Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2021)

[domino harvey]

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

[Never Cursed]

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:

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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.

[Nasir007]

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.

[domino harvey]

Assuming this gets made, no

[Never Cursed]

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:

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Sidney

but that’s the only resemblance to the Chazelle script I saw

[Nasir007]

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 -

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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.

[domino harvey]

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

[senseabove]

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.

[domino harvey]

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

[Never Cursed]

Emma Stone is out (apparently because of her pregnancy), Margot Robbie will probably replace her

[therewillbeblus]

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

[domino harvey]

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

[The Narrator Returns]

It would seem that Stone is instead doing an HGTV satire for Showtime with Nathan Fielder and the Safdie brothers.

[therewillbeblus]

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.