Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022)

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domino harvey
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#26 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:55 am

The script has leaked. The Emma Stone role is Clara Bow. Anna May Wong is another real life character with a major part, as of yet uncast. And apparently early reports that the script as-is is a big budget NC-17 film were accurate and the final version will presumably be toned down well before filming starts

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Never Cursed
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#27 Post by Never Cursed » Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:52 pm

I'll speak in vague terms here so as not to spoil anything, but just out of caution, I'll spoiler-box the rest of this:
SpoilerShow
This reads a lot like Boogie Nights, and the parallels between the two film's historical contexts are fairly obvious (with the end of the Golden Age of Porn being substituted for the late silent and early sound era), but without saying too much I'd suggest that Babylon's is a far more cynical and perhaps even iconoclastic script. Certainly the Anger reference is more than coincidental (a lot more), though there isn't too much in the way of cribbing actual stories from Anger's book (though Clara Bow's, Erich Von Stroheim's, and a few others are present). On that note, the above description of Babylon as a big-budget NC-17 film is entirely appropriate. Though I'm sure it will be cut down before filming (both for content and because the script is almost 200 pages long), the script as I've read it is the most explicit thing I've ever seen from a big American studio (as in, Wolf Of Wall Street levels of swearing and quite a few graphic sex scenes, two of which are among the most bizarre I've ever read).

A word on casting: The film has a lot of parts, with fictional characters intermingled with historical figures, but there are three main roles: Emma Stone as Clara Bow, Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad, a fictional established movie star based on John Gilbert (they haven't announced what role Pitt is playing yet, but the descriptions of Conrad's character makes it unambiguous), and the as-yet uncast role of a fictional young Hispanic man, Manny Torres, who becomes a studio fixer and gets dragged into the wild personal lives of the other leads.

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#28 Post by Nasir007 » Mon Apr 20, 2020 3:44 pm

Now that the trailer for the new Netflix series is out, does it steal the thunder of this film?

I maaaybe saw some similar characters, situations, set-ups etc. from the script.

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domino harvey
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#29 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 20, 2020 3:46 pm

Assuming this gets made, no

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Never Cursed
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#30 Post by Never Cursed » Mon Apr 20, 2020 5:01 pm

I like that the Netflix series’ title is just the other half of the Anger book’s, but the series is about an entirely different time period (plus, you know, it looks like shit). I maaaaaaaybe get what you mean re:
SpoilerShow
Sidney
but that’s the only resemblance to the Chazelle script I saw

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#31 Post by Nasir007 » Mon Apr 20, 2020 5:17 pm

I mean just the milieu? The Anger book is called Hollywood Babylon. The series is called Hollywood. The movie is called Babylon.

They seem to share traits of -
SpoilerShow
seedy characters, Hollywood setting, transition to sound, ambitious climbers, crime scenarios, debauchery
etc. Even though it might not be a 1 to 1 with the Chazelle script, a movie released soon after the series might invite comparison.

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domino harvey
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#32 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 20, 2020 5:42 pm

Literally any series/movie set in Hollywood would have those aspects. If Chazelle gets Pitt and Stone like he wants and can come down on the budget a bit, he will get a chance to make whatever he wants, even if it is called the Ranch and has a laugh track

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senseabove
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#33 Post by senseabove » Mon Apr 20, 2020 7:01 pm

And from the trailer, Murphy looks to be basing parts of the story pretty directly on Scotty Bowers, supposed pimp for the mid-century Hollywood homo set, so it has even less to do with Anger.

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domino harvey
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#34 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:41 pm

Missed the casting rumors from a few months back, but allegedly Tobey Maguire is in as Irving G Thalberg and Michael B Jordan as a new composite musician character

EDIT: It seems that Michael B Jordan may no longer be in the mix


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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#36 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Dec 02, 2020 11:15 pm

That's a shame, I really wanted to see Stone flaunt her range and take on what would reportedly be a more perversely sensual role

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#37 Post by domino harvey » Thu Dec 03, 2020 12:43 am

Margot Robbie is obviously talented, but yes, anyone who isn't Emma Stone feels like a downgrade here. Wonder what she's filming that wouldn't allow for it, assuming that's not just polite agent talk


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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#39 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:10 pm

The Narrator Returns wrote:
Thu Dec 10, 2020 3:20 pm
It would seem that Stone is instead doing an HGTV satire for Showtime with Nathan Fielder and the Safdie brothers.
I mean... that sounds kinda insane and piques my interest wondering how these three wildly different artists will feed off each other.. but it’s still a puzzling opportunity to leave this project for. I’m guessing there’s been some cold feet behind the scenes, perhaps the material is too lewd for Stone’s image and Chazelle isn’t compromising on his vision. All signs point to a risky, risqué film, and tbh I was shocked Stone was attached in the first place.

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#40 Post by Never Cursed » Wed Mar 03, 2021 6:33 pm

Jovan Adepo cast, almost certainly in the jazz trumpeter role that Michael B. Jordan was previously rumored for


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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#42 Post by Never Cursed » Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:39 pm

Remainder of principal cast, including Katherine Waterston, Flea, Samara Weaving, Eric Roberts, and Lukas Haas announced, will finally begin shooting next month in LA.
Spoilers for roles, no spoilers for the film itselfShow
To recap:

Margot Robbie: Clara Bow
Brad Pitt: Fictional, John Gilbert-inspired movie star Jack Conrad
Diego Calva: Fictional studio fixer Manuel "Manny" Torres
Jovan Adepo: Fictional jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer
Li Jun Li: Anna May Wong

Katherine Waterston's part hasn't been announced yet, but unless the script has been massively revised, I'll guess that she is Elinor Glyn. Flea, Roberts, Scovel, Byrne, and Haas are presumably the collection of producers, moneymen, and studio-hangers-on that make up most of the film's male supporting parts (I'd wager right now that Haas is going to play small-time drug dealer The Count). Not sure who Samara Weaving is playing, but there's a good chance that it's Colleen Moore, and whoever Damon Gupton is playing is not in the leaked script (though I'm guessing he was cast in part because he can play trombone). There's still one supporting part (Zora) that unambiguously has not had an actor announced for her yet, so I'm interested to hear about that.

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#43 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:56 pm

I'm glad this project is moving forward, and I'll be even more pleased if it somehow survives the road to final product without massive content edits, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to get past the omission of what could have been Emma Stone's most audacious role


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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#45 Post by yoloswegmaster » Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:20 pm

Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Phoebe Tonkin and Tobey Maguire will also be starring in this.

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Never Cursed
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#46 Post by Never Cursed » Sun Aug 15, 2021 11:25 pm

This has finally begun filming, with a redressed Orpheum Theatre serving as centerpiece for location shooting (some spoilers in link)

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domino harvey
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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#47 Post by domino harvey » Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:04 am

SpoilerShow
Wait, this takes place in the 50s now?

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#48 Post by Never Cursed » Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:17 am

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:04 am
SpoilerShow
Wait, this takes place in the 50s now?
SpoilerShow
A very small bit; just a few minutes. The overwhelming majority takes place in the years 1926-1930. Any more than that about the 50s segment would give the game away about what is being done with it.

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#49 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:39 am

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I was told by someone that this is actually the set for the new Spielberg autobiographical film. The time period and the choice of a (mediocre) De Mille in my mind makes me feel that’s the right answer.

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Re: Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

#50 Post by Never Cursed » Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:50 am

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:
Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:39 am
SpoilerShow
I was told by someone that this is actually the set for the new Spielberg autobiographical film. The time period and the choice of a (mediocre) De Mille in my mind makes me feel that’s the right answer.
I highly doubt it.
SpoilerShow
The 50s segment is specifically stated to be set in the winter/spring of 1952, the year of The Greatest Show on Earth's LA premiere. I'd be very surprised if both films specifically referenced this exact same point in time.
Also, 1952 doesn't really line up with the age of the Spielberg stand-in (as Spielberg was 7 at the time of that film's release) nor does LA line up with Spielberg's childhood, though who knows how closely the film is going to follow these details in specific. Given what I've read about Babylon, I'd be astonished if this set was not for it.

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