narratives unfolding on a screen.
Not every film about filmmaking has to be about good filmmaking, and Tim Burton's charming portrait of a director widely acknowledged to be the worst ever is an absolute delight. Johnny Depp is the eponymous B-movie maestro, a man whose determination to get his pictures made no matter what obstacles he may face is commendable even if the results are atrocious. Partly a melodrama about Wood's personal life (an approach he would no doubt have approved of), this also features an Oscar-winning performance from Martin Landau as the legendary Bela Lugosi.
An underappreciated gem, this modern Greek tragedy about a recently bereaved scriptwriter who gets caught up in a love triangle with a producer and his wife is an astute exploration of the power imbalances that distort human interaction in Hollywood, and of the vulnerability this can create even for those at he top of the hierarchy. Buoyed by strong performances, it also looks at the dominance of particular narratives within the film industry and the way what we've watched in the past determines what we'll see in the future, as a script about a gay romance is cautiously heterosexualised by a bisexual producer.
Broken Embraces is not Pedro Almodóvar's first film about filmmaking, and this is one of his best. Though it was snubbed by many critics - it's classic Almodóvar, about transsexuals and whores and drugs and other subjects dismissed in polite society - it's sharply written and has a lot to say. At its core it's a film noir in which a lonely studio executive is seduced by an actor playing more roles than is immediately apparent, but as we slip in between what's 'real' and what's part of the film they're making, with fantasies and memories added to the mix, it prompts viewers to question all appearances.
The Big Picture
Rather lighter in spirit and certainly playful, as you'd expect from a film written and directed by Christopher Guest (aka Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel), this is the story of an award winning young filmmaker who becomes hot property in Hollywood but who soon discovers that making his dream movie is harder than it seems. Kevin Bacon, then a young star full of promise, makes an apt lead, with his character far too accepting of compromise and the project quickly spiralling out of control. It's a salutary lesson which still manages a happy ending, rare in this genre.
As her character is caught up in a dangerous illicit romance, an actress with a jealous husband falls for her leading man. Meanwhile doors on the set where they're filming begin to lead to unexpected places. There are Polish prostitutes and giant rabbits doing the ironing. This is Hollywood turned inside out as only David Lynch could do it, a fine follow-up to the similarly themed Mulholland Drive, with a dreamlike narrative that continually questions what's real. It's an angry attack on the way the industry eats up and spits out young actresses, and Laura Dern, in the central role, delivers the performance of a lifetime.
Sunset Boulevard
Almost sixty years old now but still one of the most vicious critiques of celebrity there has been, as well as a cautious tribute to the allure of Hollywood, this is the story of an ageing silent movie star, once adored by millions, who can't let go of her own legend. Hiring a penniless writer to create a comeback vehicle for her, she ends up sleeping with him. When he falls for her young assistant, events can only lead to tragedy. But how much is the star's madness a product of our collective unwillingness to treat celebrities as real people? This sharply written melodrama exposes much wider problems with the film industry cannibalising itself.
